The Kim Austin Series 🔥🧨💥

When Bridges Burn

The Kim Austin Series

By: Karlee England

Chapter 114

P.O.V/ Kim Stevens:

Two Months later..

We waited for Kelly and the other demons to leave the chop shop, then we walked down the gravel driveway from the side that leads up to the front of the shop. Debby picked the lock with her trusty bobby pin, and the lock came off. She pulled the chains off and opened the doors. We walked inside. We walked down to the end of the building, finding the four long wooden crates against the wall. We opened them, discovering hundreds of illegal drugs such as Ecstasy pills aka MDMA, PCP aka Angel dust, Heroin, and Cocaine. We closed the crates, and Debby broke into the office, then returned with a copy of the receipt that had gone missing from the police evidence locker. This had a signature on it, signed " Theresa Roberts". We knew right away that wasn't Terri's handwriting, and the person who signed her name made a crucial mistake. They wrote Theresa when Terri never signs anything with her first name. We teleported back to Debby's house, where she put the receipt in her safe along with the cellphone. Jimmy arrived that Saturday and retrieved the receipt and cellphone while using rubber gloves, like Debby did while handling them. He sent them to the police station anonymously. Today is Monday, January 13, 1997. Carly will be a year old on the 23rd. I can't believe how fast she's grown. Before Kyle and I know it, she will be a teenager. She is already walking now; she has finally figured it out, and she has figured out how to run. She takes off running when Kyle and I catch her doing things she's not supposed to, like trying to get the lower cabinets, even though we've child-proofed them, she still attempts to open them. We've child-proofed everything in the house. A baby gate at the bottom of the stairs in the foyer so she can't climb up stairs and adventure, and child-proof locks on the front door and the back doors leading outside. When she runs, she uses her powers to increase her speed, which is Telekinetic speed, and Kyle can't catch her, so I have to. When I do, she busts out laughing in a giggle or cries when she's upset because she didn't want to be caught. Ken Wells' trial is set to begin today. Kyle and I are sitting on the couch watching it on TV early this morning while we eat breakfast, and Carly eats hers. It's 7:27 am. The camera is pointing at a criminal defense attorney named Howard Forbes as he reviews the evidence with the judge and the jury. Ken is sitting at the left table with his lawyer, Paul Combs. Ken Wells is a white man in his mid-fifties. Howard Forbes is a black man in his early fifties, and Paul Combs is a white man in his mid-forties. Howard says, " Mr. Wells' bank statements prove otherwise. They show that he had been sending Lauren Bridges large sums of money for years. The money was directly deposited into the Detective's account. Now, why would a vice president of a high-profile investment company like Apex Finance be paying a homicide detective? Did Lauren Bridges make good money? So why would she want his? More importantly it wasn't his money to give away it was the company's." After breakfast, Kyle turned off the TV because we couldn't watch all of it; we had to go to work. Kyle went into the kitchen with our plates and started cleaning up the dishes. I took a wet wipe and cleaned the baby food off Carly's face, then wiped her hands. A few minutes later, Kyle returns to the living room. The doorbell rings, and he walks into the foyer, opening the door for Renee. She walks into the living room while I'm getting Carly's things together as she sits in the high chair. Renee walks over and pulls her out of it. Kyle brings the car seat from the foyer and sets it on the couch. Renee gently places Carly in it and buckles her in as she says some gibberish. Kyle and I give Carly kisses, then Renee picks up the car seat, holding it in her right hand. Kyle hands her the diaper bag, and she puts it on her left shoulder. Kyle said to Carly, " Daddy loves you, princess." Carly grins as she has her fingers in her mouth, drooling. I said, " Momma loves you, sweet girl." Carly says gibberish. Renee kisses Kyle on the cheek, then she gives me a kiss on the cheek. She said, " We love y'all.. see you later today." Kyle said, " Bye Mom.. We love you." Renee walks into the foyer with the carseat in her right hand and the diaper bag on her shoulder. Kyle opens the front door for her, and she walks out to her car parked in the driveway. We stand on the front porch as Renee places Carly in the backseat in the rear-facing carseat, then buckles her in. Renee closes the back door of the car, then waves at us as she climbs into the driver's seat. She carefully backs out of the driveway, looking both