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Amanda’s thinking returned to the basis for their arrests. Eight years might feel like a long time to hold a grudge, but Katherine had stolen their business, livelihood, and freedom. In that vein, their memories would never fade. Often time served was halved if an inmate showed good behavior. “You said the minimum sentence was a dime, but were any released early recently?”
“I’m to be notified if that happens. A memo of that sort hasn’t come through to my desk.”
Amanda didn’t want to come across as skeptical, but the system wasn’t perfect. “Could this have fallen through the cracks?”
“I mean, anything is possible. I’ll follow up, but I’m more concerned that a friend or relative of a gang member may have gotten to Kat.”
“Did any of them make threats against her?” Trent asked.
“Oh, yeah. She received several.”
Amanda took a deep breath. With the ADA’s help, they might have a real chance of saving Katherine.
EIGHTEEN
Amanda took several seconds to process what the New York Assistant District Attorney had just told them. Threats were made against Katherine from affiliates of the gang. Had they discovered a sampling of these in Katherine’s drawer? “We found some typewritten threats addressed to Katherine in her home office. They were dropped off in person, not signed or dated,” Amanda disclosed. Then she told Natasha what they said.
“You ruined my life. I will ruin yours.”
“You owe me. I’m coming to collect.”
“You lie. I will expose the truth and bring you to your knees.”
“You will hurt. I will get you alone one day.”
“Huh. Those threats strike me as rather simple. Each are two sentences and start with you. I’d say whoever sent them blames Katherine for something.”
The ADA’s reasoning was sound, but to hear it in so many words landed with impact. “Did she tell you about these threats?”
“No, if she had, I’d remember and would have encouraged her to report them. It’s not like anyone is telling Kat what to do.”
There was no advantage to dwelling on how things might have been different if Katherine had confided in someone. “You’re sending a list with the names of the gang members, but if I were to ask for one name that comes to mind right away, who would that be? This person would pose the most threat to Katherine.”
“Elias Rush.” The name glided from Natasha’s tongue. She added, “He’s the older brother of one of the gang’s ringleaders.”
Amanda tapped the name into the notepad app on her phone. “And the name of the ringleader?”
“Ollie.”
“And what was his sentence?” Amanda asked.
“Life.”
“Elias get any time?” Trent asked.
“No, he wasn’t directly caught up in the gang.”
“But is still a dangerous guy?” An assumption as the ADA saw fit to go straight to his name.
“He’s an uncertainty. He has a juvie record, if I remember, but nothing charged against him as an adult as far as I know. He takes protecting his little brother quite seriously though.”
“Quite a blow then, Ollie being sentenced to life,” Trent pushed out.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Then you can see Elias writing these threats and/or coming after Katherine?” Putting it out there so directly had Amanda’s heart racing. Could this be the lead we’re after?
“Hard to say, and a number of years have passed.”
