Amanda's Blue Marine Read Free

job."
    Pat was momentarily silenced by the implications of that response. Finally she said, "Can you talk to Manning about how he treats the DE clerks? He's got them all terrorized and I'm having quite enough trouble hanging on to the entry level help as it is."
    "I'll do that ONLY if you make sure nobody else gets past my door until after lunch. This Redfield girl is really scared and we're supposed to help her. So far the only impression she's gotten is that we're the reincarnation of the Keystone Kops."
    Pat made some reply Mandy couldn't catch as she left and then Kelly headed back to his office. Mandy scooted back to her chair as his footsteps approached.
    Mandy thought briefly about what she'd heard. She had assumed that she was appearing calm and controlled. It was a shock to realize that her fear was so obvious to Kelly. It also didn't make her happy to know that she was considered a special case getting special treatment. She wanted help, the kind of help any citizen with her problem would receive, not the deference accorded a spoiled brat whose father demanded white glove service for his precious little girl.
    What must Kelly think of her?
    "It's amazing that we get anything done around here, isn't it?" Kelly said casually to Mandy, resuming his seat. "No wonder the crime stats are up in Metro."
    "I know you're busy," Mandy mumbled inanely as he watched him tap the computer keys again.
    "Let's try this once more," he said. He scanned the computer screen quickly and said, "You're an Assistant District Attorney and you've been getting threatening letters."
    "Notes," Mandy said. "One liners."
    "I see some samples here, " Kelly said thoughtfully, looking at his screen again. “The forensics guys are testing the actual notes for evidence."
    "‘I'm coming for you,’" he read aloud. “And ‘You'll be sorry you put me away.’ Also, let's see, ‘You'll never know I'm even near you until I get you.’"
    Mandy shivered. "Right," she said quietly.
    Kelly shook his head disgustedly. "This guy's a poet. And you're pretty sure it's connected to your job?"
    "Yes. I think so. 'Put me away' sounds like someone who blames me for his incarceration."
    "You've been getting them only at work, never at home?"
    "Never at home."
    Kelly shrugged. "Don't assume that means he doesn't actually know where you live."
    Mandy felt a chill. "I feel like someone is watching me all the time," she said flatly.
    "You've been an ADA for three years? You must have been involved in the conviction of quite a few people during that period."
    Mandy nodded.
    "Yet this bozo is singling you out from the whole group."
    "I guess. In any case we handle there are several lawyers working on the prosecution, depending on how big a deal it is. Why would he pick on me? I do backup research, I’m always the least visible lawyer on the team.”
    “That doesn’t mean he didn’t see you. And remember you.”
    Amanda sighed, then said, “And you refer to him as 'he'. How do we know this person is a man?"
    "We know from profiling that women don't generally do this sort of thing. It happens, but it's quite rare. And I see here that out of all the convictions you've been credited with only two of the defendants were women. So the odds are overwhelming that the perp is male."
    "And why is he picking on me?"
    "Because you're a lot prettier than Sam Rhinegold?" Kelly suggested.
    "Come on," Mandy said dismissively, shaking her head.
    "I'm serious. The losers who do this sort of thing have major problems with all aspects of life, not just the crime you are prosecuting them for at the moment. He thinks you have power over him because of your job and he resents a woman being in that position. He thinks women should be subservient and it drove him mad to have you making him answer for his behavior. He has a crush on you because he saw you in court during his trial and thinks he has an actual relationship with you.”
    “He saw me maybe a few times, if even that. In any case