KIMMY'S LIST

CHAPTER 21

Kimberly leaned a shoulder on the wall while she chatted to her work friend Naomi, during her allocated telephone call time. Naomi made her laugh. She was good therapy for Kimberly.

‘Oh, I forgot to tell you, Kim… You know that cop that arrested you….?’

Naomi asked, somewhat rhetorically.

How could I forget him? He’s the reason why I’ve spent over three months in jail. What she actually said was, ‘I do….’

Naomi continued. ‘He came into the office last week with a search warrant. He and Lima went behind closed door in Lima’s office…’

‘A search warrant….? What would that be for?’

‘I spoke to Jacky, and she said Lima told her over coffee that the cop was trying to find evidence on the bank’s computer system….

Something about you accessing the bank accounts of the people they reckon you killed.’

Kimberly’s face tightened.

‘That’s absurd,’ Kimberly said. ‘I never accessed any accounts from those missing persons. In fact... I didn’t even know they were our customers.’

‘Don’t sweat it, Kim…He didn’t find anything.’

‘That’s doesn’t surprise me. There was nothing to find…’

Naomi chuckled.

‘Lima told Jacky that the disappointed expression on the cop’s face was priceless when he realized he’d wasted his time.’

‘Good.’

‘You know what that means, Kim….? He’s still looking for evidence against you to prove his case. That’s a good thing.’

‘It could be… I just worry that he….’

A hand reached from behind Kimberly and disconnected her call.

Kimberly’s jaw dropped. She turned to see who was so rude. Her frowning glare met the snarling scowl of Frenchie.

Shortly after she stole Kimberly’s sandwich earlier today, the guard on duty introduced this new arrival to everyone as Frenchie. A skanky name for a skanky girl, Kimberly thought at the time.

Frenchie was one of two current remandees living in the cottage with Kimberly, who was required by court order to attend compulsory drug rehab during their remand.

Rumour through the cottage had it that Frenchie was a recidivist offender who had spent most of her youth in a jail of some sort.

Clearly she had no respect for anyone else. She was a bully. Kimberly was not one who sought out confrontation. If anything, she was a pacifist. But disconnecting the call while she still had time remaining was unacceptable. She had to speak out.

Before Kimberly could respond, Frenchie forcefully shoved two hands into Kimberly’s chest. Kimberly dropped the phone as she careered back into the wall. The dangling telephone receiver swung like a pendulum from the wall mounted base.

Frenchie caught the swinging receiver. ‘Time’s up, Bitch…’ she blurted. She positioned herself in front of the telephone and punched in her PIN and reference number.

‘I hadn’t finished my call….’ Kimberly said.

Frenchie ignored Kimberly. She continued entering the numbers.

‘Excuse me…’ Kimberly stood with her hands on hips. ‘Excuse me,’ she repeated in a firmer tone. Kimberly stepped forward and hit the cradle to disconnect the line.

Frenchie glared at Kimberly. Her brow plunged deep into her face. Hypocritically, she appeared offended at Kimberly’s actions.

‘How do you like it…?’

Kimberly said, showing a bravado foreign to the Kimberly of old. Problem was, she was way out of her depth.

Without any warning, Frenchie struck Kimberly in the face with the telephone handset. A flash of white light momentarily blinded her vision.

Kimberly’s knees buckled.

She fell back into the wall and slid to the floor. The left side of her face throbbed. Her wide eyes glanced up at her attacker.

Frenchie glared at Kimberly as she stood over her. She jabbed an aggressive finger at Kimberly. ‘Touch my phone again and I’ll fucken kill ya…’ she said through gritted teeth. She returned to making her call as though nothing had happened.

Discretion was clearly the better part of valour for Kimberly. She slowly climbed to her feet. Her hand pressed against the side of her cheek, while her wide eyes closely watched her attacker.

Kimberly sleeked back to her cell to examine her injury. She splashed cold water over her face then examined the redness of her cheek. It was swollen and tender to touch. It would most likely bruise, but she didn’t think there was any other more serious damage.

Prior to Frenchie arriving, Kimberly never once felt threatened by the presence of another inmate. But now, Frenchie represented everything Kimberly feared about being incarcerated in a women’s prison; roughhouse bullying, stand over tactics and physical abuse.

Up until now, remand had been easy time. She did not want to spend the remainder of her remand time looking over her shoulder. She would do her best to avoid being anywhere near Frenchie.

Kimberly wandered from her cell into the common lounge area. Alicia passed Kimberly on the way. She stopped and lightly grabbed Kimberly’s forearm. ‘Are you OK…? What happened to your face?’

Kimberly touched the tender red mark on her face. ‘Frenchie ….’ she said. ‘I was on the phone and she wanted it.’

