Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “It was,” Andrea admitted, her voice shaking slightly. “They think I did it, Grandma.”

  “No one with half a brain thinks that,” Grandma Knudson assured her. “We know you didn’t, and everybody else in Lake Eden knows it, too.”

  “Thank you,” Andrea said, and smiled at them.

  “Have one of our Blueberry Danish,” Hannah invited, gesturing toward the platter in front of them.

  “I certainly will!” Grandma Knudson said, taking one for herself and placing another on the paper napkin in front of Claire. “Aunt Nancy said you wanted to see me and I assume it’s probably because I’m the oldest person in Lake Eden and I know everyone’s background?”

  Hannah nodded. Grandma Knudson was known for telling it like it was. “I want to know about Mayor Bascomb’s college years, and no one else seems to know. I asked Stephanie, but she told me that she was away at another college at the time and he’d never said much about it.”

  “No college degrees on the wall? Or college pennants and sports photos?” Claire asked.

  “Not a thing. Stephanie said her husband had keepsakes boxed up in their garage, but most of them burned up in the garage fire they had several years ago.”

  “He went to school in Wisconsin at first,” Claire told them. “Isn’t that right, Grandma?”

  “That’s right, honey,” Grandma Knudson gave a nod. “Richard went to a state college there for the first year because his grades weren’t good enough to get into a university. If memory serves, Richard was a bit of a playboy in his senior year at Jordan High. He was a handsome boy and the girls in his class were wild about him. I won’t name names, but several mothers in my husband’s congregation were worried about their daughters.”

  “So that was when your husband was still alive?” Hannah asked her.

  “Yes, I asked him to have a talk with young Bascomb about his wild streak. He came back from that talk and told me that young Bascomb acted as if that was a compliment. My husband told him that conceit was not a virtue, and he did apologize at that point, but I think that was only because he wanted a college recommendation from my husband.”

  “Do you happen to know the name of the college the mayor attended that first year in Wisconsin?” Hannah asked her.

  “Yes, I believe it was Terra Hills. It was a state college, but I’m not sure that it’s still there. It may have consolidated with another college in the state system.”

  “You said it was a state college,” Andrea entered the conversation. “Did the mayor go on to a university after that?”

  “Yes, he got his grades up and matriculated to a university. I’m not really sure where.”

  “Why didn’t he go to a college in Minnesota?” Hannah asked.

  “I’m not sure. Perhaps he just wanted to get away from home. He didn’t have a stellar reputation in Lake Eden, you know.”

  Andrea shifted a bit on her stool, and Hannah guessed that her sister wanted to say something about how the mayor’s non-stellar reputation remained with him for the rest of his life. “How long did the mayor stay in Wisconsin, Grandma?”

  “He was in Terra Hills for one year and then he transferred to the university in Madison.”

  “And he stayed there until he graduated from college?” Andrea asked.

  “Yes, except for brief trips back to see his mother and get more money.” Grandma Knudson stopped abruptly and gave herself a little slap on the mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that,” she confessed. “Sometimes it’s difficult to practice Christian charity. It’s just that his parents weren’t wealthy, and Richard went through quite a bit more than they could afford in his college years.”

  “How many years did it take him to graduate?” Andrea asked after a quick glance at her notes.

  “Five years. The first year at Terra Hills was just to bring up his grade point average. If he’d concentrated a little more on his classwork at Jordan High and less on . . .” She stopped again and an exasperated expression crossed her face. “Sorry. I did it again. It’s just that talking about that man makes me very angry.”

  “It makes all of us very angry,” Andrea admitted, “but everyone says you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”

  “True.” Grandma Knudson gave a little nod. “That’s such silly advice, isn’t it? They’re dead and they can’t hear you.”

  Andrea looked completely shocked. “But . . . don’t you believe in an afterlife?”

  “Of course I do! But I don’t think they all stand around in heaven or hell wiretapping our conversations.”

