KIMMY'S LIST

CHAPTER 23

For a medical centre, this was one noisy, busy place. Whenever Kimberly dozed off, something, or someone invariably woke her up, loud voices, someone screaming, or a nurse shining a torch light in her eyes. It was more peaceful back in her cell.

Kimberly found the light too bright, so she spent most of her time with her eyes closed. Sometimes she slept, other times she laid there listening to the sounds.

Voices whispering caused Kimberly to open her eyes. Two blurry figures stood at the foot of her bed. When her eyes focussed, she smiled.

‘If you wanted to get out of the cottage you should’ve just asked….’ Clive said. His smile illuminated his face.

Kimberly watched the nurse leave the room. ‘What are you doing here…?’

I was down here for some basic medical supplies…’ Clive said. He lifted his hand to show the plastic bags he carried. ‘So, while I was here… I thought I’d stick my head in and say, gidday.’

‘That’s very kind of you….’

‘How ya doin’?’ Clive said. He leaned on the end of her bed.

‘I’m OK. Things are slowly coming back to me,’ Kimberly said. ‘Oh. How did Alicia go at court…? I’ve been so worried about her?’

‘Not as well as she expected, I think. She got four years…’

Kimberly’s eyes slammed shut. Her mind re-visited to Alicia’s smiling face. The laughs she had with Alicia and the worried expression on her face before she left for court.

Clive continued. ‘With time served, she’ll probably do about eighteen months, or so. She’s over in gen pop at the moment.’

‘Will she be OK over there?’

‘She’ll be fine. She’s a likeable type.’ Clive regarded Kimberly. ‘Do you remember much about what happened?’

‘Bits and pieces. I remember Frenchie stabbing me with a knife…’ Kimberly touched her left arm. ‘I remember how much that hurt. But I don’t remember too much after that. How is Frenchie?’

Clive checked over his shoulders. ‘Frenchie is dead, Kimberly …’ he said in a quieter tone.

Kimberly’s mouth fell open as she glared at Clive. ‘Dead…? What happened?’

‘After she stabbed you, you wrestled the knife from her and you stabbed her in the chest. She died from those injuries.’

Kimberly cupped her forehead. ‘I stabbed her…?’ Kimberly asked. ‘I have absolutely no memory of that. I remember how much it hurt when she stuck the knife in my arm… But I don’t remember anything after that.’ Kimberly’s eyes flared.

‘Wait… If she’s dead and you said I stabbed her.. Does that mean I’m looking at….’

Clive held up a hand as he interrupted.

‘Self - defence,’ he said.

‘There was CCTV footage of the whole incident.

The investigation found you acted in self - defence. Do you remember Trevor…?’

‘Yes. He’s nice.’

‘Well, he was on duty at the time. He left you and Frenchie in the cottage unsupervised while he took…’

‘Alicia to her court transport.. I remember,’ Kimberly said, finishing Clive’s sentence. She was excited she could finally recall something else.

‘Well, they came down heavily on poor old Trev over what happened… Basically, because someone died… they sacked him.’

Kimberly rolled her eyes, then closed them. She felt sorry for Trevor. He was one of the nice ones. ‘What did he do wrong?’

‘Left his post. We can’t leave the cottage without someone relieving us first….’ Clive checked his watch.

‘Anyway. I must get back. I’m glad to see you’re doing OK. I’ll probably see ya back at the cottage, when you’re all better,’ he said. With a departing wave, Clive left her room.

Kimberly gently touched the back of her head. ‘Well… When I hit my head, I split it open on the solid wall. I received twelve stitches, or staples, I don’t know what they call them, here in the back of my head. And I’ve got six stitches here in my left arm,’ Kimberly said. ‘But I’m OK, now. They’re healing well.’ she reassured. ‘Just a little tender on both places.’

When Boyd heard Kimberly had been admitted to hospital, he wanted to visit his wife. Unlike hospitals on the outside, there were no visiting times in prison hospitals. He had to wait until she was discharged before he could travel up to see with his own eyes that she was OK.

Today’s box visit was Boyd’s first chance to see his wife after she was attacked almost two weeks ago.

‘You said the other woman, the one who attacked you, died…’ Boyd said. ‘How are you coping with that? That wouldn’t be easy having that on your conscience.’

‘I try not to think about it, Hun… She tried to kill me… It still makes me shudder. For some reason, I’m still here and she’s not.’

‘I’m so glad you’re OK. They wouldn’t let me talk to you. They wouldn’t let me come up to see you. I was going out of my mind with worry. They wouldn’t tell me what happened… only that you’d been in an altercation with another inmate and you were in hospital.’ Boyd’s eyes welled. His lips quivered. ‘I was so scared. I thought the worst, Kim… I thought I was going to lose you.’

Kimberly placed her hand on the glass. Boyd did the same. ‘You’re not going to lose me, Hun. I’m still here,’ she said. ‘I’ve got too much to live for with you waiting for me… Besides, after next week when they throw my case out, I will be able to come home and we can get things back to normal again…’

‘You have no idea how good it is to see you, safe and well… ‘Boyd said.

Kimberly smiled. She didn’t have to talk. She was happy just being able to look at her husband.

Boyd wiped an escaping tear. He sniffed. ‘While I think of it..’ he began. ‘I spoke with Duncan last week. He has reviewed the police evidence and he believes it is a weak case against you. He is going ask for the charges to be dismissed. So fingers crossed.’

‘Let’s hope so…’

Their visit time seemed to evaporate. It didn’t seem long before the knock on the door resonated within the small space and their time was over.