Alicia’s mouth fell open. ‘You’re kidding, what… She just punched you because she wanted the phone and you had it…?’

‘Basically.’

Kimberly’s favourite guard, Clive happened by on his way towards the area of the cells. He smiled and nodded a silent greeting at the Kimberly and Alicia. He suddenly stopped and back stepped. He glanced at Kimberly’s face.

‘Are you OK? What happened to you?’ He asked.

‘I’ll be OK.’

Clive’s eyes flicked to Alicia. ‘What happened?’ He said. His questioning tone had firmed slightly, more out of concern than anything else.

Alicia jabbed her head towards Clive. ‘Tell him, Kim,’ Alicia said.

Clive closely inspected Kimberly’s injury. Kimberly flinched slightly when he gently applied pressure to her cheek.

‘You’re gonna have a nasty bruise there,’ he said. He looked to Alicia. ‘Tell me what?’

‘It’s’ nothing,’ Kimberly said in her attempts to play it down. ‘Just a slight disagreement. It’s been sorted out.’

Clive held a firm glare at Kimberly. ‘Were you punched?’

Kimberly’s gaze flicked to Alicia. Despite being a relative new comer to prison life, she’d watched enough prison shows on TV to know that you don’t rat out your fellow inmates. She just wanted to do her remaining time with the least of trouble.

‘It’s nothing… really,’ Kimberly said.

As they chatted, Frenchie strolled passed after finishing her phone call. Kimberly’s body tightened in Frenchie’s presence. Her shoulders tensed while her eyes followed Frenchie as she walked by.

Clive must’ve noticed Kimberly’s body language. He jabbed a thumb at the passing Frenchie. ‘Did she do that?’

Kimberly held up a hand. ‘Look …it’s OK. I’ll heal.’

‘No, it’s not OK,’ Clive said. He glared at Frenchie as she shuffled away from him. ‘Because of her history of violence, she was supposed to do her remand in general population. There was no room in gen pop at the time she arrived, so they sent her here, against my wishes.’ He continued to glare at Frenchie as she moved into the lounge and slumped back in a chair. He shifted his gaze back to Kimberly. ‘Did she do that?’ he asked, firmly.

Kimberly nodded once. In her mind that was not really telling.

‘Do you think you will require any medical attention?’

‘No. The swelling has already reduced. Honestly. I’ll be fine.’

‘OK.’ Clive marched over to Frenchie. His stride was long. ‘He stopped in front of the lounging Frenchie and jabbed a finger at her. ‘You. In your cell. Now!’ he ordered.

Frenchie slowly stood from her seat and followed two steps behind Clive as they moved towards the cells. As she passed Kimberly and Alicia, she mumbled, ‘ya dog. You’re fucked dead….’

Kimberly’s jaw dropped. ‘Did you hear what she just said?’

‘I did,’ Alicia said. ‘I heard it quite clearly.’

‘Do you think she means it?’ Kimberly said. She watched Frenchie follow Clive into her cell.

‘I wouldn’t trust her, Kim,’ Alicia said. ‘She live by different standards to you and me.’

A short time later, Clive emerged from the cell and locked the door. Frenchie shouted expletive filled abuse at Clive, as well as comments that questioned his sexuality and manhood, Clive did well to ignore them, although he’d probably heard them all before.

As he marched passed Kimberly and Alicia back to his guard station, Kimberly said to Alicia, ‘I need a strong coffee.’

‘I’ll join ya…’

Alicia was unusually quiet during breakfast on Thursday morning. Long periods of silent contemplation replaced her bubbly personality and quick wit.

Kimberly sat opposite Alicia eating her Special K cereal. She regarded her friend with concern. For the most, Alicia stared off into the distance. She was not her usual pleasant breakfast company.

Kimberly could tell Alicia was worried about today’s court case. And rightly so. Today was the day that in many ways defined Alicia’s future.

‘Not hungry ….?’ Kimberly said. She lifted her chin at Alicia’s untouched scrambled eggs.

Alicia shook her head. ‘No. I don’t have any appetite.’

‘Worried?’

‘Shitting myself, Kim… I really am.’

‘That’s completely normal Alicia…’ Kimberly said. She reached across the table and cupped Alicia’s hand, for reassurance. ‘It’s an important day for you.’

Alicia forced out a smile. ‘Thanks, Kim... You’re sweet. But do you realise that regardless of today’s outcome, I probably won’t be coming back here…’

Kimberly withdrew her hand. Her face tightened as she sat back in her chair. ‘No, I didn’t realise that.’

