Authors: Katherine Hall Page
Small Plates (28 page)
W
e can call the farm from the Marshalls' and as soon as we speak with Mary, they'll drive us back.” Faith was nuzzling Christopher's tiny head, which seemed to be keeping him quiet.
Miriam maneuvered the canoe toward the dock, and Faith grabbed a line tied to the end of it, pulling them in alongside.
“Maybe we should put the canoe on the dock. No, it won't be here for long. We can moor it and someone will take it back to Bethany Farm.” She stepped out and reached to help Miriam. The expression on the girl's face troubled her. They were safe. All of them. Why did Miriam look so sad?
“Look, Faith, this is where I get off. Or rather you get off,” she said with a sigh.
“What!” Faith exclaimed.
“I'm not like you or Mary. I'm not a good girl. And I certainly wouldn't be a good mother.”
“It's Bruce, isn't it?” Faith said. The cold dread she'd felt since hearing about the murder gave way to cold certainty.
“Kind of. I didn't kill him, though, if that's what you mean.”
“Then who did? Those men? Duane and Ralph?”
“Pretty much. They got their licks in first. But, believe me, you don't need to know about this. Tell Mary that Christopher is hers. I left a letter in the drawer where she keeps her dishtowels. If that's not enough to convince the state, I'll sign whatever they want. Help her get a lawyer. She's got plenty of money. It was mine; don't let the cops have it. It's Christopher's inheritance from his father and all he will ever get, thank God.
“I thought this was going to be a whole lot easier.” She sighed. “I decided last summer that I wanted Mary to be the baby's mother. When he was born, I wanted to give him to her even more. She's the best person I ever met. Tell her that. And also that the week I spent with her was the happiest in my life.”
“Then why go?” From the moment Faith had seen the three of them together in Mary's kitchen, she had been picturing a perfect happily ever after. Mary and Miriamâthe two Marysâraising Christopher, goats, and vegetables together on into the sunset.
“I'm only twenty-one years old. Even if I was a good person, that's too young to have a childâat least for me. And I have to figure some things out, a lot of things out.”
“What about your family? Your father?”
“There isn't any family now, never was much of one. But don't worry, Daniel Carpenter isn't going to try to get Christopher as a trinket for Brendaâthat's my stepmother, or rather, his wifeâor a male to continue the sainted Carpenter line. Be sure Mary changes his name to hers.”
Faith had so many questions, but Miriam was already untying the line.
“How can you be sure that he won't take legal action to get his grandson?”
Miriam hesitated for a moment, then said, “Because, good, kind Mrs. Fairchild, Daddy finished what Duane and Ralph started. I got there just in time to see him go nuts when Bruce managed to pull a knife on him. The knife ended up in Bruce. Self-defense? Helps to have a witness for that.”
She started to pull away from the dock. The shadows were lengthening; darkness was falling on the picture in Faith's mind as well. Then Miriam remembered something else.
“I took two thousand dollars from the money I'd left with the baby. Mary stashed it all in a bale of hay in the barn. She told me last night. I think she knew what I'd do. But I'll pay it back. Be sure to tell her.”
Miriam had a lot of things she wanted to be sure Mary knew, Faith thought. This wasn't the right ending, but it was the ending.
“I told you that you could get in touch with me if you need to,” Miriam said. “The island newspaper is online now. In July we joked about how high-tech the island was becoming and that Mary would be selling cheese on the Internet soon. We'll use the Personals, you know where people put ads saying happy anniversary or thanks for the cards when they were in the hospital. I'll call you if I read, âMother Mary come to me.' ” She pulled away from the dock, gliding toward the open water in the Reach.
Faith held Christopher up so Miriam could see him. She waved and left them, heading for the bridge, which was not far awayâand a ride to somewhere.
Let it be.
1 quart milk
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter
1 tablespoon cardamom, ground
2 cakes compressed yeast or two packages of yeast granules
1 teaspoon salt
1 package (approx. 2 cups) seedless raisins
1 package (approx. 2 cups) golden or Muscat raisins
2 eggs, beaten
12 cups flour (approx.)
