One Potion in the Grave: A Magic Potion Mystery (23 page)

“When I realized how serious it was getting between Kathryn and me, I tried to break it off,” Landry said, shaking his head. “Numerous times. I knew I had a duty to fulfill, and I keep my word. And Kathryn understood. But try as we might, we couldn’t quit each other. I proposed. She said yes. We kept it secret and tried to figure a way to spin her background for public sympathy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who made something of herself by becoming a doctor. That kind of thing.”

“But?” I asked. They had broken up after all.

“The presidential election happened,” Landry said. “My choice in wife was deemed not good enough, and my debt to my father was called due. As a man who honors his word, I had to end things with Kathryn for good.”

Tears pooled in Cassandra’s eyes as she watched her brother. She was working her pearls like no one’s business and looking like she’d rather be stuck in my mama’s pond than here.

“For God’s sake,” Louisa snapped, her hand tight
around her drink. “Doctor or not, the press would have torn that girl to shreds, and our family reputation right along with it. This family has lofty plans. A president.” She glanced at Warren. Then her gaze slid to Cassandra. “Another senator.” She stared at her son. “And a governor, once you were settled with a family.”

Landry glared at his mother, and I could feel his disdain for her.
Ah,
I suddenly realized. Warren hadn’t been the only puppet master.

I looked toward Warren. It was obvious by the way Louisa was speaking that he still hadn’t told her of his diagnosis. There would be no White House for him. And by the way Landry was behaving, I suspected a Calhoun governorship was out as well. He’d had enough of this family. I glanced at Cassandra—she was the last hope for this family to remain in politics. With Cassandra’s popularity, I figured Louisa would redirect her daughter’s future to include the White House before Warren was cold in the ground.

“Those were your plans, Mama. Not mine,” Landry seethed. “Not Kathryn’s.”

I couldn’t hold my tongue. I said to Louisa, “Don’t you think what Katie Sue had been through with her family would have made her more relatable to the public? Everyone has skeletons. Everyone’s been touched by addiction. She stopped the cycle.”

Louisa’s icy gaze turned on me. “You have no idea the level of scrutiny we’re under. You saw the media circus here this past weekend, and that was for a happy occasion. If the press knew of Kathryn’s past, they would not have let it go. Ever. Imagine a wedding. A baby. Every event, the press would seek comment from her family.
They’d be back in her life again, whether she liked it or not. They would get bolder, braver, looking for money. Bringing her down with them.”

I hated that she was right. It still wasn’t fair. Wasn’t decent.

“And in light of what happened to Kathryn,” she continued, “I think it’s safe to say I was right.”

“You might not have been,” I snapped, “if you hadn’t told her family she was back in town.”

Landry’s head whipped around to look at his mother. “That was you?”

She ignored him. “As it is now, no one knows how close our family was to Kathryn, and for the sake of the upcoming elections, I’d like to keep it that way. Once we leave here, we leave Kathryn Perry behind. Gabi will come to her senses, and everything will be right back on track.”

Landry jumped up. “Don’t you understand?” His gravelly voice broke as he added, “There is no leaving her behind. She’s a part of me. Of who I am. It’ll never be the same.
I’ll
never be the same! I’ll never marry Gabi, so just let it go.”

“You made a deal, Landry,” his mother said tightly.

“Screw the deal!” he shouted.

“Don’t speak to your mama that way, son,” Warren said, his voice strong and sure.

Right. Because proper Southern boys didn’t raise their voices to their mamas. Even when his life had been destroyed.

Louisa’s lips pressed into a thin, grim line.

Landry paced like a man trying to outrun his grief.

I said, “The night Katie Sue was killed, were you
supposed to meet with her after dinner?” I asked, guessing he was who Katie Sue had met with instead of Jamie Lynn. “Is that why you rushed off as soon as the meal was done?”

Nodding, Landry said, “I was late.”

“Did you meet up?” Dylan asked.

“For a couple of minutes, but then Lyla showed up, and I took off. I came back here. It was the last time I saw Kathryn.”

