Killer Jam (A Dewberry Farm Mystery)
Page 24
“Oh, Flora,” I said, and reached out and gave her a hug. Her bony body shook with sobs, and we sat that way for a long time before she leaned away and dried her eyes. “Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “I’ve got to believe that.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not going to be tough for a while,” I said.
She looked down at the diary. “What do I do with this?”
“Whatever you like,” I said. “Why don’t you let it digest for a while, and then decide?”
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said.
“Hey,” I said. “Why don’t you put this stuff away and come over to my place for a bit? I’ll cook you dinner—I owe you one, anyway.”
“Are you sure?” she said. “After what my mother did to you?”
“Of course,” I said. “You saved my life, remember?”
She smiled and agreed. “Thank you,” she said. “I didn’t want to be alone today.”
“Go get anything you need,” I said. “I’ll close up the barn and you can follow me home in your car.”
“Thanks,” she said. “My mama was wrong about you, you know.”
“Well, she had a legitimate beef with Grandma Vogel, from what I hear.”
“That’s past history,” Flora said. “We’re living in the now,” she said, and smiled as she headed back to the house.
I had closed the barn doors and was heading to my car when my phone rang. Tobias.
“Hello?” I answered.
“You want the good news, or the bad?”
I groaned. “Start with the good.”
“Chuck should be ready to go home tonight,” he said. “And John Chovanek is out of the hospital and should heal completely. And I’m not sure whether it’s good or not, but Rooster Kocurek just took Faith Zapalac in for questioning.”
“Accessory after the fact?” I asked.
“That’s the word on the street—plus the property damage and fraud.”
“Well, I guess that’s good news,” I said. “Now tell me the bad.”
“Blossom is in the town square again.”
“No,” I breathed.
“Yup. And she just ate half the tomato plants in front of the Red and White.”
It took two hours for Tobias and Flora and me to corral Blossom and get her back to the house. Tobias had had to go back to the clinic, but Quinn came over in the afternoon with a big chocolate cake. I’d made turkey sandwiches and iced tea, and we’d spent lunch getting to know Flora, who was shy but had a surprisingly tart tongue that made both of us laugh, reminiscing over lost loves and processing the events of the last few days. Now that Nettie and Roger were gone, I suspected Flora was going to feel adrift for a while. I hoped Quinn and I could help her find herself again. As the afternoon waned, we ate not just the turkey sandwiches, but the entire cake, polishing it off with a bottle of sweet Riesling Flora had brought. “Chocolate therapy,” Quinn had announced as she ate the last slice, getting frosting all over her chin.
They left late that evening, leaving me alone in my grandmother’s farmhouse. The house and land were safe; no oil derricks would go up in my broccoli patch, and Dewberry Creek would flow untainted by fracking chemicals. I could feel my grandmother’s presence tonight more than ever; her lavender scent seemed to follow me from room to room as I tidied the house. I touched the rolling pin in the kitchen, now safely in its crock, and thought about how it had rolled to me the other night when Jed was attacking Quinn—and the newspaper that had floated down from the hayloft on a nonexistent breeze. Had my grandmother suspected the truth about Thomas’s death? She must have known him; he worked for my grandparents for a while, and surely she knew that he was sweet on Anna Baca. Had she wanted us to clear up the mystery of what had happened to poor Thomas? And had she dropped that branch on Rooster’s car when he came to harass me—and made the thumper truck stall the day they were planning on starting the exploration process?
I’d have to ask Teena Marburger about it, I thought—then froze. “A wolf in sheep’s clothing,” she’d said back at the Founders’ Day Festival—back before any of this had even happened. Flora had told me today that Roger’s middle name was Wolfgang—and he’d been wearing a golden lamb pin when he killed Nettie Kocurek. Goose bumps rose on my arms as Chuck and I headed up the stairs to my bedroom, where I was met with another waft of lavender.
I smiled and sent my grandmother a little prayer of thanks as I slipped off my slippers and crawled into bed. Chuck nestled in beside me, and I fell asleep listening to the sound of crickets and the wind in the leaves, feeling like I’d finally come home.
1 gallon milk
¾ cup white vinegar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Pour the milk into a large saucepan, and place over medium heat until it reaches 120 degrees F. Remove the milk from the heat, and gently pour in the vinegar, stirring slowly for 1 to 2 minutes until the curd separates from the whey. Cover the mixture, and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Line a colander with a tea towel, then pour the mixture into the lined colander, and allow it to sit and drain for 5 minutes. Gather up the edges of the cloth, and rinse the curds under cold water for 3 to 5 minutes until they are completely cooled, squeezing and moving the mixture as you rinse. Once the curds are cool, squeeze them until they are as dry as possible, and transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine, breaking up the curd into bite-size pieces as you go. Eat or refrigerate immediately.
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 egg
5 tablespoons flour, divided
1 uncooked pie shell
2 tablespoons brown sugar
In a mixer, combine 1 cup of sugar, the egg, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 2 tablespoons of flour until smooth. Fold strawberries into the batter, and pour into an uncooked pie shell.
In a second bowl, mix brown sugar, remaining 3 tablespoons of flour, and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over the unbaked pie. Bake at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes or until set (cover the crust with strips of foil if it browns too quickly).
Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream if desired.
Note: If you can’t get Texas dewberries, blackberries work well, too!