Topping:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
Heat the milk and sugar, then add the butter and cardamom. When the butter has melted, cool the mixture to lukewarm. Add and dissolve the yeast. Add the salt, raisins, and beaten eggs. Work together well and add enough flour to make a firm but elastic dough. Cover the dough and let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk. Knead well until you have a smooth, elastic dough and form into two round loavesâor four standard-size bread loaves. Place the loaves in greased pie tins or loaf pans, and let rise until doubled again.
Bake at 350Ë for 1 hour. Meanwhile mix together the egg yolk, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Brush the loaves with egg-and-vanilla mixture when they come out of the oven.
Once you've made it once, you'll get the knack of it for the next time. It needs to rise for a long time and you also have to watch that the top doesn't get too brown or burn in the oven. You may have to cover it with foil near the end. You can also make the dough in a braid. The Fairchilds eat it Christmas morning, but it can be an all-year-round treat for every occasion.
3 pounds fresh mussels, washed and bearded
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons for garnish
1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 pinch dried thyme)
1 cup dry white wine
8 ounces thin spaghetti or linguine
If your mussels are farmed or from a fish market where they have already been cleaned, your job is easier. Just be sure that they are bearded and rinsed thoroughly, and discard any mussels that are not closed. While you are doing this, bring the water to a boil for the pasta.
Melt the butter in a pot with a lid, large enough to hold the mussels, leaving some room at the topâthe mussels will take up roughly two-thirds of the pot. Add the garlic, parsley, and thyme to the butter, and sauté briefly. Be careful not to let the garlic brown.
Add the mussels and pour the wine on top. Cover immediately.
Cook the pasta. You want it all to come out at the same time as the musselsâaround 7 minutes.
Drain the pasta and divide it among four large heated soup bowls. Spoon the mussels on top of each portion. Make sure all of the mussels have steamed open. When you have finished, ladle the broth over each bowl. Some cooks strain the broth, but I like the bits of garlic and the parsley. Sprinkle each dish with the remaining parsley and serve with a side salad and crusty bread.
You can do all sorts of things with this basic recipe: add lemon zest, fresh chopped tomato, and/or chopped sausageâchorizo or linguicaâto the pot before you put in the mussels and sauté. I also like to use whole wheat pasta, which stands up well to the hearty mussel and garlic flavors.
Serves 4.
Ice cubes
1.5 ounces St. Germain brand or other elderflower liqueur
2 ounces dry white wine
Club soda
Lemon twist
Fill a Collins glass (a 10â14 fluid ounce narrow tumbler) with ice cubes, about three-quarters full.
Add the liqueur and wine. (The liqueur is very sweet, so this is why you want a dry white wine, such as a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc.) Stir and top off the glass with the club soda. Add the twist of lemon.
For special occasions, use champagne, eliminating the dry white wine and club soda.
You can also prepare the drink in a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, then strain the liquid into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a twist of lemon or lime.
KATHERINE HALL PAGE
is the author of twenty-one previous Faith Fairchild mysteries, the first of which received the Agatha Award for best first mystery.
The Body in the Snowdrift
was honored with the Agatha Award for best novel of 2006. Page also won an Agatha for her short story “The Would-Be Widower.” In addition, she has been nominated for the Edgar Award, the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and the Macavity Award. She lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.
www.katherine-hall-page.org
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The Body in the Basement
The Body in the Cast
The Body in the Vestibule
The Body in the Bouillon
The Body in the Kelp
The Body in the Belfry
Cover design by Karen Horton
Cover photographs: bloodstain © by Christian Rummel/Getty Images; bullets © by Chuck Eckert/Getty Images; knife © by Andrii Gorulko/Alamy; plates © by DNY59/Getty Images; question mark © by Kerry V. McQuaid/ Shutterstock; water gun © by YAY Media AS /Alamy
Author photograph by Jean Fogelberg
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
“The Proof Is Always in the Pudding” appeared in a slightly different version in the OctoberâJanuary 2010 issue of
The Strand Magazine
. The author's thanks to Andrew Gulli, managing editor.
SMALL PLATES
. Copyright © 2014 by Katherine Hall Page. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-231079-8
EPub Edition MAY 2014 ISBN: 9780062310811
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