Winning Texas (22 page)

In the last decade, U.S. newsrooms had shrunk by tens of thousands of journalists and their numbers continued to drop off each year. There were fewer reporters working on big, controversial stories, so the profession overall should be safer. Or so Annie tried to tell herself. But she also knew from her own experience that reporters would always risk danger when they asked questions people didn
’
t want to answer. Still, Nate
’
s death made no sense to her. He
’
d been investigating Kyle Krause
’
s clubs, but police insisted that there was no hard evidence to point to Krause, and employees had backed him up. They
’
d seen him leave at the front entrance of the club about 2 a.m. Was it possible for Krause to sneak out before he left without attracting attention and kill Nate in the back parking lot? Maybe, she thought, but that seemed like an unlikely scenario when he
’
d just talked to the reporter. Annie wished that she could think it all through with more clarity, but right now she was too emotional.

She saw Travis come from the newsroom elevator and head toward her. His face was drawn and he walked more slowly than usual. She knew that as one of the last people to spend time with Nate, he felt as anguished as she did.

“
Did you sleep any last night, Travis?
”

“
Not much. You?
”

“
No, but today
’
s the day we need to start going through all of Nate
’
s computer notes and notebooks. Can you spend a few hours doing that with me?
”

“
Where do we start?
”

Before the funeral, Annie had gathered the personal items from Nate
’
s workspace, including his Baylor mug and pens, a ratty denim jacket and some college textbooks on investigative reporting. She
’
d piled it all into a box and had given it to Carolyn Hardin the day of the funeral. They
’
d both cried and she
’
d held Carolyn for a long moment before promising her that she
’
d get to the bottom of his death. Annie knew that the Hardins were coming to Houston over the weekend to clean out Nate
’
s tiny studio apartment near downtown. She could not even imagine how difficult that would be for them, but they
’
d declined her offer to help.

“
I took Nate
’
s personal stuff to the Hardins yesterday. I
’
m going to start going through the paper files in his desk drawers. Do you happen to know his computer password?
”

“
Yeah,
”
Travis said.
“
Try 123Bearsjourno. He was still a Baylor fan, you know?
”

They worked quietly for a few hours, with Travis sitting at Nate
’
s computer and printing out files while Annie went through his desk and read through paper files he
’
d stowed in drawers. Nate, like most journalists, was a pack rat and took voluminous notes in telephone interviews that he later printed out and saved in his own idiosyncratic filing system. It didn
’
t look like he
’
d thrown out anything during his stint at the
Houston Times
.

Travis took a break to check in with some of his police sources for news of the day, which was light. He
’
d offered to go out and bring back some lunch. He took his time, driving to a deli near downtown and getting something special. He and Annie went to a small conference room and he offered her a muffaletta with chips, sweet tea and a peanut butter cookie. She was touched that he
’
d remembered her fondness for the Cajun-style sandwiches on fresh-baked round bread.

“
I haven
’
t been able to eat much, but this is wonderful, Trav,
”
Annie said, biting into her sandwich.

“
Thanks. I feel better just getting back to work.
”
Travis gave her the ghost of a smile and handed her a bunch of napkins. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“
I know you spent a lot of time with Nate. How much did he tell you about his research?
”
Annie asked.

“
We
’
d joke about his visits to the topless clubs, but he seemed really interested about finding out how they operated. He
’
d definitely honed in on Kyle Krause. I think Krause
’
s background fascinated him, especially his involvement with the German-Texas movement.
”

“
Yeah, it
’
s a shame Maggie left before doing anything on that story,
”
Annie said.
“
Now we
’
re starting at ground zero.
”

“
I don
’
t think so,
”
Travis said with a triumphant smile.
“
Look at this memo.
”

He handed Annie a printout he
’
d made from Nate
’
s computer. She read it in silence.

