Murder Hooks a Mermaid (29 page)

She’d driven over and met several old friends for lunch. I noticed Riley seemed mollified when she said there had been a crowd. I think he’d been imagining a private rendezvous.

She’d asked if any of them had contacts in Callahan, and one of them was friends with the chief of the state police barracks responsible for the area.

Her friend—she never did say whether it was a man or
woman, and no one asked—called the state officer and got a rundown on Chuck and Freddy.

It wasn’t good. Small-time crooks, they had a string of arrests for petty theft, simple assault, drunk and disorderly. It was a long list.

The officer couldn’t say for sure, but there were rumors that the two had started working with Freddy’s brother, and the threesome had become involved in bigger things, including smuggling.

Another friend had tapped his sources at the Jacksonville PD and found the connection to Megan Moretti. She was Freddy’s sister-in-law and, according to some accounts, the brains of the entire operation.

The source referred to Freddy’s brother as Mac, but Karen said she wasn’t sure that was his real name, because no one would actually name a kid Mac Davis, would they?

Mac got arrested, and was serving time in the state penitentiary in Raiford. Shortly after he was sentenced, his wife and brother and their pal Chuck dropped out of sight. There were rumors. One snitch said they claimed to have a big job on the horizon, but he didn’t know where they’d gone.

“Apparently,” Karen said, “the deal was somewhere near Pensacola, so Megan decided to come back to Keyhole Bay. She didn’t bother to tell anyone she was married. Or that her husband was doing time.”

“So does anyone know what they were after?” Felipe asked. “What was worth killing someone for?”

“I heard a little bit,” I offered. “It was some kind of recovery. Historic artifacts on a wreck, and the potential for an international incident, or something.”

Karen shook her head. “And Bobby walked into the middle of it without even knowing.”

My eyelids were drooping, and Karen and Riley looked like they needed to spend some time talking over the events of the past few days.

Felipe and Ernie exchanged a glance, and Ernie nodded. Felipe came close to the bedside, and gave me a careful hug. “You need to sleep,” he said. He looked over at Jake. “Give me the keys,” he said. “We’ll go check on Bluebeard.”

“You sure?”

Felipe nodded. “Somebody’s got to stay and watch over our girl. And I think you’re probably her first choice.”

I think I stayed awake long enough to agree.

But I’m not sure.

Karen’s Down-Home
Dinner Menus and Recipes

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

Chicken and dumplings comes in a variety of styles: with or without vegetables; with simple broth or rich, gravy-like liquid; with doughy drop dumplings or the fluffier rolled-biscuit type. Each one has its adherents, and different factions will claim their style is the most authentic. Presented here is Karen’s choice.

Bouquet garni
*

¹
⁄
₄
cup unsalted butter

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 whole chicken (5 to 6 pounds), skin on, cut into 8 pieces, including neck

6 cups water

6 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 stalk celery, trimmed and halved crosswise

2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, if needed

1 tablespoon flour, if needed

Cut chicken as for frying or (like Karen) buy a cut-up chicken.

In a large stew pot, melt
¹
⁄
₄
cup butter. Sauté onion and garlic in melted butter over medium-high heat. Put chicken pieces in pot, add broth and enough water to completely cover chicken. Add bouquet garni, peppercorns, and celery. Bring to a rolling boil, lower heat, and simmer until chicken is very tender. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Strain bouquet garni, celery, and peppercorns from broth and discard. Return stock to pot, reserving 1 cup, and keep hot.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones and shred meat.

To make dumplings, mix 2 cups flour with 1 tablespoon salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour, and slowly add reserved chicken stock, a little at a time, stirring with a fork just until a soft, doughy consistency is reached. Add additional flour or stock, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary to reach desired consistency. On a floured surface, knead dough a few times and pat out to
¹
⁄
₄
-inch thickness. Cut with a knife or pizza cutter into 1-1
¹
⁄
₂
inch squares. Slowly add dumplings to simmering stock, being careful not to let dumplings clump together. When dumplings float to the top, they are done.

