Life was for the living, and those people wanted to be able to find a way for them to keep living and enjoying their lives in freedom.
If they could make a deal to escape prison or to reduce their sentence, then they would gladly take it.
The revealed pattern and the series of events showed several acts to punish people and send a message, while there was one unexpected consequence of it, which was the death of Gerald, which seemed to be retaliation or a fight for survival.
With the death of Gerald becoming known and the earlier events being left unsettled, the final people involved needed to be dealt with, so the natural course of events was for them to be found and killed before they could get to safety or talk to the police.
When looking into those under the employment of Gerald, a couple of people stood out the most.
