Town in a Lobster Stew chm-2

by B. B. Haywood

  It had been a frantic forty-eight hours, getting the elderly woman packed and her house closed up. Candy and Maggie agreed to keep an eye on it for her until she decided what to do with it. But she knew she’d never live in it again.

  And they knew they might never see Wilma Mae again.

  “Well, at least things can start getting back to normal,” Candy said, and she looked over at her friend. “Even for you. So you’re going back to work, huh?”

  Maggie beamed. “I sure am. I heard from Mr. Gumm yesterday. I start working at the hardware store on Monday.”

  “And how much do you know about hardware?” Candy asked.

  Maggie beamed even broader. “Absolutely nothing! But Cameron promised to teach me everything he knows. I can’t pass up a deal like that. But mostly I’m just going to run the cash register to start.”

  “Well, that certainly sounds exciting.”

  “It’s not much money,” Maggie said with a sigh, “but it’s a start. I’ll work my way back up in this town again. Just you wait and see.”

  “I have no doubt you will. You’re pretty industrious. You’ll do fine.”

  “Yeah, I think I landed on my feet. I learned that from Mr. Biggles — may he rest in peace. So... have you heard anything else from the police?” Maggie asked curiously, taking a sip of her margarita.

  “They called yesterday. They want to talk to me again early next week.”

  “Again?”

  “Yup. Just to verify things, they said. Go over it once more. But I think they’ve got most of the story down.”

  “Are you still in hot water with them?”

  Candy smiled. “Of course. I’m always in hot water with them. But they’re getting used to me. I think we’re starting to understand each other.”

  “Are they going to return the ledger to you?”

  “They said they will — at some point. I don’t know when, though. It might not be until after the trial.”

  “And did they ever find the missing pages?”

  Candy shook her head. “That’s the most frustrating part. I know Roger ripped something out of that ledger. I saw him do it. But when they searched him, they didn’t find anything. And he’s not talking. Whatever he took out of that ledger has mysteriously disappeared.”

  “There’s no way of knowing what was written on those pages?”

  “Apparently not. I asked Wilma Mae about them, and she said she couldn’t remember — or just refused to. But I can’t blame her. She says she’s done with it. When or if I ever get the ledger back, I’m supposed to pass it along to Juanita at the diner.”

  “Oh, that’s nice,” Maggie said. “It sounds appropriate.”

  “It sure does, with Juanita winning the cook-off and all,” Candy agreed. “One day soon everyone in town might be able to taste Mr. Sedley’s lobster stew recipe, if they decide to put it on the menu.”

  “So life goes on in Cape Willington, Maine, doesn’t it?” Maggie said philosophically.

  “It does.”

  “Speaking of life going on, how are things with you and Ben?”

  Candy made a face and shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s still devastated. He just can’t believe Roger would murder someone. And threaten me. Ben feels responsible. And, I think, somewhat embarrassed. He says he’ll make it up to me somehow.”

  “Hmm,” Maggie said with a lascivious grin, “that sounds like fun.”

  Candy waggled an eyebrow at her. “Yes, it does, doesn’t it?”

  They were silent again for a few moments. After a while Maggie asked, “Heard any news about Captain Mike?”

  Candy shook her head as she gazed out at the river. “Not a word.”

  “Think we’ll ever see him again?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Well, I have a feeling he’ll pop up again sometime in the future.”

  Candy turned to look at her. “I hope you’re right. I hope he’s okay. Hey, speaking of missing persons, have you heard anything about Mr. Milbury? Have they caught him yet?”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. I got a call this morning before I left the house. They nabbed him at the Mexican border south of Bisbee, Arizona. He was trying to flee down to Guatemala or Costa Rica or someplace like that. But he didn’t make it.”

  “And he’s headed to jail?”

  “Yup.”

  “Well, maybe he can share a cell with Roger.”

  And with that gratifying thought, they both turned and watched the boats cruising down the Fore River, headed past the islands of Casco Bay and out to the cold, deep sea beyond.

  Epilogue

  Because she had to drive several hours north, Candy limited herself to one margarita, although Maggie allowed herself a second one. And they both had a bowl of clam chowder, which tasted delicious — perhaps not quite as good as Mr. Sedley’s lobster stew, but still very good.

  The afternoon passed by all too quickly, and as the sun slid toward the western sky, they decided it was time to head back up north to Cape Willington.

  They had parked the Jeep in a garage up on Fore Street, so they headed across Commercial Street and angled up Market. As they turned a corner onto Fore Street, headed toward the parking garage, they passed a newsstand, and something caught Candy’s eye. She took several steps along the sidewalk, stopped suddenly, and doubled back. “Hey, hold up a minute,” she called to Maggie.

  Her friend slowed and turned around. “Why, what’s up?”

  Candy didn’t answer. She stood staring at the headline of the Portland paper, displayed on the newsstand for all to see: Wealthy financier distances himself from brother, the headline read. And underneath that, in smaller type, Porter Sykes unveils plans for Portland waterfront redesign .