Kimberly and Boyd said their goodbyes and Kimbely left the box. She was Buoyed by the thought that after next week this could all be over and she could return to her life.

Kimberly sat in a cell in the Oolong police station with her tear - streaked with her tear - streaked face buried into in her hands. Her reddened eyes and melancholic expression corroborated how the day’s events failed to go as planned.

When Friday morning arrived, the day of Kimberly’s committal, she rose early. Attending court intimidated her, but she was excited to get the case out of the way and move on with her life.

Certain it would be the last time, she even tolerated the prison bus’s uncomfortable steel seat during the long ride down the highway to Oolong.

The committal started as Duncan had explained to Kimberly. The police presented their evidence first. It wasn’t strong and relied heavily on how Kimberly provided police with the locations of the bodies of the seven missing persons.

The police argued that only the murderer, or persons involved would know where the bodies were located. They questioned Kimberly’s claimed ability to be able to communicate with people who had passed on. They also challenged Kimberly and her defence team to prove such an ability existed.

The police did not call many witnesses.

When they were finished leading their evidence, it was Duncan’s turn. He initially moved to have the case dismissed through lack of evidence. The magistrate however, rejected that motion.

Duncan eloquently presented their defence to the court. He attacked the police handling of the case. He highlighted that the police case failed to link Kimberly to any of the seven victims.

He went to great lengths in his articulate manner, to highlight that Kimberly was never a suspect and in fact, police had never heard of Kimberly Davis before she provided them with her list of names.

When Duncan put forward to the court that the police only arrested Kimberly because she came forward to try and help the victims by providing the locations of where their bodies could be found, the magistrate gave his first indication that things were not going to end well for Kimberly.

‘I find the fact your client knew the location of all seven victims particularly relevant to the charges, Mr Jervis,’ the magistrate said.

‘Police allege the accused knew of these locations because she was the murderer. You claim she knew where the victims’ bodies were located because the victims’ bodies were located because the victims themselves… or more appropriately, the ghosts of the victims, told the accused where their bodies were.

‘Unless you can demonstrate to the court today that your client has these psychic abilities to speak to people who have passed on, then based on the evidence presented before me today, I am prepared to send this case to trial in the supreme court, before a judge and jury. Are you able to demonstrate your client’s psychic abilities?’

Duncan’s gaze shifted to Kimberly’s big brown eyes staring back at him from the dock at the side of the court. She recognized that expression. It was his if you’ve got something, now is the time to say it, look.

She briefly shook a conceding head. She expected that moment was coming. She had discussed it with Duncan numerous times. He believed the only weakness in their defence would be if the court asked for demonstrated proof of her skills, if it was asked and they failed to provide the proof, they would be sent to trial…..

Well the time had come. The court asked and they could not provide.

Duncan gave one last effort. ‘I’m afraid that the proof you ask for, Your Honour is not tangible. It is not something that can be analysed, or weighed like a confiscated drug. It is not something one seizes, or photographs and it certainly cannot be sealed into an evidence bag and presented to the court.

‘We are talking about a level of consciousness through which my client communicates with persons who have passed on. How does the court expect us to demonstrate this unique ability when these events occur as cognitive activity through my client as a medium?’

‘I take it then, Mr Jervis that you will not be providing a demonstration of your client’s ‘unique’ ability to this court today…’ The magistrate said.

Duncan gave it his best shot. The magistrate had clearly made up his mind. ‘No, Your Honour,’ Duncan said. He slid back into his chair.

The magistrate commenced his summary. ‘The police have presented evidence to show that the accused had knowledge of the location of seven murder victims, each of whom were long term missing persons. Their evidence presented that only the person who took the life of each victim would know where their bodies were buried, or dumped, as the case may be.

‘The accused knew the location of each of the seven victims. This was proven by a list she gave to the police. The police made numerous references to this list as, ‘Kimberly’s List’. This ‘Kimberly’s List’ recorded the location of each victim’s body.

‘The defence states that the accused is a psychic medium and has the ability to communicate with deceased person. And it was through this psychic ability, she was visited by each of the seven victims, who in turn told her where their bodies were located.

‘At the outset of this sentence, I used the word ‘states’, as in ‘the defence states’, because the defence has not presented any evidence to demonstrate the accuser’s special abilities. If they had been successfully able to do so, I would have found in favour of the defence and dismissed the charges.

‘In the absence of any such evidence before this court to demonstrate the accuser’s psychic ability, I have no option but to commit this case to stand trial before a judge and jury in the supreme court, at a date to be fixed. Remove the prisoner.’

That was what Kimberly had been reduced to in the eyes of society - a prisoner, a demeaning label to someone valiantly trying to defend her innocence. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Duncan and Kimberly discussed this outcome as a possible worst case scenario. Deep down she didn’t want to consider it. She focused on the positive outcome. She hoped the court would dismiss all charges and set her free to return to her life.

Instead, she would be returning to jail. Kimberly stood from her seat. Her hands covered her mouth as she burst into tears. Her eyes locked onto Boyd, who also stood from his seat.

The female corrections officer seated in the dock with Kimberly gently grabbed Kimberly’s arm. ‘Let’s go,’ she said. She gestured towards the door at the back of the prisoner dock.

Kimberly’s eyes remained on Boyd as she moved to the door. The tears in her husband’s eyes was the last thing she remembered before disappearing through the door.

"What is the Butterfly Effect? Stemming from chaos theory, the butterfly effect describes how a tiny change in one part of a system can cause a huge, non-linear effect elsewhere."

"Like if the Butterfly flaps its wings here a Tsunami can Occur in Japan..."