Death of a Lobster Lover
Page 23
“You don’t have to do that,” Liddy said.
“I insist.”
Daphne stood up and walked back to her car, hopped in, and then pulled out in front of them, blue lights still flashing.
Left with no choice, Liddy followed her.
“A police escort, really?” Liddy laughed. “That’s a little over the top, but a nice gesture, I guess.”
“There’s nothing nice about it,” Hayley said. “She wants to make sure we cross the county line and don’t come back!”
Island Food & Spirits by Hayley Powell
I was flipping through my old card file of recipes the other day and happened upon one of my favorites—Lobster Mac & Cheese. This particular recipe reminded me of a promise I had made just about a year ago when my girlfriends and I found ourselves embroiled in some big trouble while vacationing Down East in Salmon Cove because we’d met a man who happened to love lobster.
Well, after a tragic turn of events and a situation that spiraled out of our control that is too exhausting to recount here, let’s just say the girls and I found ourselves in quite a jam. Okay, to be honest, we found ourselves in jail, and this nice woman named Polly, whom I had met earlier, was kind enough to bail us out.
Anyway, I promised to pay her back by giving her one of my recipes, but sadly I never got the chance, as she was unexpectedly forced to leave town. Okay, full disclosure, she was whisked off to serve time in the state pen for murder, but that’s another story.
Still, a promise is a promise, and so I decided to test the Lobster Mac & Cheese recipe to see if it was as good as I had remembered. As luck would have it, I already had some cooked lobster meat from Mona in the freezer as well as a hunk of amazing gouda cheese that Liddy had given me after she’d raided our favorite wine and cheese shop in town, House of Wines, a few weeks prior, but then decided she needed to preserve her delicate waistline after the purchase, so she got rid of the cheese and I was the happy beneficiary. She kept the wine for herself, however, because, in her words, “If I’m going to stick to my diet, I’m going to need a lot of wine to help me get through it!”
So, with my necessary ingredients, I prepared the Lobster Mac & Cheese and used my brother’s husband, Sergio, as my guinea pig! As Randy and Sergio both used their forks to scrape the bottom of the casserole dish for every last piece of melted cheese, I knew my recipe was a hit! Now I had to try to find a way to get it to Polly! I wrote her a sweet note, apologizing for the amount of time it took me to fulfill my promise, but when I called the state prison to get her exact address, they told me she had already been paroled, and they did not have any forwarding information. I was stunned. How did she get out so early? Where did she go? Did she move back to Salmon Cove?
I called the only person I knew who might have some answers.
Sheriff Daphne Wilkes in Salmon Cove.
When Sheriff Wilkes answered the phone, she was all business as usual with no time for small talk. She informed me that after a trial that ended with a deadlocked jury, the prosecutors, given the violent criminal past of the victim, feared they would never get a murder one conviction so they offered Polly a plea of manslaughter plus time served, which she accepted. After a year of good behavior, Polly was released and was now working in a bakery in South Portland. Sheriff Daphne gave me the name of the bakery, and before I had a chance to thank her, she abruptly hung up. Like I said, all business.
I mailed off the recipe to Polly. I never heard from her, and I had no idea if she’d even received it, but my guess was she probably wanted to put that whole sordid chapter of her life in Salmon Cove behind her, so I was not the least bit offended by her lack of response.
About a month or so later, I was home watching my imaginary boyfriend Mark Harmon on NCIS when the phone rang. When I picked it up, I was stunned to hear the voice of Sheriff Daphne Wilkes. Only this time she wasn’t gruff and distant and all business. I could tell she was crying, and as she spoke, I listened in utter disbelief. When she finished with her news, I immediately hung up the phone, jumped in my car, and drove as fast as I could to Mona’s lobster shop, where I knew she would be.
Screeching to a halt, I could see Mona through the open door standing behind her cash register, staring into a bubbling tank of live lobsters. I hurried inside the shop. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and then collapsed in my arms sobbing uncontrollably.
Sadly, the reason Sheriff Wilkes called me was to get Mona’s phone number. They may not have been great friends, but they did have something in common, and that was their close friendship with Corey Guildford.
Sheriff Wilkes called to break the news that Corey Wilkes had died that day on the ocean that he loved, doing what he loved most, in a freak lobstering accident.
Mona, Liddy, and I canceled our annual summer getaway plans and drove to Salmon Cove to attend Corey’s funeral. It was a somber affair; the people of Salmon Cove adored Corey, he was a local fixture along with his truck and beloved dog, Sadie.
Sadie.
What was to become of Sadie, Corey’s golden retriever, his constant sidekick and faithful companion?
According to Sheriff Wilkes, Sadie ran off when she showed up at Corey’s house after the accident, and was probably out looking for her master. There had been a few spottings by locals, but no one had managed to catch her. When they tried to get her in a car or on a leash, she would take off running again.