  Candy picked up a copy of the paper, rummaged in her purse for change to pay for it, and read the first few lines of the story:

  Porter Sykes, a Boston financier and real estate magnate, as well as a member of the wealthy Sykes family of Marblehead, Mass., has announced plans for a major building and renovation project on Portland’s waterfront. A fifty-four-room luxury hotel and convention complex will serve as an anchor for the project, said Sykes, of the investment firm Sykes and Dubois. Friday’s unveiling event, however, was marred by the recent arrest in Cape Willington, Maine, of Mr. Sykes’s younger brother, Roger, who is charged with the murder of the town’s museum director.

  Candy read the paragraph again, her eyes hovering over two words: Marblehead, Mass.

  She felt a chill go through her. She’d heard something about Marblehead just a few days ago, hadn’t she? What was it?

  Standing on the sidewalk along Fore Street, with crowds of people passing around her, she searched her memories and, after a moment, remembered. It was something Bob Bridges had told her last Monday afternoon as they stood in the maintenance shed at the English Point Lighthouse:

  Robbie said they brought in some ringer, backed by this moneyman... some rich guy out of Boston — Marblehead, I think he said. The guy’s name was Paul or Pete or something like that. Old-money type of thing.

  Marblehead. Old money.

  And there was something else, wasn’t there? Something strange Roger had said, when he’d been standing in the maintenance shed with a gun pointed at them:

  Charlotte was the one who brought it to our attention.

  Our attention.

  Roger and Porter Sykes. Brothers.

  Porter Sykes.

  Why did that name seem so familiar to her?

  And then it came to her in a flash: Porter Sykes! PS!

  Candy felt her legs go weak. They threatened to give way beneath her right there on the sidewalk.

  “Honey, are you all right?” Maggie said, concern in her voice as she took Candy’s arm to steady her. “What’s wrong. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

  But again, Candy didn’t answer. Her mind was working too quickly.

  Porter Sykes.

  PS.

  An image o
f the inscription written in the upper left corner of the blueprints, laid out on the table in Doc’s office, jumped into her mind.

  The inscription on the blueprints had read, Here are the plans. PS Make sure no one else sees this.

  PS. It didn’t mean postscript, as she had thought. They were initials!

  Porter Sykes’s initials!

  He must have written that note to Charlotte, signed his initials, and then added the last line: Make sure no one else sees this.

  So Porter Sykes had given the plans to Charlotte!

  But how had they known each other?

  Candy had a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach as she read down the columns of newsprint. Toward the end of the article, she found what she was looking for:

  An art and history aficionado, Porter Sykes sits on the boards of a number of museums throughout New England, including...

  She read the last few words as the blood pounded in her ears. In disbelief, she looked over at Maggie. “Oh no,” was all she could say.

  “Honey, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” Maggie asked, a worried expression on her face.

  Candy shook her head, feeling as if she were in shock. The hairs were standing out on her arms. A feeling of dread washed over her.

  “I don’t know for sure,” she said uneasily, “but I don’t think we’ve heard the last from the Sykes brothers.”

  Recipes

  Lobster Stew

  Created by Executive Chef Troy Mains No. 10 Water The Restaurant at the Captain Stone Inn Brunswick, Maine

  1 white onion, chopped

  1 cup whole unsalted butter

  2 stalks of celery, chopped

  2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

  1 tablespoon minced garlic

  4 cups clam broth or really good lobster stock

  2 pounds shucked lobster meat

  1 teaspoon paprika

  1 quart heavy cream

  Salt and pepper to taste

  In a large pot, sauté in butter the celery, onion, garlic, and spices. Once browned on medium to high heat, pour in the clam broth or stock and let reduce by half (boil down). Then add the cream to thicken, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Once thickened, add the generous amount of lobster meat and serve in a large bowl. This recipe should serve 6-8.

  I also like to garnish the stew with a puff pastry in the shape of a lobster. You can purchase a lobster cookie cutter at a cooking store to create this pastry. Cut it out of dough, brush with egg white, sprinkle with paprika for color, and bake at 400° for 7-10 minutes.

  This will fancify a Maine classic.

  Lobster Veloute

  Created by Chef Jason Williams The Well at Jordan’s Farm Cape Elizabeth, Maine

  2 quarts (serves 4)

  1 lobster, about 1 ¼ pound, in hard shell

  2 yellow onions

  1 carrot

  1 celery stalk

  1 bay leaf

  2 black peppercorn

  4 ounces butter

  4 ounces flour

  Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in large pot. Drop in live lobster and cook for 7 minutes. Remove and place in ice water.

  Reserve cooking water.

  Remove lobster meat and chop into pieces. Roast bones, return to cooking water, and add onions, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorn. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain.

  In a separate large pan, melt butter and stir in flour; cook over low heat for about 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 2.5 quarts lobster stock. Bring to a simmer; continue simmering for about 20 minutes.

  Serve with chopped lobster, some chopped chives, and some crusty bread. Enjoy!

