Free Mudlark by Sheila Simonson Page A

front door open again. I was not
surprised to see Tom stick his head in the kitchen.
    "Smells good." He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt I had washed for him, and he looked
frazzled.
    "It's vegetable soup." I dumped broth and tomatoes into the kettle. "You have company."
    "Hi, Tom." Darla got up and gave him a cousinly hug in front of the refrigerator. "Grandma told me to
get my butt over here and find out if you need a lawyer."
    Tom ran a hand through his damp hair. "Possibly, brat, but I don't think you're experienced enough to
take me on yet."
    "Cut it out. This is serious."
    Amusement lit his eyes. "You can tell Aunt Caroline I'm still a free man. I spent the afternoon reviewing
my last forty eight waking hours with Dale Nelson, and I signed a statement."
    Darla groaned.
    "Then he warned me not to leave the county and brought me back from Kayport. They found Cleo's car
at the construction site while I was trying to remember her exact words to me for the thirtieth time. I think the car
distracted Dale."
    I poured a cup of white wine into the soup. "You must be thirsty, Tom. Have a beer."
    "Thanks." He nodded to Freddy and Jay, who had watched the drama from the nook, and opened the
refrigerator door. "Jesus, there are crabs in the beer."
    "I hope you know how to back them because I don't."
    "No problem. Want me to do it now?"
    "Drink your beer first. I'm making soup," I glanced at Darla, "and we might bump elbows or
something."
    "I can back crab," she said seriously. She was a serious young woman. However, she took the hint, and
they both retired to the nook.
    I opened the miniature door of the spice cabinet and began pulling down herb jars. Bay leaf, tarragon,
peppercorns, rosemary. I thought oregano might make the soup taste like pizza sauce, so I left it where it was. "I'll
bet you have fresh basil in that garden, Tom."
    "Sure. Do you need basil?"
    "Not now, but I might get ambitious one of these days and make pesto." Pesto was one of my more
successful culinary experiments.
    I tossed herbs into the soup with what I hoped was a nonchalant air. The stuff was beginning to smell
wonderful. I wondered if six people would fit in the breakfast nook. "Can you stay for dinner, Darla?"
    "I...yes. Thanks."
    "Terrific. Jay, you and Freddy go in and clear the crud off the dining room table. Bonnie's coming, too, so
set six places. And dust it." The dining room was a bit cramped because the living-room furniture was stored there
along one wall.
    Jay and Freddy rose to the occasion.
    I had put the pasta wheels in the soup and was watching Tom clean the second crab when the doorbell
rang. "Coral" was a euphemism for crab guts, and since Tom was busy removing the top shell, not the bottom, I
didn't understand the term "back" either. I said so.
    Darla was watching her cousin with critical attention. "I suppose we say back because only the back is
left when they're cleaned. The coral's a delicacy."
    "I'm sure it is."
    Tom glanced at me and grinned. "Where should I toss the delicacy?"
    "The garbage can's under the sink."
    Before Darla could protest, Bonnie opened the kitchen door. She was carrying a covered dish in her left
hand. "Hi, Lark. Your husband said to come on in. This nice lady I don't know just brought me a pie. She said it was
huckleberry. Can you believe it?"
    Ruth had a very soft heart. She must have baked two pies. I took the glass pie plate from Bonnie and set
it on the table in the nook. The plate was still warm and the pie smelled almost as good as my soup. Gourmet
dinners were easy.
    I introduced Darla to Bonnie, and the two women shook hands. Tom said hello and went on backing
crab with professional deftness. I got Bonnie a glass of wine.
    "The soup smells great."
    "It will be magnificent. Do we need to crack those, Tom?" I got down a platter of the sort turkeys repose
on at Christmas.
    "It's a friendly gesture."
    "What with?"
    "A nut cracker will do the job, or a hammer, or pliers."
    "Or a monkey wrench?"
    "You have