If the broth is not thickened to your liking, mix the 1 tablespoon of butter with the 1 tablespoon of flour and add slowly to the broth to thicken.

Put shredded chicken meat in bowls, ladle broth and dumplings over it, and serve.

*
To make bouquet garni, bundle the following herbs, and tie with string or place in a small net or cheesecloth bag:

5 to 6 fresh thyme sprigs

Small bunch parsley stems

2 fresh sage sprigs

A traditional southern meal always includes several vegetables. Glazed carrots are a southern favorite, and will definitely complement chicken and dumplings.

GLAZED CARROTS

1 pound carrots, cut on the bias into
¹
⁄
₄
-inch slices

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 pinch salt

¹
⁄
₄
cup orange juice

Put sliced carrots in a shallow pan, add water just to cover, and simmer until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain. In the same pan, melt the butter, add the brown sugar, salt, and orange juice, and stir over medium-low heat until sugar is melted and glaze thickens.

Beans of all sorts are a mainstay of southern cooking. Boiled, baked, or in soups and stews and gumbos, a lot of southern meals include some sort of beans. Simple, fresh green beans, when available, can be a great addition to your meal.

GREEN BEANS

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1
¹
⁄
₂
-inch pieces

1 quart water

1 ham hock, diced

¹
⁄
₄
teaspoon salt

dash sugar

Place diced salt pork and water in saucepan, cover, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add beans, salt, and sugar, and simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until beans are tender.

A southern meal, even one that includes dumplings, should have some kind of bread for sopping purposes. After all, you don’t want to waste any of the tasty sauce, broth, or gravy that accompanies your main dish.

BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

¹
⁄
₃
cup shortening

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Pinch in shortening with fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in milk gradually, just until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 15 to 20 times. Roll out about 1-inch thick and cut with a floured cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 13 to 15 minutes until edges brown.

The standard southern beverage, sweet tea, appears at every meal. Southerners like their sweet tea, and most traditional homes will have a pitcher or two in the refrigerator.

SWEET TEA

6 cups water

6 tea bags (traditionally, plain black tea)

1 cup sugar

Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Steep the tea bags in the sweetened water to the desired
strength, and serve in tall glasses of ice. Garnish with mint sprigs or lemon slices, if desired.

The deep color and distinctive flavor of red velvet cake make the perfect finish for a southern meal. Topped with cream cheese frosting and decorated with pecan halves, it looks as good as it tastes.

RED VELVET CAKE

12 tablespoons (1
¹
⁄
₂
sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sifted cake flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon salt

1
³
⁄
₄
cups sugar

¹
⁄
₃
cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon red food coloring

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two greased 9-inch cake pans with greased parchment paper. In a bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Using a mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and vegetable oil until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, then beat in food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

Turn mixer to low speed, then add buttermilk and flour mixture alternately, starting and ending with flour, until just combined. Divide the batter between the pans and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn pans about halfway through.

Cool layers in pans on cake racks for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely. (Refrigerating or freezing the cooled layers will make them easier to frost.) With a long serrated knife, split the layers horizontally to make 4 thin layers.

32 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

2 pounds confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon vanilla extract

¹
⁄
₈
teaspoon salt

Using a mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, and continue beating until smooth.

To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake plate, top with about 1-1
¹
⁄
₂
cups of frosting and smooth. Continue adding layers, ending with cake. Cover entire cake with a thin layer of frosting as a crumb coat—it doesn’t need to be perfect. Chill the cake for 15 or 20 minutes to set the crumb coat, then frost with remaining frosting.

Garnish finished cake with a ring of toasted pecan halves and dust sides with crushed pecans.

Ernie’s Exquisite Elegance

If your only experience with pimento cheese is the mass-produced version packed in tiny glass tumblers, this savory spread will be a real eye-opener. This version calls for all extra-sharp cheddar, but experiment with different cheeses and combinations, such as Monterey Jack, pepper Jack, or white cheddar.

PIMENTO CHEESE WITH CRACKERS

2 cups shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

¹
⁄
₂
cup mayonnaise