On our way out of town after the burial, Mona requested we stop one last time at the cemetery so she could have a private good-bye with her friend and first love. Liddy and I sat in the car, tears streaming down our faces as we watched Mona kneel down on the ground in front of Corey’s grave. That’s when Sadie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began licking away Mona’s tears. She put her arm around the dog, and we all took it as a sign that Mona should be the one to give Sadie a new home and a fresh start. In her heart, Mona felt that’s what Corey would have wanted. So we had one more in the car as we drove back to Bar Harbor.
Today I’m sharing my mouth-watering, addictive Lobster Mac & Cheese recipe, and Polly, if you are reading this, I will always be grateful for your friendship and kindness when we most needed it!
I enjoy a nice dry red wine with my Lobster Mac & Cheese, but if you would like to fancy it up a bit, here is an easy Red Wine Spritzer recipe to enjoy beforehand.
Red Wine Spritzer
Ingredients
Bottle of your favorite red wine
Carbonated water
A few raspberries (or your favorite
berry), for garnish
Fill a tall glass half full with ice and then fill the glass halfway with your red wine. Top off the glass with carbonated water and add a few berries for garnish on top. Easy but oh so refreshing.
Luscious Lobster Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
16-ounce box pasta shells (or your
favorite pasta)
¼ cup flour
3 cups milk
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar
cheese
1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
1 cup shredded fontina cheese
1 teaspoon each: salt, ground black
pepper, garlic powder
2 cups crushed Ritz crackers
Cook your pasta to almost al dente according to the directions on the box.
Drain and set aside.
While your pasta is cooking, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, then slowly add your milk. Whisk until it begins to thicken a bit, add your cheeses, and keep stirring until they are melted. Remove from heat and add your salt, pepper, and garlic.
In a large bowl add your pasta, chopped lobster, and cheese sauce. Stir to combine, making sure all the pasta is evenly coated in the cheese sauce. Pour into a greased 13x9 baking dish.
In a small saucepan melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and mix with the cracker crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the lobster and pasta.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly and cracker crumbs are golden brown. Remove from oven and let the dish sit for at least 10 minutes before digging in! Bon appetit!
Index of Recipes
Sheila’s Perfectly Tasty Maine Lobster Rolls
Blueberry Lemonade Cocktail
Whiskey Peach Cocktail
Sheila’s Lobster in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Hayley’s Grown-Up Bug Juice Cocktail
Sheila’s Man-Bait Lobster Tacos
Minty Iced Tea Cocktail
Sabrina Merryweather’s Favorite Lobster Dip
Blueberry Gin Fizz Cocktail
Hayley’s Lobster Seafood Casserole
Mountain Sunset Cocktail
Lobster Stuffed Mushrooms
Red Wine Spritzer
Luscious Lobster Mac & Cheese
Dear Reader:
We hope you enjoyed Death of a Lobster Lover, the latest installment in the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery series. This was a particularly fun book to write because it’s always a joy to explore the bond between Hayley and her pals Liddy and Mona, her two best friends since childhood. And a fun girls’ weekend road trip story seemed the perfect way to do that.
Hayley will return next year in Death of a Cookbook Author, a brand new mystery, which finds our intrepid heroine faced with a real head scratching puzzle. It all starts when Hayley excitedly attends a Meet the Author event at her local bookstore featuring her idol Penelope Janice, a mega successful cookbook author, who it turns out is also an admirer of Hayley’s recipes in the Island Times. Penelope is hosting a celebrity potluck at her fancy seaside estate in Seal Harbor during the long Fourth of July weekend. It’s an annual tradition. Penelope invites all her favorite famous chef friends to gather at her home and prepare their signature dishes in a friendly competition. Much to Hayley’s shock, Penelope invites her to participate, and even offers her a room in the main house so she has full access to Penelope’s state of the art kitchen and full-time staff. It’s a dream come true for an amateur cook!
But on the very first night, Hayley gorges on a batch of spoiled mussels and later suffers from a nasty bout of food poisoning. Disoriented and nauseous, she wanders about lost in the mansion late at night in search of a bathroom and accidentally overhears two guests conspiring against their hostess Penelope. The next day, no one seriously believes Hayley’s wild tale of a murder plot especially given her fevered state at the time, but then a dead body is discovered on the rocks below the cliffside estate, and it suddenly becomes clear to everyone that something sinister is definitely afoot. Now it’s up to Hayley Powell to whip up some answers in what promises to be her most twisty, toe-curling suspense-filled adventure yet!
Please be sure to check our website LeeHollis Mysteries.com for the release date of Hayley’s next mystery and visit us on Facebook for more information and mouthwatering recipes by typing in Lee Hollis.
Sincerely Yours,
Lee Hollis