Page 31 of Texas Cold Case Murder

“My uncle was twenty-one when he was arrested.” Nina sighed. “Only three years older than my mother.”

“This is a good place for us to start.” Now that they were parked down the road, Creed was scanning the information on his phone. “On the surface it doesn’t appear that your uncle or this Foster guy were involved in Diego Sanchez’s Mexican drug cartel, but we may find something useful.”

Jackson knew this was how investigations went. Tracking one piece of intel and another until you ended up with a more complete picture.

Still, he chafed at the painstaking process. He’d rather have something actionable.

The cleaners drove away. He nudged Creed. “Let’s go.”

His buddy nodded and put the car in gear to pull into the driveway. Nina closed the laptop and hopped out. Jackson joined her, while Creed waited behind the wheel. She entered the four-digit code on the lock box and opened it to remove the house key.

“I’ll open the garage so we can park inside.” She disappeared inside and a few minutes later, the garage door slowly rolled up.

The place was nicer than he’d anticipated. Owens wouldn’t love the added expense, but that was too bad. Staying under the radar was more important than their budget.

“Okay, this works,” Creed announced, looking around. “Nina, you take the master suite.”

“Thanks.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and Jackson knew she was still thinking about her mother. Rather than checking out the bedrooms, she carried the laptop to the kitchen table. “I need to look into Diego Sanchez’s background, too.”

“Creed and I were both involved in the drug bust. It was coordinated with Border Patrol.” He dropped into the seat beside her. “Although offhand, I can’t remember the names of everyone else involved.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of his parents.” She glanced at him. “Maybe his father or uncle or someone else in his family was a drug kingpin, too.”

“That’s possible.” He leaned forward to watch as she entered Diego Sanchez into the criminal database. “The last name Sanchez is as common as Smith and Jones. Not sure it will be easy to pinpoint a family connection.”

She nodded absently. “There’s a program I can use that lists known associates. Even if they’re not related by blood, that should help narrow down a few people to dig into.”

When she turned her head, her soft, springy hair brushed against his arm. As if burned, Jackson jumped up to put distance between them. Across the room, Creed sent him an arched look, clearly aware of his attraction for their colleague.

Bad idea to mix his career with his personal life. By the expression on Creed’s face, his fellow ranger felt the same way.

Nina was not for him. End of story.

Restless, he paced the length of the room. They should have gotten that second laptop, he thought with a sigh. For long minutes nobody spoke. He was about to suggest Creed head out to grab a second computer, when Nina said, “I think I found something.”

“What?” He crossed the room to peer over her shoulder.

“A man by the name of Ernesto Sanchez is listed as a known associate of Diego. He’s twenty years older than your guy, so he could be his father or uncle, as I said.” She turned in her seat to look up at him. “He’s been serving a life sentence for drug trafficking and murder.”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” He sat beside her, turning the computer so he could scan the information. “Ernesto was arrested a month after your uncle.” He drummed his fingers on the table, his thoughts whirling. “Hard to know if that’s a coincidence, or if your uncle gave him up as part of his own plea deal.”

Nina sighed. “I wish I knew what happened. If only I’d been able to meet with my uncle…”

“Hey, we’ll figure it out.” He went back to the information on Ernesto Sanchez. Then he froze. “He was in the same prison as Mark.”

“They house a lot of convicts, that doesn’t mean they knew each other,” Nina protested.

“Maybe not.” Still, he couldn’t tear his gaze from the screen. They’d been searching for a connection between their current trial and Mark Lange’s murder.

And now they had one.

NINE

Nina wasn’t sure that being in the same prison as Ernesto Sanchez meant her uncle had been killed because of his previous involvement in drug trafficking. Although she also knew there were well over a dozen correctional facilities in Texas and it was a little strange that Mark and Ernesto had been in the same facility.

She wanted to go back to tracking down her mother’s high school friends and acquaintances in the hopes of learning her father’s identity, but tried to be patient. All avenues of this case were important.

“Let’s say Sanchez and my uncle did talk in prison.” Nina held Jackson’s gaze. “Maybe they even worked together prior to being arrested. How did that lead to Uncle Mark being murdered? Especially so long after his release?”