Page 17 of Texas Cold Case Murder

Creed drove around to a side entrance. He parked, then handed over the keys. She took hers and pushed out of the back seat. She didn’t have a change of clothes, or anything else for that matter, but she reminded herself that being safe was all that mattered.

As Creed opened the back hatch, she went back to join him. “Do you have a laptop?”

“How did I know you were going to ask?” He grinned and handed her the device. “Do your thing, Nina.”

“Thanks.” Tucking the device under her arm, she followed the rangers inside.

The room was nice, but despite the roominess of the suite, she was far too aware of Jackson’s presence. She carried the laptop to the table and plugged it in.

“Anyone hungry?” Creed plucked the room service menu from the table.

“I am. Nina?” Jackson arched a brow.

“Sure.” She accepted the menu Creed passed to her. After everything that they’d been through, she thought it best to eat when the opportunity arose. “I’ll have the grilled chicken wrap.”

“Great.” Creed passed the menu to Jackson. “I’ll have the barbecued ribs.”

“I’ll call in our order.” Jackson eyed the menu as he picked up the phone.

Nina booted up the computer and took a moment to connect to the hotel internet. From there, though, she rerouted the IP address to hide their location. This was a new strategy they’d started using months ago, and it provided an additional level of security.

Once that was finished, she began searching for Anna Lange in the Dallas personal records system. When she did the search without a birth year, the system spun in circles because there were too many Anna Langes. So she tried again with an estimated birth year of forty-six years ago.

Nothing came up. She tried to narrow down the month, starting with January. Still no match. She was meticulously working through the months when she heard Jackson’s phone ring.

She looked away from the screen, wondering if their boss was following up with them. But when Jackson crossed to the kitchen table, she pushed the laptop to the side.

“Yes, Nina is here with me. I’ll put you on speaker.” Jackson lowered his phone and hit a button before setting it on the table between them. Creed stood off to the side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Jackson held her gaze. “Go ahead, Deputy Green. Tell us what you’ve uncovered.”

“We got a hit in the system on Mark Lange’s fingerprints,” Green said. “We’ve confirmed his ID. There’s no question that the dead man is Mark Lange. But I thought you should know that Lange has a criminal record.”

Nina gasped, shocked by the news. “What kind of criminal record?”

“Mark Lange spent twenty years in prison for drug trafficking and the attempted murder of a police officer. He’s been out for over eight years, and was released from parole three years ago. To be honest, there’s no address associated with Lange since he was released from parole. Whatever he’s been doing, he stayed off the grid.”

Twenty years for attempted murder of a police officer and drug trafficking. The words knocked around in Nina’s mind like ping-pong balls. She pressed her fingertips into her temples, wondering if her mother had been killed because of her Uncle Mark’s drug connections. Had her uncle testified against his fellow drug dealers? Was that the reason her mother had been beaten and shot in the abdomen?

If so, it made sense that her uncle had claimed to be responsible for her mother’s murder.

* * *

Jackson wasn’t entirely surprised to learn Mark Lange had a criminal record, but from the dazed expression on Nina’s face, she was taking the news hard. He turned his attention back to Deputy Green. “Did the techs find anything else of interest at the cabin or the motel?”

“Nothing but shell casings.” Green sounded tired. “Without a license plate for the truck, we’re stuck.”

Jackson hated to admit the deputy was right. And knowing Mark Lange had drug connections made him reconsider their theory. “Maybe one of Lange’s old drug runner buddies went after him to extract revenge.”

“That makes sense to me,” Green agreed. “But since it’s your case now, you’ll have to take it from here.”

“Not a problem. All I need to know is when the autopsy on Lange will be performed.”

“ME said he’d do that first thing in the morning. Do you want his number?”

“Yes, please.” Jackson scribbled the medical examiner’s phone number on a scrap of hotel paper. “Thanks. I’ll get in touch with him tomorrow.”

“Later.” With that, Green ended the call.

“Twenty years in prison,” Nina murmured.