  That did it for Hannah. She broke out into laughter. Claire, who had, up to that point, added nothing to the conversation, began to laugh, too. “Do you see why I love Grandma so much?” she asked them.

  “I certainly do,” Andrea assured her when she could stop chuckling. “Grandma says exactly what she thinks.” She turned to Hannah. “I seem to remember you saying something like that once.”

  Hannah looked slightly sheepish. “You’re right. I’m sorry I started laughing, Grandma. I just couldn’t help myself.”

  “There are times when a good laugh is exactly what we need, Hannah. Now I know you have more questions. Just let me have a few bites of that marvelous-looking Blueberry Danish and then you can ask them.”

  “And I’m sure you have questions for me, too,” Claire added. “I’ll be glad to help you with your investigation. Not even Richard Bascomb deserved to die that way.”

  Hannah waited until Grandma Knudson, Claire, and Andrea had finished their pastries, and then she turned to Claire. “I realize that this is probably a sensitive subject, but Andrea doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the murder, and it would be very helpful if you could give me a little background about your . . .”

  “My affair with Mayor Bascomb?”

  “Well . . . yes. Would you rather that we go somewhere else so that you and I can talk privately?”

  “No, that’s all right. Everybody in town knows it happened, and I’ve already told Grandma Knudson all about it. She’s such a wonderful listener!”

  “Thank you, honey,” Grandma Knudson said quickly, “but I’d be happy to return to our table in the coffee shop if that would make you more comfortable.”

  “No, please stay here. I know you want another one of Hannah’s Danish, and you’ve heard it all already.” She turned back to Hannah. “Ask me whatever you want to know. We ran into Terry Neilson after evening services last night and she told us all about Andrea’s confrontation in the mayor’s office yesterday.”

  Andrea looked terribly embarrassed. “I should have guessed that Terry would say something.”

  “She did, but just to us. Grandma Knudson cautioned her about gossiping and she promised not to spread it around.”

  “That’s okay,” Andrea told her. “Everybody who comes in here to listen to Lisa’s story knows it by now, anyway. And they know that I found him, too.”

  “That must have been terribly frightening for you,” Claire said sympathetically.

  “How long does evening service last?” Hannah asked, bringing Claire back to the subject at hand.

  “No more than half an hour. It’s just a quick hymn and an evening prayer for anyone who wants to come. Bob holds them every weekday at five thirty to accommodate the people who work. They’re over at six so everyone can get home in time for a six thirty supper.”

  “Stephanie Bascomb gave me a list of names this afternoon,” Hannah told her. “She identified the mayor’s former . . . conquests.”

  “Then I must have been on it,” Claire said.

  “You were. We have to talk to these women and find out whether they have hard feelings or anyone in their family does.”

  Grandma Knudson nodded. “That makes sense. Do you have a window for the mayor’s time of death?”

  “Yes, he was murdered between six and eight last night,” Andrea told them. “We saw a copy of Doc’s report.”

  Claire gave a little sigh of relief. “Then I ha
ve an alibi. Last night Grandma held her Bible study in the sitting room of the parsonage. I was there with six other ladies until seven thirty. After the Bible studies I helped Grandma serve refreshments.”

  “That’s right,” Grandma Knudson confirmed.

  Hannah and Andrea exchanged glances. The next question was logical, but neither one of them really wanted to ask it.

  “How about Reverend Bob?” Hannah asked Claire. “Was your husband there, too?”

  “No, he went out to the hospital to visit the sick,” Claire explained. “Usually, I go with him, but there’s only one of our parishioners there now and he said he’d handle that alone if I stayed and helped Grandma.”

  When Andrea had noted all that, Hannah knew she had to ask another question. “Does Reverend Bob carry any . . . uh . . .”

  “Ill feelings?” Grandma Knudson provided the polite term that Hannah was searching for.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I meant,” Hannah admitted. “I need to know if Reverend Bob was, or is, jealous of your former. . .” She paused again, not exactly sure how she should phrase it.

