CHAPTER 33
Trey and I were roused out of our sleep a little after 5 a.m. on Monday morning by the landline extension in our room ringing. Trey was closest so he grabbed the phone. I felt him sit up quickly after the person on the other end had identified themselves to him.
"I see," he said, switching the bedside lamp on.
He wanted me awake.
"She'll be there in thirty minutes. Let Maggie know. Thanks Sandy."
I pulled myself up into a sitting position.
"Tylar you need to get to the hospital. Maggie has rallied somewhat from the coma and she has asked for you. It's only temporary her death is imminent so if there is more you need to know or anything you need to say to her this is your last chance."
I threw the bed covers off and went to my closet. I shrugged a pair of jeans on and pulled a sweater on over my head. I grabbed my socks and boots and sat down on the bed to put them on. Trey hadn't moved.
"Aren't you going to get ready?" I asked him.
"Sweetie I have to stay here with Preston."
"Can't we get her up and take her with us?"
"By the time we rouse her, change her, dress her and all of the other things she needs done in the morning it may be too late. You can do this on your own."
I nodded as I zipped the last boot up. I grabbed my phone and purse and was out the door and on the road in no more than ten minutes after Trey had told me the situation.
I ran through the hallway at St. Matthews taking the elevator up to the ICU. As soon as I got off the elevator Sandy was there to greet me.
"Your mother is weak but coherent. She wants to see you about some unfinished business. She won't last much longer Mrs. Sinclair."
"I understand Sandy. Thanks for calling."
I made a hasty entrance into the ICU and to Maggie's room. She looked much worse than she had on Friday. She had oxygen going in through tubes in her nose. Her skin had a mottled look to it almost purplish.
I went to her bedside where she appeared to be dozing.
"Maggie, I'm here. It's Tylar."
Her eyes flickered open and she turned her head slightly so that I was in her line of vision.
"Tylar?" she asked weakly.
"Yes, I'm here Aunt Maggie. Did you have something that you wanted me to know?"
"Promise me something please," she whispered.
"Promise me that you will have the hospital perform an autopsy after I die."
(What a bizarre death bed request - especially from someone like Maggie who hated the thought of not looking her best.)
"Why?" I asked, confused and questioning her lucidity.
I took my Blackberry out and hit the button to record her deathbed wishes. My instincts had kicked in and told me to do so.
"Tylar I don't have time to explain everything just do it. Tell them not to look for man-made toxins but for bayou poisons. This infection is not what they think it is. Don’t have me cremated. I want to be buried next to my baby in Indiana. There's the rest of your money in my purse that they checked in over at the jail. It will pay for my burial arrangements. Don't let them know you are not my daughter Tylar. You have to be my official next of kin. Your husband will confirm that if you ask him."
Her voice was getting raspy and she took a break breathing in her oxygen.
"What about my mother? What about Marla?"
"He poisoned her too," she whispered weakly.
"Who - who poisoned her?"
"Matthew did. He poisoned her and now he has poisoned me. Your mama is buried at the cemetery south of Jackson, Mississippi where our parents are buried. The Renaud family crypt is there."
She was rasping again and stopped to breathe in more oxygen.
"You have them get you her death record. There wasn't no autopsy done on her. There should have been to prove what Matthew had done to her. Miss Trinity LaFleur must have evidence or something. I know she prepared Marla for burial. Your mama was buried with your caul. You find Miss Trinity you hear? I promised Marla I would give Trinity those jewelry boxes your daddy gave her after she died. She said it was the only way that I would be safe. I wanted to keep that jewelry for myself so I never did what I promised Marla. Miss Trinity is a midwife living in Concordia Parish. She delivered you Tylar. She can fill you in. Anyone in Vidalia will know her."
I was confused by all that she was telling me. It sounded like crazy talk. What the hell was a 'caul'? Was this one final way that Maggie was going to fuck with me before she died? Why would I believe or trust her at this point? Why should I even care? It sounded bizarre. Her story had a hint of voo-doo or witchcraft flavor to it. I hadn't seen that about her growing up. It was if she could read my mind on her death bed.
"You do as I ask Tylar and you will put your mama's killer away. You find your daddy. Judge Tylar will help you if need be. You let him know it was his wife and her friend that paid Matthew all of that money. When she died the money stopped. Your mama loved you and that is the God's honest truth. I never did. I'm sorry I wish that I had but by the time you were born I was just too fucked up. Please tell Daniel that I loved him."
She breathed her last breath as her eyes closed. The screen that had been beeping suddenly flat-lined into one constant audio tone. A nurse came in right away and ushered me out.
"Aren't you going to call a 'Code Blue' or something?" I asked.
"Your mother had a DNR order. It's what she wanted. She's at peace now. I'm sorry for your loss."
I wasn't about to mention that my loss had occurred twenty-one years ago. It made sense to continue playing the daughter role for now.
"I don't want her body moved until my husband get's here," I said.
"My mother left explicit instructions with me. Let me remind you that I am her next-of-kin. She has no one else."
I called Trey at home immediately. My hands were shaking.
"Tylar," he said as soon as he picked up.
"Trey I need you here now. Maggie is gone. Please drop Preston at Gina's and get to the hospital. There is something that you need to see immediately. I need a lawyer."
Trey was at my side in less than an hour. I had managed to have my way with the nursing staff. Sandy had returned to the jail to start the process of releasing Maggie's personal effects to her next-of-kin which to her belief was me. I wasn't sure what the protocol was which is what I needed to ask Trey. Did a niece trump a half-brother as far as next-of-kin?
Trey and I went into the chapel located on the same floor as the ICU. Thankfully no one else was in there. I played the video for him of Maggie's deathbed conversation.
"Tylar I don't see any problem in requesting the autopsy. It is customary for the hospital to do that in cases where the patient has been hospitalized at that particular hospital. Given her young age I don't believe that they will be reluctant to accommodate. We can assure them that there is no concern about malpractice where they are concerned that our suspicion lies in a totally different direction."
"Good," I said relieved that we would get past the first request Maggie had made.
"Here's the thing though Tylar. I'm not sure how to define a post mortem request to look for bayou poisons as Maggie mentioned. It seems a bit eccentric I guess for lack of a better word."
"I know," I replied. "Can you somehow talk to the medical examiner Trey and simply find out if there is a way to preserve something for later testing maybe? I think that this Miss Trinity LaFleur may fill in some of the gaps where this bayou stuff is concerned."
"I'll do the best I can sweetie," he said, hugging me.
"Trey am I legally the next of kin or is Matthew?"
"That's a tough one even for me," he replied.
He thought for a moment, raking his hand through his sleep-tousled hair.
"As long as Maggie's contact information listed you as next-of-kin with no mention of Matthew; and provided that Matthew hasn't been keeping tabs on her and doesn't suddenly surface here to lay claim as next of kin I really don't think you have any concerns. If he truly poisoned her as she alleged, I doubt very much if he wants to show his face now. He probably doesn't think under the circumstances that you would even be in touch with her after she took Preston and headed down to Mississippi."
I hadn't considered that angle of it. Matthew had been the contact for the LLC that had been established for my trust and for the house in Kentucky. Matthew must have been the guy that Trey had talked to when he hung around the post office last year for nearly a full day in order to make contact. Matthew must also have been the 'business partner' she had told Daniel about when he questioned the phone calls being made to Mississippi.
(Matthew was likely a co-conspirator in the abduction of Preston!)
I looked over at Trey as he was watching me figure it all out. He apparently had arrived there first.
"We need the proof Tylar," he said.