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Doing her best to ignore Jackson’s musky scent, she wiped at her face. Learning her mother had gotten pregnant at seventeen made her feel sick to her stomach. Had her mother been with a serious boyfriend back then? Yet if so, shouldn’t he have come forward when her mother had gone missing?

Jackson had mentioned her biological father may not have known about the baby, but in her mind, he certainly should have. At the very least, the guy would know that a pregnancy was a possibility.

When Nina had been seventeen, she’d played the clarinet in their school’s marching band and participated on the debate team. Her memories of high school were good, her life had been fun and carefree. She hadn’t had a serious boyfriend back then, although Tim Wagner had asked her to prom. She and Tim had gone their separate ways after graduation. Nina had gone to college in Austin and had fallen in love with the city so much that she’d stayed.

“Are you okay?” Jackson’s dark, probing gaze lingered on her face.

She lifted one shoulder. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

His gaze was skeptical. “You’ve had a rough evening and it’s well past midnight now. Please try to get some sleep. We can pick up the investigation in the morning.”

He was right, her body craved sleep. Nina wasn’t sure her mind would allow her to rest, though. The sounds of gunfire had finally faded away, but every time she closed her eyes she could still see her Uncle Mark’s dead body.

She had barely known the man, having had only two brief phone calls with him, but she still felt bad about losing the only link she had to her birth family. She tried to shake off the despondency. Time to look on the bright side. She knew more about her birth mother now. Too bad, she couldn’t say the same thing about her biological father.

Deep down, she realized she didn’t really want to find him. That he’d left her mother pregnant at seventeen to give birth on her own, only to be shot and killed, not to mention brutally assaulted beforehand, fueled her anger. He must be a despicable human being.

And a murderer? Swallowing hard, she was forced to admit anything was possible.

“Nina? Please?” Jackson’s soft plea washed over her. He was being incredibly sweet and kind. More so than Sean had ever been.

“Okay.” She saved the document on the screen and powered down the laptop. “I’ll try to get some rest.”

“Good.” His concerned expression warmed her heart. She did her best to ignore the attraction sizzling between them. Probably more so on her side, she thought grimly. Jackson stood and put a hand beneath her elbow to help her up. “Keep in mind, Creed and I are going to need your computer expertise come morning.”

That almost made her smile. “I know, you guys are hopeless when it comes to tech stuff.”

“Yep.” He grinned. “Because we know we can count on you to help us out of a jam.”

Now she did smile, despite everything she’d been through. Why did he have to be so charming? Nina looked away and quickly crossed the room. “Good night.”

“Good night, Nina.” She could feel his gaze linger on her as she slipped into her room and closed the door behind her.

She hadn’t expected to sleep but she must have, because the next thing she knew, sunlight was streaming in through her east-facing window. She blinked, her first thought going to the computer she needed to get back to.

Temple, Texas. The city where Nina’s mother had given birth to her flashed in her mind. She’d been so distraught last night over learning her mother’s young age that she hadn’t paid much attention to the other details she’d uncovered.

Why had her mother given birth in Temple, Texas, only to be found in Dallas ten days later, bruised and suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen?

Nina quickly washed up in the bathroom, wincing at her wildly out-of-control hair. Nothing she could do about it now. Her cosmetic bag and wide-tooth comb were in her suitcase in the bullet-riddled motel room.

Stupid to want to look nice for Jackson. She smoothed her hands over her wrinkled clothes and headed into the main suite. The welcome scent of coffee greeted her. Jackson was sitting at the table, his phone beside the computer.

“You didn’t mess with my document, did you?” She hurried forward, feeling possessive of the device and the work she’d done thus far.

“Nope.” He arched a brow. “You look better.”

“Sleep helps.” She turned to pour a cup of coffee from the pot on the credenza. “Where’s Creed?”

“He’ll be out soon.” She noticed Jackson’s hair was damp and envied him the ability to shower. Without a wide-tooth comb to tame her wild curls, she didn’t dare try to wash her hair. “I hope you don’t mind that I read through your notes.”

“Of course not.” Silly to feel as if the information she’d uncovered was private. If the gunmen who’d opened fire outside her uncle’s cabin were related to her mother’s cold case murder, she needed everyone to know every aspect of her mother’s life.

“I noticed the birth certificate was for Temple, Texas,” Jackson said.

Sipping her coffee, she sat in the chair beside him. “Yes, that’s interesting, isn’t it? I need to dig into Temple a bit. It’s possible Anna lived there, which is why she’d given birth at the local hospital there. Although that doesn’t explain why she’d been in Dallas when she was murdered.”

“Maybe that’s where your biological father lived?”