  “Former relationship?” Andrea asked, saving Hannah from the onus of calling the relationship between Mayor Bascomb and Claire a love affair.

  Claire shook her head. “No, Bob’s a forgiving person. Besides, the affair was before I fell in love with Bob.”

  Hannah took a deep breath and blurted out the next question, “But does Reverend Bob blame Mayor Bascomb?”

  “No, it was in the past and Bob knows that.”

  “People can still harbor ill feelings, especially if they’re jealous,” Hannah pointed out.

  “I know that, but there’s another factor no one but Bob and Grandma Knudson know about. I was the one who broke it off with Mayor Bascomb.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Hannah told her.

  “That’s because I never mentioned it to anyone until Bob proposed to me.”

  “Did you discover that the mayor was seeing another woman?” Andrea asked.

  “No, I just started to feel horribly guilty about it. I think that was because I’d met Stephanie and liked her. And I knew I didn’t want any part in deceiving her any longer.”

  “Was Mayor Bascomb upset when you told him?” Hannah asked.

  “He didn’t seem that upset. That’s probably because he’d carried on our affair much longer than any previous ones. And it could also be because he was growing tired of me.”

  “I’m sure that wasn’t the reason!” Grandma Knudson reached out to squeeze Claire’s shoulder. “He could have been feeling guilty about Stephanie, too.”

  “I doubt that,” Claire said with a little laugh. “I don’t think Richard Bascomb ever felt guilty about anything!”

  It’s a good thing Claire has an alibi, Hannah’s suspicious mind pointed out.

  Don’t be silly, the rational part of Hannah’s mind chided. Claire would never do anything like that! Besides, she’d never jeopardize her wonderful marriage to Reverend Bob!

  You don’t think so, hmmm? You never know what . . .

  Hannah tuned out the internal argument and concentrated on asking her next question.

  “How did you feel about Mayor Bascomb, Claire?” Hannah asked.

  Claire thought about that for a moment and then she sighed. “I was glad it was over. At first, I believed that he had taken advantage of me, that he’d realized that I was lonely when I first came to Lake Eden and I didn’t have any friends yet. And then I realized that he didn’t really care about that, that he simply saw that he could take advantage and that’s exactly what he did.”

  “So you don’t believe that he ever loved you?” Andrea asked her.

  Claire shook her head. “No, I don’t think he did.”

  As I said before, Hannah’s suspicious mind told her, it’s a really good thing that Claire has an alibi!

  Yes, it certainly is! her rational mind agreed. Everybody who went to the Bible study meeting can testify that Claire was there.

  Claire glanced up at the clock on Hannah’s kitchen wall. “Uh-oh! I have to get back to my dress shop. I have two ladies coming in ten minutes from now for new Easter outfits.” She turned to Grandma Knudson. “I have time to take you home, Grandma, but we have to leave right now.”

  “I’ll take Grandma Knudson home,” Andrea offered quickly. “Go ahead, Claire. And please set aside some outfits for me to try on tomorrow. I need something new for church on Easter morning.”

  Hannah turned to give her sister an approving smile. It had been obvious to her that Grandma Knudson wanted to stay with them after Claire left. And that meant there was something that Grandma Knudson wanted to tell them that she didn’t want Claire to hear.

  “What is it, Grandma Knudson?” Hannah asked her after Claire had gone.

  “You plan to call Doc to ask if Bob was at the hospital last night?”

  Hannah nodded. “Of course I do. Is there a problem with that?”

  “Yes, Bob told Claire he went to the hospital last night, but he didn’t. He went out to the mall instead.”

  “Thank you for telling us,” Hannah said quickly. “Why did Reverend Bob go to the mall?”

  “To get Claire a nice anniversary present.”

  “But . . .” Andrea began to frown. “It’s not their wedding anniversary yet, is it?”

