Chorus Lines, Caviar, and Corpses (A Happy Hoofers Mystery)
Page 20
“You keep saying that,” she said, her voice getting louder. “But the time is never right. I’m sick of waiting. You have to do something about it now.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” he said. “Don’t tell me what to do. I told you I’d take care of this and I will. But leave me alone or you’ll be on the next plane home.”
She took a sip of her wine and ate a few more bites of her dinner. Then she stood up, threw her napkin on the table, and said to him, “I’ve had enough. I’ll wait outside until it’s time to go back to the train.” She left the table and the dining room.
Shambless ignored her and kept on eating and drinking.
He looked up as Sylvia and Tom passed his table on their way out.
“Had enough to eat, Sylvia? Wouldn’t want to get fat. They might kick you out of show business.” He laughed nastily.
Tom tried to stop her, but Sylvia came close to the talk show host, leaned over next to him, and in a voice filled with hatred said to him, “I’ve had more than enough, Dick. Keep your rotten comments to yourself or you’ll be very sorry.”
“What are you going to do, get your own talk show?” Shambless said with a smirk.
“I’m going to do more than talk,” Sylvia said, and Tom pulled her away.
“Forget it, Syl,” he said. “He’s not worth it.”
She straightened up and let Tom lead her out of the restaurant.
We sat there stunned, bowled over by Sylvia’s emotion.
Rafaela came over to our table.
“You have to have one of our desserts,” she said. “They are divine. We have strawberries with whipped cream, almond tart, chocolate tart, and my favorite, tiramisu, even if it is Italian.”
We all groaned. “Rafaela, tiramisu is my favorite dessert,” Janice said, “but if we eat one more thing, we won’t be able to walk, much less dance, tonight.”
She laughed. “Muy bien,” she said. “I won’t tempt you. But did you enjoy your dinner?”
We all talked at once trying to tell her how delicious the food was, how beautiful the restaurant was, how much we enjoyed being there.
“Rafaela,” Mary Louise said, “I don’t mean to be a pest, but is there any chance you could get the recipes for the seafood salad, the calamari, and the lobster? I would love to make them when I get home.”
“Let me see what I can do,” Rafaela said, and went into the kitchen.
We were interrupted by loud talk from the next table. I heard Shambless say to Eduardo, “I must have a car take me back to the train. I can’t ride in that crowded coach again.”
“I’m so sorry, señor, but there are no cars available now. I’m afraid you’ll have to ride in the coach with the rest of us. It’s only a short distance.”
Shambless glared at him. “I’m not used to riding on buses,” he said contemptuously. “Do something about it. You’re in charge here.”
Eduardo took the owner aside and spoke to him rapidly in Spanish. The owner nodded.
Eduardo came back to Shambless. “You are in luck. Señor Delgardo, our host, said he would drive you back to the train.”
“I hope his driving is better than his food,” Shambless said.
He looked up as we passed his table on our way out. “Aren’t you girls a little old to be dancing on trains?” he said.
Tina shot me a warning glance, but I couldn’t help it. “Aren’t you a little fat for a narrow-gauge track?” I said.
My friends dragged me back to the bus before he could answer, but I was still fuming. One woman from the train stopped, smiled at me, and patted my arm as she got back on the bus. “Don’t pay any attention to him,” she said with a French accent. “He’s obnoxious.”
“I could kill him,” I said. “He’s spoiling this whole experience.”
As we climbed aboard the bus, we could see Shambless getting into the owner’s car. It was a small car and he was a very big man. Steve and the driver pushed and pulled him into the car and closed the door.
When we were all on the bus again, Rafaela came running up and climbed aboard and walked up the aisle to Mary Louise.
“Here are those recipes you asked for,” she said, handing her some loose pages. “Enjoy.”
“You’re an angel, Rafaela,” Mary Louise said. “Thank you so much.”
Back on the train, we were all feeling way too well fed and not at all sure we could fit into the long, tight-fitting dresses that were slit up the sides so our legs were free to move, stamp, kick, and bend, flamenco style. Covered with silver sequins, they were pure glitter and flash. I loved wearing my gown, because it was the total opposite of my usual costume of a T-shirt and jeans.
“Gini, give me a hand with this zipper, will you?” Tina said. “I think I gained a couple of pounds back there at that restaurant.”
“Our dance tonight should use up a few thousand calories,” I said.
“Olé!” Tina said, clicking her heels and moving in a tiny circle in our crowded room. “Ready, Gini?”
