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wheels. There was nothing else in the car, nothing that generated a new lead. Back in his office, he had concluded that he was unable to draw a clear suspect from Javier’s group of friends. Oseguera had gone over his notes from the bits and pieces of stories told to him by wary teenagers suspect of anyone asking questions. No one wanted to get arrested. Many were willing to talk, even visit Oseguera at the Grand Prairie police station, but few remembered all the details. Slowly, however, he was able to piece together some of the facts and rule out all of Javier’s friends as suspects.
    They don’t call me Bird Dog for nothing, he thought as he poured another cup of coffee. Though he didn’t have any real answers, Detective Oseguera knew that his diligence with the details would pay off. As he ruminated over the first two weeks’ work, he ticked off in his mind the facts that he was dealing with. He was now certain that Javier was last seen at Bachman Lake Park, about 8:30 P.M. , eight days before Christmas. Through eyewitness accounts, he knew that someone speaking English had called Javier later that night, and he had deduced that the caller wasn’t a friend or acquaintance that he had interviewed. Someone had tried to steal the tires off Javier’s car. Oseguera furrowed his brow in puzzlement as he tested a thought. Javier was not in a gang. He did hang out at Bachman Lake Park, but the area wasn’t known as a hangout for gang members. Besides, gang activity in Grand Prairie was nearly nonexistent. But if none of Javier’s friends or acquaintances killed him, then who did?

CHAPTER 9
    O seguera’s murder investigation languished for another week until he got a surprise phone call from a detective with the Dallas Police Department’s Gang Unit. Its primary role was to document and track gang activity within the city of Dallas, and the detective had stumbled across Oseguera’s murder case during one of his investigations.
    Oseguera stroked his graying moustache as he listened to the detective explain why he was calling: through colleagues in Virginia, they had tracked an out-of-state member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang. It was the first time Oseguera had heard of the gang. He had to repeat the name a couple of times in his head to get it straight. When Virginia cops had issued an arrest warrant for the gangster, he decided to get out of the state and lay low. He was hiding out with his homies in Dallas, where they took care of him and protected him from the police.
    Oseguera listened closely and quietly took notes as the detective continued detailing the story. Apparently, the gangster’s flight wasn’t enough to shake off the Virginia cops, and they had succeeded in tracking the guy to Dallas. They had alerted the Dallas Gang Unit of his presence, possible whereabouts, and likely associates. By mid-January, members of the Dallas Gang Unit were searching for two suspects, the gangster on the run and Brenda Paz, someone they thought was hiding him from the law. When members of the Gang Unit, following up on intelligence from Virginia, visited a low-income apartment complex in north Dallas, they recovered a shoebox that belonged to Brenda. As he listened, Oseguera made a note of the new name: Brenda Paz. Not one of Javier’s friends, he thought. The Dallas detective then told him that inside the weathered cardboard container was evidence related to Oseguera’s case.
    In this shoebox, Brenda had stored a number of items, including a receipt from Blockbuster video with Ben Calzada’s name printed on it. Oseguera immediately made the connection. The detective explained that they had followed up on the address they had obtained from the Blockbuster membership file, hoping to find Brenda and the runaway gangster she was hiding. Ben Calzada had answered the door when the Gang Unit detectives arrived. Mr. Calzada had explained to the officers that his son was recently murdered in Grand Prairie. They showed Ben some of