I squeezed my locket, because the energy in the room was starting to close in on me. The weight of Landry’s emotional pain was overwhelming in itself, but I could also feel Warren’s pains as his body was being eaten away from the inside out. I could feel Louisa’s rage. Cassandra’s grief—she’d kept quiet through all this, but it was clear she sided with her brother. Louisa’s heart was pumping a mile a minute, a heel blister was bothering Cassandra, someone’s thigh hurt something fierce, Warren’s chest was tight, and Landry, poor Landry, was bone weary, every muscle in his body aching.

“What about the extortion?” Dylan’s unwavering gaze was on Louisa.

“What extortion?” Warren asked, his voice dropping.

Louisa’s energy immediately flipped from anger to distress. Whatever Katie Sue had on the family, it was big. There hadn’t been a bluff.

Dylan didn’t let up. “What was in Katie Sue’s envelope that y’all want back so badly that you’d have two mail carriers attacked?”

No one answered, but all their energies were filled with anxiety. Each and every one of them knew what had
been in that envelope, yet none were willing to say what it had been.

This family was too much for me to deal with.
Mercy.

Energy swirled. Anxiety. Anger. Grief. Pain. Desperation. Muscle aches. Deceit. It swirled and swirled around me until I could feel the color drain from my face.

I fought a wave of dizziness as Dylan said, “Landry, you want to answer that?”

Landry swallowed hard. “I told her not to do it. To let things be . . . but she was stubborn and wouldn’t listen.”

“That’s enough, Sergeant Jackson,” Warren said, stepping forward. “Anything else you want to ask us will be done with our counsel present.”

Dylan stood. “Landry?”

Landry looked at his mother. Their eyes locked. A battle was being waged.

Fear pulsed through the room. Fear and hurt. A wave of queasiness hit me hard, and I sucked in a deep breath.

The phone rang, and I immediately jumped up to grab it. The tornado of energy swirling around me broke apart, and I took a deep breath to help regain my equilibrium. “The Crazy Loon, this is Carly, how may I help you?”

“Carly Bell, it’s Marjie. Lyla Jameson just called round looking for you. Jamie Lynn collapsed at home this afternoon. She’s in a coma on life support, and the doctors don’t think she’ll last the night.”

No! No, no, no.
My heart cried.

“Which hospital?” I asked, my voice hoarse. She rattled off the name of one of Huntsville’s finest. I thanked her and hung up.

“What’s happened?” Dylan asked.

“It’s Jamie Lynn.”

“Kathryn’s sister?” Landry asked. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s dying.”

“Go,” Dylan said. “I’ll meet you there later.”

I ran for the door, never looking back at the Calhouns.

I hoped to never see any of them ever again.

Chapter Twenty-eight

I
raced down the hospital hallway toward Jamie Lynn’s room. The corridor tried to be cheerful, with brightly colored paint on some walls, lovely murals on others, and artwork created by pediatric patients, but the only word to describe the ambiance was dreary.

“Thanks again for coming with me,” I said. “It was good timing you showing up at my house just as I was leaving.”

Delia raced alongside me. “Right. Good timing.”

There was something in her tone . . . I stopped and touched her arm. “Not good timing?”

Fluorescent light made her blue eyes seem even bluer. “There might have been a dream involved.”

“What kind of dream?”

She shrugged. “A dream telling me that I should be at your house at that moment. I can’t explain them.”

“Nothing else?”

“Not last night.”

“Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here.”
We’d made one stop at Potions before heading over, and I hoped we weren’t too late.

The quiet of the hallway was suddenly shattered by a woman shouting, “You son of a bitch!”

We kicked into a run, rounded a corner, and saw Lyla Jameson pummeling Cletus Cobb. Dinah was trying her best to pull her daughter off him.

It had been Lyla screaming, and she continued to do so as she wailed on her stepdaddy. “You sick, twisted, evil man!” she yelled as she punched. “You’ve gone too far! Too far!”