1 pound dewberries or blackberries
½ cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ large cooking apple, grated
1 pound granulated sugar
1 vanilla pod
Sterilize four 8-ounce jam jars, and put a small plate in the freezer, then wash the dewberries (or blackberries), and put into a heavy-bottomed pan with the water and lemon juice; add grated apple into the pan. Bring mixture to a boil over a medium heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the sugar, stirring gradually until all the crystals have dissolved, then scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the jam and stir. Increase the heat and boil until a candy thermometer consistently reads 220 degrees F.
To test the jam to see if it’s set, drop a little jam onto the frozen plate; when jam has set, the liquid will be gel, not liquid, when touched with a finger. If jam is still liquid, continue to boil for a few more minutes, then test again.
When set, pour the jam into sterilized jars, leaving a little bit of space at the top of the jar, and screw lids onto the jars while the jam is still hot. As they cool, the jar tops should “pop,” indicating the seal is good. Leave jam jars untouched for at least 24 hours to help the jam set.
(You can put the scraped vanilla bean in a mason jar with a cup of sugar to make vanilla sugar!)
Dough:
2 ¾ – 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
¾ cup milk
¼ cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon maple extract
1 egg
Streusel:
½ cup white sugar
⅓ cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple extract
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 – 2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon maple extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat milk and butter until very warm. Blend in a stand mixer with 1 cup of flour, and the sugar, salt, yeast, egg, and maple extract. Beat on low for 2 minutes, then add the rest of the flour, ½ cup at a time (you may not need all 3 cups). Knead into a soft dough until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in size. While dough is rising, combine streusel ingredients and set aside.
After the dough has risen, divide it into three pieces and roll each piece into a 12” circle. Place the first circle on a buttered 14” pizza pan (or large cookie sheet) covered with parchment paper. Top the first circle with ⅓ of the streusel mixture, and spread it in a thin layer; repeat with second and third pieces.
Find a glass that is 2” across, and center it on each circle (press down a little to make a mark). Using scissors, cut from the outer edge into the cup mark, making 16 wedges.
Gently lift and twist each wedge 5 times, tucking in the ends so that they stay twisted, and arrange on the pan.
Lightly cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let it rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake in a 375 degrees F oven for 20 to 25 minutes. While twists are baking, whisk together glaze ingredients. Remove twists from oven, and let rest for 5 minutes, then drizzle glaze over twists.
1½ pounds filtered beeswax
1 cup coconut oil
40 inches of cotton wick
Wick clip or clear tape
8 six-ounce candle jars
Double boiler
Candy thermometer
8 popsicle sticks, pencils, or pens
Cut a length of wick that is about 2 inches longer than the height of your jar. Tie the wick around a pencil, and position the wick over the center of the jar. Use a wick clip to keep the wick on the bottom of the jar, or simply tape it down with clear tape. Turn the stove to low, and melt the wax in a double boiler. When the beeswax is liquefied, add coconut oil and stir until everything is melted and combined, and heat to 165 degrees F. Pour a thin layer of beeswax in the bottom of your jar, making sure some of it covers the end of the wick. Push the tip of the wick into place with your finger or the end of a pen or popsicle stick, then pull on the wick so that it hardens in an upright position (this will take 60 seconds or less). When the wick has set, pour the rest of the hot wax into the jar, leaving ½ to ¾” of space at the top of the jar, and check the position of the wick to make sure it is centered. Continue with remaining jars.
Allow the candles to harden for 24 hours, then trim the wicks to about ¼ inch, and allow it to set for another 24 hours before using. Light the candle at the base of the wick so that some of the wax is drawn up into the wick.
(Tip: for longer-lasting candles, burn until wax melts all the way to the edge of the jar before extinguishing the flame.)
Acknowledgments
First, I owe a great deal of thanks to Maryann and Clovis Heimsath for opening their hearts and home to me . . . and for introducing me not only to the coast of Maine, but to their beautiful corner of Texas. I am also grateful to Writers Who Write for their camaraderie and support through the writing of this book, particularly Jason Brenizer (writing buddy and plot doctor extraordinaire), Mary Chipley, and Nano “Boye” Nagle. Thanks to beta readers: Olivia Leigh Blacke, Samantha Mann, Norma Klanderman, Mary Mulconrey, Melissa Balsam, and J. Jaye Getman, for their thoughtful and thorough reading of the manuscript (not to mention excellent suggestions). Thank you to Skyler White for her wise counsel, and thanks also to Dr. Kaori Sakamoto and Dr. E. Murl Bailey, Jr. for their help with veterinary particulars. And of course, oodles of gratitude to Anh Schluep, Kjersti Egerdahl, Alan Turkus, Tiffany Pokorny, Jacque Ben-Zekry, and the rest of the fabulous Amazon publishing team for all of the amazing things you do!
And, as always, thanks to my family, Eric, Abby, and Ian, for putting up with me. I love you!
About the Author
Photo © 2008 Kenneth Gall
Karen MacInerney is the author of numerous popular mystery novels, including the Agatha Award–nominated series The Gray Whale Inn Mysteries and the trilogy Tales of an Urban Werewolf, which was nominated for a P.E.A.R.L. award by her readers. When she’s not working on her novels, she teaches writing workshops in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her husband and two children.