  Fuel’s Lobster Stew

  From Eric Agren, Owner Fuel Restaurant Lewiston, Maine

  4 whole lobsters, steamed and cooled Heavy cream (about a quart)

  4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

  4 cloves of garlic, crushed

  4 shallots, diced

  1 bunch of fresh tarragon, chopped

  1 cup of Cognac

  Remove all meat from the lobsters and reserve for later.

  Break the shells into pieces. Use sturdy kitchen shears if necessary.

  Heat canola oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.

  Add the lobster shells and cook for about 5 minutes, until blistering but not burned.

  Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of Cognac.

  Flambé the Cognac and reduce to about 2 tablespoons.

  Add the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, and tarragon.

  Season with salt and white pepper.

  Add cold water to the sauté pan till almost full (about 10 cups).

  Bring to a boil.

  Reduce the water until there is about 1 cup left in the saucepan. While reducing, squeeze the shells and other ingredients with a wooden spoon.

  Reduce the heat to low.

  Add the quart of heavy cream.

  Bring to a low simmer. Simmer until the cream is reduced by 50 percent. Remove from heat.

  Strain the liquid with a chinois, pushing the ingredients with the back of a wooden spoon, and reserve. Discard the shells and other ingredients.

  Add the liquid to a saucepan on low heat.

  Add the reserved lobster meat and heat through.

  Serve immediately.

  Serves four, although the servings are small; this is a super rich and very, very flavorful stew.

  Cod & Lobster Chowder

  Created by Executive Chef Mitchell Kaldrovich Sea Glass at Inn by the Sea Cape Elizabeth, Maine

  6 slices of Applewood Smoked Bacon, diced

  1.5 sticks of unsalted butter

  2 cups of leeks halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

  crosswise, white part only

  2 cups celery root, diced into small pieces

  2 cups carrots, small diced

  1 cup Spanish onion, small diced

  6 each garlic cloves, minced

  2 each bay leaves

  ¾ cup all-purpose flour

  2 cups dry white wine

  2 quarts lobster stock or clam broth

  1 quart half-and-half, or more depending on consistency

  4 each 1¼ lobsters, steamed for 2 minutes, meat sliced

  2 tablespoons fresh thyme

  3 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves

  Lobster bodies and shells reserved for stock

  6-8 portions, 4½ -5 ounce each fillet of cod

  1 pound golden fingerlings or new potatoes

  FOR THE CHOWDER

  In a heavy saucepan at medium heat, cook the bacon until all the fat has been rendered and the bacon starts to foam (save half of this fat for the potatoes), then add the butter, garlic, leek, onion, celery root, carrots, bay leaves and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the flour and mix well. Then add the wine and mix well. Cook for about a minute. Then add the lobster stock and lower the heat. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the flour has thickened a little. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly to prevent the vegetables from getting stuck at the bottom of the pot. Then add the half-and-half, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped thyme and parsley. Keep warm. Right before serving reheat the soup and add the pieces of lobster, seasoned with salt. Let the lobster finish cooking just for a couple of minutes.

  FOR THE POTATOES

  Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water and salt. Simmer slowly until the potatoes are done when pierced with a sharp knife. Strain and reserve. (This step can be done before the soup.) Before serving, cut potatoes in half, season with salt and pepper, and brown in a skillet using the reserved bacon fat and some olive oil or butter. Put in at 350°F for 5 minutes for a crispy skin.

  FOR THE COD

  Pat dry the fillet of fish. Season with salt and pepper.

  Heat a cast-iron skillet and add some canola oil and butter (about 1 teaspoon of each per fillet). Brown the fish for about 4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish). Put in a 350°F oven for another 3 minutes (only turn the fish when ready to plate).
>
  Place about 5 ounces of the chowder in each preheated shallow bowl, place some golden potatoes around, place fish in the middle of the plate, and garnish with crispy smoked bacon and fresh chives.

  FOR THE LOBSTER STOCK

  Lobster bodies and shells, wash and dry all shells (up to 6)

  2 tablespoons vegetable oil

  1 small onion, chopped

  1 small leek, washed and sliced

  1 carrot

  1 bay leaf

  3 each garlic cloves

  3 tarragon sprigs

  1 tablespoon fennel seeds

  1 tablespoon tomato paste

  1-2 each ripe tomato or 1 cup tomato juice

  1 cup dry white wine

  1 cup sherry wine

  Cold water, about ¾ gallon

  Heat a stockpot or heavy saucepan; add the oil and the shells and brown them on all sides for about 6-7 minutes.

  Add onion, leek, garlic, bay leaf, fennel seeds, carrot, and tarragon, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, constantly stirring to prevent burning. Add tomato paste and tomatoes, mix well, add wines and let evaporate the alcohol, then cover with cold water, about 1 inch above the shells, and gently simmer for 2 hours, skimming all impurities and foam that are floating. After 2 hours strain with a fine colander and put back at medium heat and reduce to half. You should have about 2 quarts of lobster stock.

  Serves 6 to 8.

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 24691090-63dd-4074-a7b0-837eac7cb709

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 14 April 2011

  Created using: FictionBook Editor Release 2.6 software

  Document authors :

  frenky_m

  Document history:

  1.0 — создание файла