‘If the court decided to release me for time already served, or give me a Community Corrections Order, then I won’t be back. If they further sentence me…’

Alicia’s eyes fell to the table. She lifted her welling eyes to Kimberly. Her lips quivered. ‘I’ll be sent to general population …not here.’

‘So, either way… this is goodbye?’ Kimberly asked. Her face tightened at the realisation.

‘I’m afraid so.’

‘I don’t want you to go, Alicia. It won’t be the same without you here.’

‘I know. I don’t want to go, not if I don’t get released….’

Trevor, the morning shift guard, walked into the kitchen area. ‘You ready, Alicia?’ He checked his watch. ‘Your bus will be leaving in about twenty minutes. We better get you over there for processing.’

The bus Trevor referred to was the uncomfortable prisoner transport bus with the hard metal seats inside those small pods.

Fortunately for Alicia, her case was being heard in Oolong City. It was a much shorter drive than the Geelong courts where Kimberly would be attending in the coming weeks.

Alicia glanced at her plate. ‘I’ve just got to do my dishes before I go, Trevor.’

Kimberly waved a hand at Alicia. ‘Leave them… I’ll do them. You go.’

Alicia stood from her chair. Her lips quivered as she moved over to Kimberly’s side of the table. She held out her arms to Kimberly. Kimberly stood from her chair and the two friends embraced.

‘I’m gonna miss you, Alicia…’ Kimberly said.

‘Me too,’ Alicia said. Alicia pushed herself away. ‘You make sure you look me up when you beat those trumped up charges and get out of here… Ya hear me…?’

‘I promise … I look forward to sharing a drink and laughing about old times…’

Alicia glanced at the waiting guard. ‘Gotta go, Kim…’Alicia said. She grabbed Kimberly’s hands. ‘You watch your back in here, babe.’

‘I will. Good luck with today. I’ve got a good feeling about this,’ Kimberly said. She punctuated her comments with a gentle squeeze of Alicia’s hands.

Alicia stepped away still holding onto Kimberly’s hands until the grip slipped free. Kimberly watched Alicia leave the cottage with Trevor. A wave of sadness washed over her when Alicia stepped from view. That would probably be the last time she saw Alicia.

‘Now you’re all alone bitch…’ A voice from behind Kimberly, blurted.

Kimberly tensed. She turned to see Frenchie with arms crossed, leaning a shoulder on the door way into the kitchen.

Kimberly ignored the taunts. She didn’t want any trouble from Frenchie. She scooped up their dishes and moved to the sink. While the sink filled, she scraped their plates clean.

Kimberly checked over her shoulder at various times while she washed the dishes. Frenchie had not moved. She continued to lean on the doorway glaring at Kimberly. She had an intimidating smirk out the side of her face.

‘Ain’t got no - one to protect ya now, have ya, dog…?’

Kimberly’s body tensed. The blood pumped in her ears. Frenchie was right Trevor was escorting Alicia to the transport sally port and there wasn’t any other guard relieving him. She was all alone.

‘Because of you, they’re fucken movin’ me to gen pop,’ she said. ‘Because you opened ya mouth they’re gonna make me wear those shitty blue and whites…’ she said, referring to the DOCS prison uniform.

‘I never said anything…’ Kimberly protested. ‘Clive just saw the mark on my face.’

‘Listen to you…’ Frenchie said. She paused herself from the wall. ‘Clive saw the mark on my face,’ she said, mimicking Kimberly. ‘Ya even call the fucken dog screw by his first name.’

Frenchie scooped up the knife Kimberly had washed and left to dry. She jabbed it at Kimberly. ‘I oughta pop ya eye from ya head, ya fucken dog.’

Kimberly backed away from Frenchie. Her wide eyes locked onto the threatening knife. She held up defensive hands.

Frenchie glared at Kimberly. ‘Ya don’t dog on another inmate, no matter what… You’re gonna have to learn the hard way, bitch.’

Kimberly’s mouth was dry. She couldn’t swallow. Her heart thumped. Frenchie was between her and the door from the kitchen, so she had no escape.

Kimberly was not a fighter. She couldn’t fight to save her life. The punch she received from Frenchie was the first time she had ever been struck.

Her eyes remained locked on the threatening knife, then briefly shifted towards the front of the cottage, hoping Trevor would return.

‘If they’re gonna put me in gen pop, then I’ll just have to give them a reason.’

Frenchie lifted the knife and forcefully thrust it down at Kimberly. Kimberly lifted her arms up in defence. The knife plunged into Kimberly’s left arm, just below the shoulder. It burned when it pierced her skin and dissected muscle and tissue.

Kimberly screamed in pain and in fear. Her knees went weak. Frenchies’ smiling face became blurry, then everything went black.