  “No, it’s the anniversary of the night Bob proposed to Claire and she accepted his proposal. Claire probably thinks he’s forgotten, but Bob was looking through his past date books yesterday morning and he found the note he’d made. Bob wanted to surprise her with something special tonight.”

  “How sweet!” Andrea exclaimed, smiling at Grandma Knudson. “It’s so unusual for a man to remember. Women do, but not that many husbands do.”

  “Does Bill?” Hannah asked Andrea.

  “He wouldn’t, but I remind him a couple of days beforehand and then he takes me out to the Lake Eden Inn for dinner.”

  Hannah turned back to Grandma Knudson. “Does Reverend Bob have a time-stamped receipt from the mall, or anything else like that?”

  “Yes.” Grandma Knudson reached into her purse and drew out an envelope. “It’s in here. He went to the jewelry store and then he went to the photography studio. Both receipts are time-stamped.”

  Hannah drew the receipts out of the envelope and examined them. Then she handed them back to Grandma Knudson. “Save those receipts just in case Mike and Lonnie need to see them. I think they’ll take my word for it, but they may want to see them for themselves.”

  “Why don’t you make a copy of them?” Andrea suggested.

  Hannah thunked the top of her head with her hand. “Of course I will. I just wish I’d thought to do that.”

  “You can’t think of everything, dear,” Grandma Knudson told her. Then she turned to Andrea. “Good for you, Andrea! When I get home, I’ll give them back to Bob and he can make a copy for himself to prove that he wasn’t anywhere near City Hall last night.”

  BLUEBERRY DANISH

  DO NOT preheat your oven yet. You must do some preparation first.

  The Pastry:

  One 17.5-ounce package frozen puff pastry dough (I used Pepperidge Farm, which contains 2 sheets of puff pastry)

  1 large egg

  1 Tablespoon water (right out of the tap is fine)

  White (granulated) sugar to sprinkle on top

  The Blueberry Sauce:

  ¾ cup fresh blueberries (you can also use frozen, but you’ll have to thaw them and dry them with paper towels so they won’t have an excess of juice)

  2 Tablespoons water (right out of the tap is fine)

  ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom (if you don’t have it, use cinnamon)

  1 and ½ Tablespoons cornstarch

  ½ cup white (granulated) sugar

  The Cream Cheese Filling:

  8-ounce package brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature (I used Philadelphia)

  ⅓ cup white (granulated) sugar

 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  The Drizzle Frosting:

  1 and ¼ cups powdered (confectioners) sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  ¼ cup whipping cream (that’s heavy cream, not half-and-half)

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  teaspoon salt

  Thaw both sheets of puff pastry dough according to package directions. Do this on a floured surface (I used a bread board). To prepare the surface, sprinkle on a little flour and spread it around with your impeccably clean palms.

  While your puff pastry sheets are thawing, make the blueberry sauce.

  In a medium-size saucepan, combine the blueberries with the water.

  In a small bowl, combine the cardamom, cornstarch, and sugar. Stir with a fork until they are thoroughly mixed.

  Sprinkle the contents of the bowl on top of the blueberries and water in the saucepan. Stir everything together until all the ingredients are well mixed.

  Cook the contents on the stovetop at MEDIUM-HIGH heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture reaches a full boil. Continue to stir for 2 minutes. Then pull the saucepan over to a cold burner, turn off the burner you used, and let the blueberry sauce cool to room temperature.

  While your blueberry sauce is cooling, make the cream cheese filling.

  In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the softened cream cheese with the sugar and the vanilla extract. Beat the mixture until it is smooth and creamy. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you forgot to soften your cream cheese, you can do it by unwrapping the cream cheese, placing it in a microwave-safe bowl, and nuking it for 10 seconds or so in the microwave.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: You will not be making the Drizzle Frosting yet. You will do this after your Blueberry Danish are baked and cooling on racks.