Page 37 of Texas Cold Case Murder

“Technically, they don’t have a reason to silence her. She’s already spoken to us.” Jackson’s expression was solemn. “I have a feeling they’ll be more determined than ever to kill you, Nina. We need to understand what role Douglas Tillman is playing in this.”

“I know.” She still found it hard to believe her own father wanted to kill her. If he had killed Anna, he’d had the chance to get rid of Nina, too, back then. “He must think I’m a threat to him in some way.”

“If he’s a public figure, you being his biological daughter could be a scandal he can’t recover from.” Jackson opened the door to the back seat of the police cruiser. “We’ll figure it out.”

She nodded. Her heart was heavy, though, and she thought about her adopted parents. How much they’d loved her. Cherished her. And provided a wonderful life for her.

A stark difference from the man who’d callously murdered her mother and now wanted to eliminate her, too.

And for what? Money and power? A wave of helpless anger and revulsion washed over her. Jackson must have noticed, because he reached over to take her hand.

Nina knew she was treading on dangerous ground. Leaning on Jackson wasn’t smart. Yet she was keenly aware of how much she needed him.

And how glad she was to have him sitting beside her, helping her through this.

* * *

Jackson wanted to pull Nina into his arms but managed to hold back. She needed a shoulder to lean on, not an embrace.

When they arrived at the car rental facility, Nina used her phone to obtain another rental vehicle, booking in the name of the same company as before. It wasn’t ideal, but Jackson didn’t see that they had a choice. If the gunmen had shown up at Ellen’s house because they anticipated they’d head over to talk to her, then the rental car should be safe.

Too many ifs and shoulds, he thought grimly. He made a note to call Owens as soon as they returned to the rental house near Lake Belton.

As they waited for the rental procedure to be completed, he called Creed. “We were found at Ellen’s home.”

“That’s not good,” Creed muttered. “Must be they knew you’d head over there.”

“That’s my thought, too. Unless they were able to identify the company name Nina used to rent the SUV.” He sighed, watching as Nina worked her phone. “We’re getting another clean ride now. Should be back at the rental house soon.”

“I’ve been digging into the Sanchez drug angle,” Creed said. “I’ve confirmed Ernesto Sanchez is definitely Diego’s father. Diego Sanchez took over the cartel after his father was arrested. Which is interesting because he was barely twenty years old at the time.”

The Temple police officers were right. This was getting complicated. “Okay, that’s good. We believe Douglas Tillman is Nina’s biological father. He’s from a prominent, wealthy family in the area. Likely that he’s behind this, too.”

“Tillman, huh?” Creed echoed. “That’s a great lead. We can work on that angle as well.”

“I agree.” He noticed Nina had finished with her phone. “We’ll be there soon.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Creed said. “Be careful, though. If this is related to Diego Sanchez in any way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to track our vehicles despite using a fake company name.”

“We will.” He had already decided to change the license plate to help cover their tracks. “See you soon.” He ended the call, turning to Nina.

“Okay, we’re all set.” Nina’s smile was strained. “We have a dark blue SUV this time. It was the only one available that wasn’t white or silver.”

“That’s fine.” He scanned the mostly residential area. To the right, he saw a grocery store about a half mile down the road. “Let’s take a walk first. I need to pick up some black electrical tape.”

“Tape?” Nina fell into step beside him. She stayed close, as if worried the bad guys would return and spot them. He hated to admit her mass of curly red hair made her stand out from the other women around them.

Maybe they should grab a hat, too.

“We’re going to alter the license plate.” It was illegal to change a plate, but that was the least of his worries. “Just in case.”

“Okay.” He was glad she didn’t argue. “It feels weird to be walking down the street like this.”

“I know.” He slipped his arm around her waist. “We’re just a couple out for a walk. Try to look casual. This won’t take long.”

She made a choked sound, but put her arm around his waist, too. Without being too obvious, he scanned the road for any sign of the black truck.

Buying the black electrical tape didn’t take long. The grocery store only had baseball hats, which wouldn’t cover enough of Nina’s hair to help change her appearance, so he didn’t bother.