ways. She turns right and drives down the road to the main road of the neighborhood. Kyle and I walk back inside the house. We stand in the foyer kissing for a couple of seconds. He is wearing his construction vest. He smiles down at me as I'm wearing my work outfit. He said, " I love you, beautiful. Have a great day." I said, " I love you, too, handsome. You have a great day." We walked out together, I locked the door with my house keys, and we walked down to the driveway. We kiss one more time and say goodbye, then get in our cars, leaving the house and driving to work. Later on that day, I'm at the café having lunch with K.J. and Dakota. I said, "I saw some of Ken's trial on TV this morning." Dakota said, "Yeah, we saw some of it too." I looked at K.J.; she seemed worried because she had been asked to testify against Ken for more evidence. She agreed, but wanted to remain anonymous. I said, " Are you okay?" K.J. smiles, " Yeah, I'm good." But I can tell she's worried. I said, "Ken is never gonna find out you testified... nobody will ever know it was you." She looked at Dakota and said, "It's all confidential." We talked about something else as we continued eating. I notice Kelly at a table working on her laptop. She has a pair of pull-over headphones on her head. After lunch, I leave work early. We're going up to the prison to visit Terri, we have for each month, but last month we couldn't because she got into another fight and got thrown in solitary confinement for three weeks. It wasn't a fight Kelly had put together; those are held in places of the prison where the other guards don't go too often. The fight is supervised by a guard in the fight with Kelly in exchange for money for their silence. Terri was out in the yard when she was jumped by six female inmates. That's all we heard. We don't know what else happened. Kay said she's alive and that's all she knew. I left work at 1:00 pm and drove home to change clothes. I pulled in the driveway at 1:24 pm and parked the car, shutting it off. I exited the car, closing the door behind me, and walked up to the front door. I unlocked it and walked inside. Lance was sleeping on the couch when I walked in. Kyle gets off at 4:00 pm and will feed him later. I put my bag on the coat rack and went upstairs. A few minutes later, I returned downstairs. My hair is down, going past my shoulders with some waves in the ends. I'm wearing a Denim Guess jacket, a black t-shirt with a white Roxy symbol on the right shoulder, a buckle-down belt featuring a black and grey checkered print, a pair of low-rise Guess blue jeans, and a pair of Air Jordan 3 high-tops in white, cement grey, and true blue. I grab my keys out of the bowl and walk out the door, locking it behind me. I walk down to my car, get inside, and drive over to Debby's house. I parked my car in the driveway in front of Debby's truck. I turned off the engine and removed the keys from the ignition. I exit the car, closing the door behind me as I walk down the driveway. I walk up the stairs and onto the front porch. opening the screen door. I walk into the living room. Debby is sitting at the desk looking at the computer screen. Mom is standing in front of the bookshelf. Jane, Shana, and Jesse are sitting on the couch. Mom's hair is down; it lies on her shoulders. She's wearing a black and white Nike windbreaker jacket, a black t-shirt with a white Nike symbol, a buckle-down belt with a black and white checkered print, a pair of low-rise Lee blue jeans, and a pair of black and white Air Jordan 3 high-tops. Debby's hair is down, falling past her shoulders with some subtle waves at the ends. She's wearing a navy blue jacket with white strings, a white and navy blue checkered shirt with short sleeves, a buckle-down belt with a blue and white checkered print, a pair of low-rise Abercrombie and Fitch blue jeans, and a pair of navy blue Vans half-cab shoes; the shoelaces are white, and so are the soles of the shoes. Jane's hair is down, and it goes past her shoulders with some waves at the ends. She's wearing a black leather jacket, a black t-shirt, a black leather belt with silver studs, a pair of low-rise Calvin Klein blue jeans, and a pair of black Doc Marten boots. Shana's hair is down, falling past her shoulders with subtle waves at the ends. She's wearing a Denim American Eagle jacket, a navy blue t-shirt that says "Vans" in white letters, a buckle-down belt with silver studs, a pair of low-rise Lucky Brand blue jeans, and a pair of blue and black Old Skool Vans high-tops. Jesse's hair is up, her bangs are on the right, and her ponytail comes to the middle of her back with some waves. She's wearing a leather jacket with white sleeves, it has the Chicago bulls symbol on the right side of the chest, a black t-shirt that says Chicago bulls 1996 champions, a