The Kim Austin Series 🔥🧨💥

The Freed and The Fallen

The Kim Austin Series

By: Karlee England

Chapter 115

P.O.V/ Kim Stevens:

Three Months later..

Detective Bridges and Debby were both arrested and taken to the detention facility. Debby was arrested for resisting arrest. She broke free from the cops and did a roundhouse kick to Detective Bridges' face, nearly breaking her jaw. She spent four days in the detention facility and paid a $500 fine for resisting arrest. While at the compound, Kelly led the cops to the women's locker room of the gym. They found a sleeping bag on the floor, some of the detective's belongings inside a locker, and the gun that was used to shoot Debby months ago. Terri's post-conviction relief appeal was finally accepted two weeks after Detective Bridges' arrest at the compound, which she had filed after she was sent to prison. They released Terri from prison on February 18, 1997, after Gideon Becker filed a motion demonstrating that she was not a danger to society, would not flee, and had a strong likelihood of success on appeal, convincing the judge to grant post-conviction bail. Jesse and Don went to the prison and waited for a few hours for Terri to be released. Then, they brought her to their house, where she had a tearful reunion with Sam and Riley, who were overjoyed to see her. Everyone had a great time at the welcome-home party for Terri, with lots of hugs and tears. Sam and Riley wouldn't let Terri out of their sight. It was the happiest day we've had in eight months, which is how long she had been in prison. The post-conviction hearing for Terri lasted two months, as the court reviewed everything from Terri's trial, and with the new evidence, it went along more smoothly. They reviewed the evidence and were able to prove that it had been planted by Detective Bridges. They watched the security footage from the auto shop, also known as a chop shop, and saw Detective Bridges on tape selling Hobbs' car to the shop. The pictures we took of the car months ago and had Jimmy send to the police station anonymously proved that the auto shop was a chop shop. The police shut it down, arresting several individuals who were working there for Kelly. However, as always, Kelly or the other demons weren't caught. At the chop shop is where Detective Bridges made the mistake of forging Terri's signature, writing 'Theresa' instead of 'Terri'. That proves it wasn't Terri at the shop like the men said. The human workers were the ones who lied, saying it was Terri. Detective Bridges' fingerprints were discovered on both copies of the receipts from the shop, on the gun report that Terri had filed when her gun went missing before Hobbs's death. They went over Terri's blazer again, which now belongs to the police station, and found Detective Bridges' handprint inside the car on the driver's side door, where she " found" the missing gun when really she took the chance to plant it, but touched the door with her other hand that didn't have a rubber glove on. A cop who was there while Detective Bridges was searching the car said he was suspicious of her and tried to see what she was doing in the car, but didn't see her plant the gun. He said she was acting weird afterward. The file that Hobbs had on Detective Bridges contained information about the drug ring, proving that Detective Bridges and Ken Wells had been involved in it for years. All of this was enough to finally clear Terri's name. She was exonerated on April 10, 1997, and the courts have apologized. Terri is now suing for wrongful conviction, which means she will receive compensation. She lost everything, her family, her job, her life, and her Dad, but it wasn't the court's fault that Kelvin had a heart attack and passed away. It was the stress of his fearing losing Terri forever that caused it. She is still working on getting her job back at the hospital; she had to petition the state's nursing board for reinstatement of her license after clearing her criminal record. The records of her imprisonment have been sealed and are no longer accessible to the public. Now she's waiting on her license reinstatement, and she can work again. As for Ken Wells, his trial ended on February 24, 1997. He received thirty years for money laundering and thirty more for running the drug ring with Detective Bridges. Thousands of drugs were discovered at his vacation home in the Bahamas. Altogether, he received sixty years in prison, which is effectively a life sentence. Today is Monday, May 12, 1997. Things have been crazy for the last three months, but also great because now Terri is back. She was having a hard time adjusting after being out of prison. She was jumpy for quite a while, but, understandably, she went through something none of us can imagine. It's left emotional and physical scars on her. She was cut on her arm and shanked three times. Once in the ribs and twice in the top of her shoulder. The scars are pretty bad cause of how deep they were. The one on her arm is very visible, and you can only see the two on her shoulder when she wears a tank top. She kept her arms around her food while eating for a while. She said she had to do that in prison or else they would steal your food. She almost had a few fights over women trying to steal her food, but she managed to get it back. For a while, nobody could approach her from behind, or else she'd spin around, ready to throw hands. So we had to respect that she doesn't like to be surprised, even by accident. It's my lunch break, and I'm at the café with K.J. and Dakota. K.J. was shook up for a while after Kelly kidnapped her and Debby, but she's better now. We're sitting there, having lunch and talking. Dakota takes a drink of her Mountain Dew, then sets it down on the table. She said, " It feels so good to have Terri back.. I'm so glad she got to be here for Sam and Riley's birthday." Sam and Riley turned two years old on February 22. A lot of us have already had birthdays. Carly turned a year old at the end of January, I turned twenty-nine, Shana turned thirty on April 28, and Debby turned fifty-two on April 30. We had a big party for Shana and Debby at Shana and Jacob's house on Debby's birthday. Kyle will be twenty-nine on May 15, and Jack will be fifty-three on May 17. We're having a party for them at Debby and Jack's house this weekend. I said, " Terri is so happy to be back, but she still has to get her job back at the hospital." K.J. said, " Do you think the hospital will let her come back?" I said, " Let's hope so." I look up and see Terri walking through the café's courtyard. I smile as she smiles, approaching the table. I stand up and we hug. I said, " Hey, it's good to see you out of the house." I sit down in my chair, and Terri sits in the one beside me, and Dakota. She said, " To be honest, I'm bored out of my mind sitting around the house.. I've never been a stay-at-home Mom. Sam and Riley are in daycare during the day while Jesse and Brandon are at school." Dakota smiles. "You've cleaned the whole house already, haven't you?" Terri giggles, " Yeah, and re-organized.. I'm a perfectionist." We giggle as she smiles. It's so great to see that beautiful smile of hers. Kelly's voice cuts through the laughter, "Terri, nice to see you among the public." We look over at Kelly standing next to Dakota's chair. Terri turns her head back, looking at me. I can see the anger filling her eyes. I said, " Get the hell away from her.. NOW.." I said in a firm voice. Kelly smiles with that fake smile. She says, " What? I can't come see how she's doing." Terri said without looking at Kelly, " You better get out of my sight fast... and I'm not messing around, Kelly." She steps closer, and I stand up. I said as I stared at her, " I said to get away from her." Terri looks at me and says, "It's okay, Sweetie, I got this." Terri stands up and faces Kelly. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They stare each other down, Terri said, " You aren't getting away with this one, Kelly.. mark my words.. this will come back to haunt you one day.. You get off on hurting people and ruining their lives.. I will never forget what you did. Remember that, bitch." Kelly grins evilly as she looks Terri up and down. She said, " You really think that scares me? I don't care, remember that, you pretty little witch." She winks at Terri and then walks away. Terri sits back down, and she runs her fingers through her hair. I said, " Don't let her get to you.. You're right, this will come back to haunt her. Everything will." I glance over at Kelly, and she stares at us as she stands at a table. She picks up her laptop and walks across the courtyard, headed to the Apex building.