Page 40 of Texas Cold Case Murder

And he’d probably sent the gunmen after her, too. Although the reasons for his doing that were murky. Was he worried she’d expose his old secret? That she’d try to sue him for back child support? Was that even a possibility? Make a claim against his company?

No, that was ridiculous. The real reason she was in danger was because Douglas was concerned she’d uncover his role in her mother’s death.

There was, after all, no statute of limitations on murder.

She entered the rental house, turning to seek refuge in the restroom. After splashing cold water on her face, she took several deep breaths.

Kissing Jackson wasn’t the end of the world. She would figure out a way to forget what it felt like to be held in his arms. His kiss had been more potent than Sean’s by a mile, but that didn’t change the fact it was a bad idea.

Jackson’s reputation indicated he wasn’t the sort of guy to take relationships seriously. Even if they didn’t work together, she wouldn’t take the risk. The last thing she needed was more heartbreak.

Enough. Nina squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Giving her reflection a nod, she silently confirmed she was fine on her own. She didn’t need a man in her life. Especially someone who was known to play the field. She wanted a man like her father. Eric, her real father, despite the lack of shared DNA between them. He’d loved her mother until the day they’d died.

Besides, uncovering the truth about her mother’s cold case murder was all that mattered. And her best chance to do that was to continue following leads with Jackson and Creed. They were professionals working together.

End of story.

Feeling stronger and more determined than ever to keep things light moving forward, Nina returned to the main living room. Finding Jackson and Creed huddled in front of a computer, she arched a brow. “You guys look serious. What caught your attention?”

“The Tillman oil fields have been in the family for three generations. Looks like Doug Tillman took over as CEO fifteen years ago, after his father suffered a massive heart attack. The old man stepped down, putting his son in charge.” Jackson held her gaze. “Makes me wonder how far they would go to protect their investment.”

“I don’t want their money.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “It doesn’t sound like Douglas was running the company back when he’d met my mother.”

“No, but Anna was a threat to him just the same. His reason for killing her could be twofold. To avoid paying child support and because he didn’t want his fiancée to know he’d been unfaithful to her.” Jackson shrugged. “I’m not sure why your life was spared. I mean, if the goal was to avoid paying child support or hiding your existence.”

“Yeah, I know.” That had bothered her when she’d first learned of her mother’s murder. “Maybe he couldn’t bring himself to murder an innocent baby.”

Jackson and Creed exchanged a glance. “Maybe,” Creed agreed. “Although the way these guys are coming after you makes me wonder why now? Why are you a threat now versus twenty-eight years ago? Or even ten years ago?”

“No clue.” She sank into the closest empty chair. “I suspect that finding my uncle changed things.”

“Tillman may have had someone keeping an eye on Mark,” Jackson said thoughtfully. “Once they learned he was meeting with you, they took him out of the equation.”

None of this was new information, but it helped to talk things out. She abruptly leaned forward to grab the laptop. “We need to establish a timeline.”

“Okay.” Jackson moved over to look at the screen over her shoulder. “I know you mentioned finding the DNA match. How long ago did you contact Mark?”

“Three weeks.” She added the date of the DNA match and the fact that she’d contacted him via email first, then followed up with the phone call. “We exchanged emails, before he agreed to share his phone number. Even then, he didn’t answer when I called. I left a message, and he called me back the following day.” She glanced at Jackson. “He admitted that he put his DNA in the system to try to find me. And it worked.”

Jackson nodded. “What happened then?”

“As I mentioned earlier, Mark was paranoid about being found. He mentioned moving to his current location about a year ago. He wouldn’t discuss our past over the phone. We had to connect twice before he would agree to a face-to-face meeting.” She grimaced. “Based his murder, he had a good reason to be paranoid.”

Jackson turned to Creed. “If you were a gunman determined to eliminate Mark and Nina, why not wait to take them both out at the same time? Why set up Mark’s death to look like a suicide?”

Creed shook his head. “Don’t know. That part doesn’t make sense. Unless for some reason the bad guys didn’t realize Nina was going to meet with him that night. Maybe they thought she would call to talk to him. His phone was missing, right?” When she nodded, he continued. “So they knew they’d been in communication. They killed him, thinking Nina would try to call him again. And when she couldn’t reach him, she’d notify the police. But when she showed up shortly after they’d done the deed, they needed to adjust their plan accordingly.”

Remembering those terrifying moments when she’d seen someone lurking outside her uncle’s home made her shiver. “That would explain why there was a slight delay before they showed up to shoot at me. I was also twenty minutes late. Maybe they were on the road when I passed them. That’s when they turned around to follow me back to the cabin.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Jackson frowned. “I guess they figured killing Nina now would be extra reassurance the truth wouldn’t come to light.”

“I’m not sure that theory holds up,” Creed argued. “We know the truth, and so does our boss. Even if Nina was out of the picture, the facts we’ve uncovered so far, and would continue to piece together, are enough to make Tillman the prime suspect.”

“Yeah, there’s that.” Jackson sighed. “We need a few more pieces of the puzzle.”

“We could start by getting a sample of Tillman’s DNA,” Creed suggested. “We can use that to prove Nina is his biological daughter.”

“That will take too long,” Jackson protested. “We have a trial starting on Monday, remember?”