buckle-down belt with a red and black checkered print, a pair of a pair of low-rise Lucky Brand blue jeans, and a pair of Air Jordan 3 white- cement grey high-tops. After we left the chop shop that day, we returned late that night, and Debby installed a CCTV camera on the telephone pole out in front of the shop then cast the invisibility spell on it. However, we haven't seen anything yet; the shop has been quiet. Debby gets up from the desk, and we exit the house, walking down the stairs as Debby locks the house. We walk down to Mom's Bronco and climb inside. Mom drives the two hours up to the prison and parks in the parking lot. We exited the car and walked across the parking lot. As we approach the front doors, a buzzing noise goes off, and Debby opens the door. We walk up to a set of metal detectors where a female correctional officer stands. She says in a firm tone, " Please remove belts, cellphones, keys, and any kind of jewelry that includes wedding rings with stones." We remove our things, placing them in the basket. The woman said, " Please remove your jackets as well." We took off our jackets, laying them on the table, and the baskets with our items sat in front of them. We walk through the metal detectors and the woman said " Thank you.. now proceed to the front desk." A middle aged black woman opens the window and says " Inmate name?" Debby said " Theresa Roberts." The woman said " Trouble, can have visitors.. go on back." She presses a button and the two doors in front of us make a buzzing noise then open. We walk into the open room with several wooden tables and chairs. A male correctional officer walks up to us. He said, " Ladies, find a seat and the inmate will be out shortly. Please follow the rules displayed on the walls. If any of these rules are broken, the visit will be terminated and you will be asked to leave." We walked to the middle and sat down in chairs at a table. A couple of minutes later, a white female correctional officer escorts Terri out to the room. She's wearing the bright orange prison outfit and black slip-on shoes. Her brown hair is down, going past her shoulders with some waves in the ends, and grey through it. She isn't wearing her glasses; they must have gotten broken. She walks up as we stand up. We give her quick hugs, then sit back down. Her eyes still have that cold look in them. She looks like she could come across the table and take us all on, but she wouldn't. Jesse smiles as she wipes the tears off her face. She said " Hi, Momma." Terri smiles then said softly " Hello my beautiful young woman.. almost an adult already." Jesse said softly " How have you been? Nana told us what happened?" Terri said softly " I was jumped in the yard by six inmates.. I got shanked three times." We stare at her as our eyes tear up. Jesse said softly " But you're okay.. right?" Terri said softly " Yes, I got lucky though.. I was stabbed in the ribs and it missed my spleen hitting a rib then twice in the top of my shoulder.. just some stitches." Debby said quietly " It wasn't Kelly?" Terri said softly " No it wasn't but those women are out of solitary and have been moved to a different part of the prison." Jesse said quietly " Do you think Kelly did that?" Terri shakes her head yes. Debby said quietly, " We're getting closer to proving you innocent." Terri has this look of sadness on her face as she looks down at the table. She looks back up at us with tears in her eyes. She said quietly, " I really appreciate all you guys are doing, but let's face the fact that I'm probably not getting out of here. Even if I am proven innocent, it could take years to get me out of here." Jesse chokes back tears as we all stare at Terri, trying not to cry ourselves.. Tears fall from Debby's gunmetal blue eyes. She said softly in a firm tone, " Don't you dare give up hope... that's not the Terri we know... you're coming home... mark my words." Tears fell from her eyes, then she wiped her face. She is looking down at the table as she cries. Debby reaches across the table, taking Terri's hands in hers. Terri looks up at her as tears stream down Debby's face. She said softly, " You're stronger than that, I know it. Please hold on a little while longer, for us, for Jesse, for Sam and Riley." She let go of her hands before one of the guards saw. Terri shakes her head yes. Debby wipes her face, then said softly, " We love you so much, Terri." She said softly, " I love you guys so much." A few minutes later, the visit was over, and we walked back out to the lobby, waving to Terri as she went through the doors. We gathered our things and left the prison. We got back in Mom's car and she drove the two hours back to Knoxville. Seeing Terri that depressed was so heartbreaking. We all cried on the way home.. She's coming home one way or another.