Delia and I reached the melee at the same time as two security officers. They quickly pulled the pair apart. And even though she was being restrained, Lyla still tried to kick Cletus. Tears streamed from her eyes.

“Settle down,” one of the guards boomed.

“Crazy bitch!” Cletus spat. A bruise was already forming around his eye.

Lyla stopped kicking and turned her tear-streaked face to her mama. “How could you?”

Dinah looked to Cletus and wrung her hands.

“Ain’t nothin’ to do with your mama,” he said. “It was Jamie Lynn’s decision. Got it right here in writin’.”

It was then I noticed papers clutched in his filthy hand.

“Liar!” Lyla shouted. “Mama! Do
something
,” she cried. “Don’t let him kill her!”

Dinah just stared at the floor.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Lyla?”

Her head dropped and she sobbed.

Tears filled my eyes. “Someone please tell me what’s going on?”

Delia walked over to Cletus and snatched the papers straight out of his hand. The guards didn’t so much as blink. I had the feeling they’d seen similar situations played out before.

“Hey!” Cletus shouted.

The guard holding him tightened his grip. “Settle. Down.”

Cletus sneered. “Jamie Lynn signed them papers clear as day!”

Delia scanned the documents and said, “One’s a power of attorney giving Dinah rights to make decisions for Jamie Lynn. The other’s Jamie Lynn’s living will.” She let out a sharp breath. “It says she wouldn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means.”

“He wants to pull the plug,” Lyla cried. “Don’t let him! Please don’t let him.”

I glanced over Lyla’s shoulder, through the narrow window of a closed door and into the room just beyond. Jamie Lynn lay unmoving, the machines around her bed the only things keeping her alive.

“It’s what Jamie Lynn wanted,” Dinah said, shrugging.

She was lying through her rotted teeth.

“No! No, it wasn’t!” Lyla countered. “I don’t know what you did to trick her into signing those papers, but I’d bet my life you have a will at home with her giving you everything when she died! You knew you couldn’t take out life insurance on her because of her sickness, so you went straight for an inheritance. You
bastard
!” She kicked again.

I could have sworn the guard let her land a blow before pulling her back.

Neither Cletus nor Dinah denied the accusation and my heart sank. They’d taken advantage of Jamie Lynn’s illness in the worst possible way. And not only that, but by killing Katie Sue, they upped their inheritance by four million dollars.

It was such a sick, twisted plan that I couldn’t even believe how evil their souls had to be.

To Delia, I whispered, “Call Dylan. He’s at the Loon.”

She handed me the papers and strode off. I’d told her all about my afternoon on the ride over, so she knew Dylan had been looking for this pair.

Quite the crowd had gathered, and when a doctor came running up, his long white coat flying out behind him like one of Delia’s capes, the nurses slowly dispersed.

“This isn’t the place,” the doctor said. “Get them out of here.”

“I ain’t done nothing!” Cletus shouted, wiggling. “She’s the one who attacked me! I want her arrested for assault! I’m pressin’ charges!”

“Then take her away,” the doctor said in a low tone to the guards.
“Now.”

“Come on, Miss,” the guard said, tugging on Lyla.

“Wait,” I said, jumping in front of him. “Can’t she stay? Her sister’s dying.”

A hovering nurse said, “The police are on their way.”

The guard said to me, “Take it up with them when they get here.”

Lyla reached for me. Tears soaked her face. “Don’t let them pull the plug. Save her, Carly. Save her!”

Her sobs carried down the hallway as the guard led
her off. The other guard, who held Cletus, let him go with a little shove before he followed his colleague.

Cletus adjusted his tank top. “Now, what’s got to be done? We don’t like to see our baby Jamie Lynn suffering none.”

Such rage built inside me that it took all I had not to jump on him as Lyla had done. “Nothing is to be done,” I seethed. “Not by you at least.”

“I got the papers,” he said.