“
Wow,
”
she said.
“
If Nate was right, Kyle Krause is the biggest backer of Sam Wurzbach
’
s campaign to grab a piece of the Hill Country for German Texas. That might give him a motive to kill Nate.
”

“
Seems unlikely,
”
Travis said.
“
Krause
’
s contributions are legal, as far as I know. He
’
s strange and shady, but I don
’
t think he
’
d kill anyone to keep his political contributions secret.
”

“
That
’
s true,
”
Annie conceded.
“
I ran into Sam Wurzbach at the North Freeway club and he told me Krause was a big supporter. I just didn
’
t know how big
–
he
’
s contributed close to a half-million dollars, according to Nate
’
s calculations.
”

“
Was Wurzbach there the night the cops shut down the Carla Carmine show?
”
Travis asked. Annie had assigned him to follow up the raid and he
’
d written a story about that incident.

“
Yeah, he seemed a little embarrassed to be seen at a porn star show,
”
Annie said.
“
He made a point of telling me that Krause was an old high school friend who believed in the campaign for German Texas.
”

“
You never did tell me how you happened to be there,
”
Travis said.
“
Researching the porn industry for your next career?
”

“
Hardly. A friend who
’
s a cop took me with him,
”
Annie said. She was quiet for a moment before deciding to be candid.
“
I might as well tell you, but please keep it under your hat. I
’
ve been seeing Matt Sharpe.
”

“
You and Sharpe are dating?
”
Travis said.
“
Isn
’
t he a little old for you?
”

“
Travis, how could you say that?
”
Annie said.
“
I suspect that Lila Jo has a good ten or fifteen years on you.
”

“
That
’
s true,
”
Travis said.
“
I just didn
’
t picture the two of you together. I
’
d heard that since he separated from his wife, he
’
s quite the bachelor about town.
”

“
What do you mean? Let
’
s not even go there,
”
she said.
“
I assume he
’
s dated other women. Should we get back to work?
”

“
Okay, sure. Nate traced all the campaign money given to Wurzbach during his last legislative campaign. Some of it came from Krause
’
s strip club managers.
”

“
I
’
m impressed, but not surprised,
”
Annie said with another wave of sadness.
“
Nate really used his investigative skills.
”

“
I helped him a little with the money trail,
”
Travis said.
“
But he spent hours on this stuff in his free time.
”

“
I
’
m still not sure what to make of this German-Texas campaign. What do you think?
”
She frowned as she underlined key phrases in Nate
’
s notes.

“
It seems different from the Nation of Texas. They
’
re secessionists who want to turn this state into a separate country, to break up with the United States,
”
Travis said.
“
The German Texans say they want an enclave where they can celebrate and keep their heritage alive. It looks like they
’
re talking about including land west of Austin and north of San Antonio, taking in towns established by German immigrants.
”

“
That would include New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne and Comfort, for sure. What about Kerrville?
”
Annie thought out loud, running through her mental map of the Texas Hill Country.

“
You
’
re wondering if Kerrville
’
s very own state senator, Jake Satterfield, is in on this?
”

Annie frowned. How much did he know about her past history with Jake?

“
I don
’
t think Satterfield
’
s involved,
”
Travis said.
“
But obviously, we
’
ll have to find out what he knows.
”

“
What do you think they mean by a German Texas enclave?
”

“
We only know what they
’
ve been asking for publicly. German language taught in schools, road and street signs in German as well as English and a big museum and tourist center,
”
Travis said.

“
My hackles went up when Wurzbach talked about training German Texans to help low-staffed police departments,
”
Annie said.
“
He seems like a great guy, but what does he really want? Arming German Texans sounds about as bad as arming the Nation of Texas secessionists.
”

“
Yeah, I agree. It doesn
’
t seem like a good idea.
”

“
What else do you see in Nate
’
s records?
”
she asked.

“
Kyle Krause owns a lot of Hill Country land, including a huge, fenced-off ranch,
”
Travis said.
“
Nate thought he might be using his managers and girlfriend to buy property.
”

“
Wonder what that
’
s all about?
”
Annie said.

“
The secrecy seems odd,
”
he said.
“
Wonder what they
’
re doing there?
”

“
Something else we
’
ll need to check out.
”

They spent all afternoon reading through Nate
’
s stuff and making notes before Annie looked at her watch. It was nearly 5 o
’
clock and they needed a break. But they also needed to talk this through while it was fresh in their minds. It might be a good time to pick the brain of Brandon McGill, the
Times
reporter who covered the secessionist movement. She hoped he was still at his desk.