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“I thought of that, but she didn’t just send them away to prison, she put them out of business,” Amanda said. “Not to mention they’d have a lot of free time to plan their revenge.”
“True enough, and there’s not a time limit on payback. I have seen cases where people have waited twenty years to retaliate.”
“Does this Ollie have a lot of power and influence over anyone on the outside besides his brother?” Trent asked.
“I’m sure he does, not that I can point you anywhere. His closest friends worked by his side and are also behind bars. They have their own connections.” Natasha gave them two names, and Amanda pecked them into her phone.
“If we wanted to speak with these characters, is that something you could arrange?” Trent asked.
“Absolutely. I’m assuming you’d be interested in video conferencing?”
“That would be the most efficient and budget conscious.” There was no way Malone would justify the expense of flying them to New York City, and driving there and back would take up time they didn’t have.
“I’ll get it taken care of immediately.”
“Just before you go,” Trent interjected. “Who was Katherine’s partner when she was a detective?”
“Mickey Fitzgerald. Good cop. He still works as a homicide detective with the NYPD. He’s a lifer. He might have some names for you too.”
“Thanks,” Trent told her, and the call ended.
“She was a wealth of information,” Amanda said.
“That she was, and she handled the news with far more grace than I’d have expected.”
“Part shock, part a career choice that demands she keep grounded.” Amanda suspected the strong and fearless ADA was crumbling in her New York office right now. “Could you pull a background on this Elias Rush just quick?” He was still seated behind the wheel, the onboard computer within arm’s reach.
“You bet.” He clicked on the keyboard, and Amanda leaned into the car as the results filled in. She drew back when the smell of his cologne hit her, which was a blend of cedarwood mixed with notes of citrus and the sea.
Too close for comfort.
Trent said, “His current residence is in NYC. No criminal record. Looks like he got married a few years ago.”
“Huh.” She should have known that expecting a glaring new criminal record or a tie to Prince William County was too much.
“Dead end there, but we have Graves’s partner’s name. I say we call him and see what he might tell us.”
She gestured for him to go ahead, and he called on speaker. “We could ask him to talk with Elias.”
“Great idea.”
The line was ringing, and it wasn’t long before they were patched through to Mickey’s extension.
“Detective Fitz.” Two words, and an evident thick Bronx accent.
Trent announced who they were, namely detectives with the Prince William County PD in Woodbridge, Virginia.
“What can I do for ya?” His accent had for sounding like fawh. Despite the fact his day was probably jampacked, he didn’t give the impression this call was an unwelcome interruption to his day. There was the hint of hesitancy though, as if he were weighing Trent’s credibility.
Trent told Mickey about Katherine’s abduction and added, “We’re digging into her life to see who might have motive to do this. We thought you might be able to steer us in a direction.”
“Well, she has been gone from the NYPD for the better part of two years now.”
“Grudges last longer than that,” Amanda said. “Surely, there’s someone she put away that has it in for her.”
Mickey pushed out a chuckle but stopped abruptly. “Not really the time for amusement, I know. It’s just there’s a prison full of people who hate Kat. But you know that’s part of the job.”
“We’re not in it to make friends, that’s for sure,” Amanda said. “We understand that Katherine had the tendency to push people, to get resolution.” No matter the fact she’d worked with the woman for a while, she couldn’t surrender to abbreviating her name. It struck Amanda as too informal for their relationship, but then again, Mickey and Katherine had worked as equal ranks.