“Actually, I have the papers,” I said, holding them up. “And I intend to call a lawyer and get the courts involved. You’re not pulling the plug. Not now. Not ever. And if she eventually dies from whatever it is ailing her, you won’t be collecting any inheritance of hers, either.”

Saliva gathered at the corner of his mouth. “You don’t got no say-so.”

“Maybe not me, but the law does. I’m pretty sure that neither of you can make Jamie Lynn’s decisions from federal prison. There’s video footage of you trying to pawn Katie Sue’s jewelry. There’s a warrant out for your arrest right now, and you’re wanted for questioning in Katie Sue’s murder.”

“Katie Sue?” Dinah said. “Oh no. We ain’t have nothing to do with that.”

Cletus jabbed a finger at me. “Don’t go blamin’ us for that. We didn’t lay a finger on that girl.”

His gaze jumped to something over my shoulder, and he reached out and grabbed Dinah’s hand. In a split second, he took off, knocking over a cart of medical supplies on the way. I glanced back just as Dylan zipped past me, giving chase.

Delia came running back. Catching sight of Dylan she said, “That explains why he wasn’t at the Loon when I called.”

The doctor looked at me, his eyes wide. “Are you really getting a court injunction?”

“Yes.”

Shaking his head, he let out a weary sigh. He said, “Don’t know how much time you have.”

“Can I see her?” I needed to see her.

“You family?”

I grabbed Delia’s arm. “We’re her sisters.”

He eyed me dubiously but said, “Only a few minutes. She’s scheduled for a brain scan.”

A brain scan. To determine if she were brain dead. One of the steps needed before pulling the plug.

I nodded, and holding hands, Delia and I went into Jamie Lynn’s room. I closed the door behind us, and quickly slipped a vial out of my purse.

“What’re you doing?” Delia asked.

“Something I’ve never done before, and lord have mercy, I pray it works.” I held up the vial. “Straight Leilara. Grandma Adelaide once told me she believed that a large dosage of the tears could bring someone back from the dead. That’s never been proven, of course, but I’m hoping that a large dose brings someone back from being
mostly
dead.”

“But . . . isn’t there a limited supply of the tears?”

I held up the bottle. “This tiny container is a half-year’s worth.”

She gasped. “Won’t you run out?”

“It’s a risk I have to take.” My heart pounded. “I can’t let her die like this. She’d been doing so well after her
potion yesterday . . . I don’t know what went wrong. I have to figure it out.”

Delia nodded. “Hurry up then.”

I quickly went to the bed and looked down at Jamie Lynn. She already looked dead.

“What’s wrong?” Delia asked. She was standing in front of the door’s window so no one could peek in.

“The best route of ingestion is the mouth, but it’s all taped up because of the ventilator.”

“Her IV?”

“I don’t have a syringe.”

“Her eyes,” Delia said.

Yes! Her eyes. They were taped closed, but that was easy enough to remove. I used the vial’s dropper to suck up the tears. Holding up an eyelid, I poised the dropper over Jamie Lynn’s vacant pupil. One drop. Two. I switched eyes and repeated the process. Sweat dampened my palms. This was more Leilara than ever used on a person before. Two more drops. Four. Eight. Ten. Twelve.

“Come on, Jamie Lynn,” I urged, pausing to look for any changes.

“Anything?” Delia asked.

“Not yet.”

Two more drops, three, four. Suddenly, I jumped when Jamie Lynn’s machines started beeping like crazy. Delia ran over to the bed as Jamie Lynn blinked her eyes, trying to focus on me.

“You did it!” Delia whispered, her voice full of awe.

I held up the vial. “With some to spare, too.”

Jamie Lynn groaned, trying to speak, as nurses rushed into the room. I surreptitiously slipped the vial back into my purse as Delia and I were pushed into a corner. We
looked on as doctor after doctor came rushing in. The word miracle floated on the air.

Delia squeezed my hand and looked at me. “Leila Bell would be proud.”

I let out a relieved sigh. Jamie Lynn was alive.

We just had to keep her that way.