“Olé!” I said, opening the door.
We grabbed our scarves and knocked on the door of our friends’ suite.
Our three partners were silver sequined and gorgeous.
“Are we the best or what?” Janice said.
“We’re certainly the best fed,” Mary Louise said, patting her stomach. “I’m feeling a little stuffed.”
“We all are,” Tina said. “But we’ll be fine once we get on that floor and start moving. Come on, all together now, think flamenco, think clapping hands and flashing feet.”
We headed for the ballroom car, waving at the other passengers as we passed through the cars. The ballroom somehow looked smaller than it had in the afternoon.
“Shouldn’t we have rehearsed in this car before we actually performed here?” Pat, our worrier, said.
“We’ll be OK, Pat,” Tina said. “We dance in and out of each other, not in a straight line. We can do it.”
Tina clicked on the CD player and the first notes of the flamenco music filled the air.
Just as we were ready to swing out onto the floor, Eduardo ran up to us. He looked frantic, not his usual cool, dignified self.
“Señoras, I have terrible news.” He stopped, trying to calm down.
“What’s the matter, Eduardo,” Tina said, touching his arm. “What has happened?”
He took a deep breath. “He’s dead,” he said. “He’s . . .”
“Who’s dead, Eduardo?” I said. “What are you talking about?”
“Señor Shambless,” he said. He took a deep breath. “His room attendant, Carlos, found him a half hour ago. He was a mess. Carlos called me and I called one of our passengers who is a doctor—Dr. Parnell. He examined Señor Shambless and said he was dead. But he told me to call the emergency service to take him to the nearest hospital to see if they could revive him.”
“Oh, Eduardo, what can we do to help you?” Tina said.
He looked at us pleadingly. “I know it’s a terrible thing to ask, señoras, but could you please dance anyway? I don’t want the other passengers to know what has happened just yet, and your dancing will keep them here while I figure out what to do.”
We looked at each other, straightened up, nodded yes, and told Eduardo not to worry. We would distract the audience or wear out our dancing shoes trying.
MARY LOUISE’S ADAPTATION OF THE RESTAURANT RECIPES
Salpicon de Marisco (Seafood Salad)
1 pound shrimp, cooked, peeled, and deveined
1 pound cooked crabmeat, cut up
¾ pound cooked octopus or squid, cut up
1 small red bell pepper, cut up
1 small green bell pepper, cut up
1 cup small white onions, left whole
1 medium yellow onion sliced
1 cup gherkin pickles, halved
1 cup green olives, stuffed with anchovies and
left whole
Dressing:
4 teaspoons white vinegar
&nbs
p; ½ cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Mix the seafood together in a large bowl and add the next six ingredients.
2. Whisk white vinegar and olive oil together in small bowl to make dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Pour dressing over salad and toss. Serve at room temperature.
Serves six.
Calamari a la Plancha (Spicy Squid)
1½ pounds raw calamari rings
½ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1½ tablespoons chopped parsley
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
sea salt to taste
4 lemon wedges
1. Heat olive oil to sizzling in large skillet. Sauté calamari for about 3 minutes and then add minced garlic (I use 4 cloves, but you can use more if you like really garlicky calamari) .
2. Cook until the calamari is golden brown and the garlic smells great but isn’t too brown, about 7 minutes. Be careful not to let the calamari get rubbery
3. Add chopped parsley and red pepper flakes. Add some sea salt and garnish with lemon wedges. Serve immediately.
Serves four.
Bogavante a la Gallega
(Gallician Lobster with Potatoes)
2 three-pound boiled lobsters
2 medium-size potatoes, boiled and diced
2 teaspoons salt
2 ounces olive oil
½ teaspoon
1. Keep potatoes warm. When lobster is room temperature, detach tails and put one on each plate. Using a sharp knife, take meat out of tails, slice, and put back in tails.
2. Crack open claws with a nutcracker and remove meat with a cocktail fork. Arrange claw meat and potatoes around tails and sprinkle paprika over all. Add salt and olive oil and enjoy.
Serves two.
. . . continued in Flamenco, Flan, and Fatalities
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2014 by Mary McHugh
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ISBN: 978-1-6177-3359-8
ISBN-10: 1-61773-359-8
First Kensington Mass Market Edition: November 2014
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-360-4
eISBN-10: 1-61773-360-1
First Kensington Electronic Edition: November 2014