Christmas Cake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “Do you like it?” Claire’s voice floated through the crack in the dressing room door.

  “Oh, yes!” Hannah answered immediately. “I love it, Claire. If Mother agrees, I really want this dress.”

  “And if she doesn’t agree, you’ll buy it yourself on layaway?”

  Hannah laughed. “Yes, Claire. I will.”

  They were all waiting when she emerged from the dressing room, Lisa in her lovely pink gown, Michelle in a sunshine yellow that made her hair shine, and Delores in a slinky black dress with brocade beading on the bodice.

  “Perfect!” Delores declared, smiling at Hannah in approval. “That dress is just perfect on you, dear.”

  “It’s beautiful, Hannah,” Lisa added her vote.

  “Stunning,” Michelle smiled at her oldest sister. “I really like it, Hannah. You just have to choose this one.”

  “Then I will,” Hannah agreed, smiling at all of them as she turned to Claire. “I’ll take this one, Claire.”

  Once Claire had measured them for final alterations, Delores led the way back to her car. “Get in, girls. We’re meeting Andrea at the hotel in ten minutes. I want to show you what we’ve accomplished before you go back to work baking.”

  * * *

  Hannah could scarcely believe her eyes as she stood next to her mother and Andrea. “It’s a miracle, Mother.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without Andrea’s talent for decorating,” Delores told her, glancing at her middle daughter proudly. “The drapes and the valences are completely her idea.”

  “They look exactly the way they did in that photo that Rod gave you,” Michelle said.

  “But that was a black and white print,” Lisa pointed out. “How did you decide on the colors?”

  “I used my imagination,” Andrea told them. “Gold seemed to complement the rest of the ballroom, once the floor was polished and resurfaced. And I thought the dark green was very Christmassy, especially since Mother told me that there would be decorated Christmas trees around the edges of the ballroom.”

  “How about the poinsettias on the tables?” Hannah asked her.

  “I wanted red and green and that’s why I had the borders of the sashes made in red velvet. Trudi agreed with me completely.”

  “Trudi Schumann?”

  “Yes, she made the curtains and didn’t charge us a cent. She said that it was the least she could do for Essie.”

  Hannah knew she must have looked puzzled, because Andrea continued. “Trudi told me that Essie took Cliff under her wing when his parents died. She told me that Essie was like a second mother to him and he used to do his homework with her at the hotel until Trudi picked him up after work. She told me that sewing the tablecloths and drapes was her way of repaying Essie for helping with Cliff.”

  “That was a horrible accident.” Hannah gave a little sigh, remembering how shocked she’d been about one of her classmates losing both parents in such an awful way. She’d had nightmares for several nights after imagining how terrible it would be if something like that happened to her own parents.

  “You might not know this, Hannah,” Delores said, “but right after you went off to college, Cliff enrolled in community college and got his B.A. in business management.”

  Hannah was surprised. “I had no idea he’d gone on to college. I knew he was working for Dad, of course.”

  “Your father gave him time off from work so that he could attend class.”

  “That was nice of Dad,” Hannah said, remembering how Cliff had gotten the job at her dad’s store and still feeling vaguely uncomfortable about how Lars had offered Cliff a summer job if he’d invite Hannah to her senior prom. It had been bribery, pure and simple, but she hadn’t known at the time and she’d had a marvelous time at the prom.

  “And now Cliff’s going to manage your father’s hardware store,” Delores added. “He can’t buy it right away, but he’s arranged to finance it with time payments.” Delores looked a bit concerned. “It’s what your father would have wanted. When I went to Howie Levine’s office to get my copy of the will he drew up for us, Howie said that Lars mentioned Cliff to him once and he’d said that he wanted to promote Cliff to manager and take a little time off for himself.” Delores looked sad for a moment and then she smiled. “Your father was always a great judge of character, so when I told Howie that I didn’t want to manage the store, he said he thought that Cliff would be a logical choice for the job.”

  Hannah nodded. “Dad was right. The store looks good. I was in there just the other day, buying my reading lamp.”

  “I hope that selling the hardware store doesn’t bother you, Hannah.” Delores looked a bit apologetic. “Perhaps I should have consulted you.”

  “It doesn’t bother me at all,” Hannah reassured her. “I think Cliff is a perfect choice. I know Dad liked him and he was a big help in the store.”

  “What do you think of the job the Otis Elevator people did with the old elevator?” Delores asked them.

  “It runs just fine,” Michelle said. “And it looks good, too.”

  Lisa nodded. “I just love the mirrors. Did they put them up?”

  “Yes, but they coordinated with Cliff. He donated the mirrored panels for the sides and the back.”

  “And that means Essie can ride up in her wheelchair,” Andrea said. “A couple of men from town said they’d carry her up, right in her chair, but Mother thought the elevator would be much easier.”

  “How did you get Otis to fix it?” Hannah asked Delores.

  “I told them about Essie and how she’d lived here all of her adult life. And I told them that this was her fondest wish.”

  “And then we went out to talk to the owner of KCOW-TV,” Andrea added. “That was Mother’s idea.”

  “And the program director agreed to run a free ad for Otis Elevator during the special they’re going to run tomorrow,” Delores said with a smile.

  “KCOW’s doing a special?” Hannah asked, turning to her mother in surprise. “How did you ever work that? They never do anything for free.”

  “I have my ways. We’re hoping it’ll promote the ball and help to sell more advance tickets. The money will go to help Essie get the help she needs.”

  “Does Essie know about this?” Hannah asked.

  “No, we decided not to tell her. Both Grandma Knudson and Annie think Essie is too proud to take what she would regard as charity. I’m telling you girls, but please don’t say anything to anyone else. We’re going to let everyone think that the ticket sales are for the cost of the champagne and the dessert buffet.”

  “Then we should buy our tickets,” Lisa said. “We want to help Essie, too.”

  Delores shook her head. “No, girls. You’re already doing enough to help Essie. Just keep on baking so she can see the Christmas Cake Parade again. She talks about how beautiful it was almost every time we visit her.”

  “Is she . . . ?” Lisa stopped speaking and swallowed with difficulty. Then she cleared her throat and Hannah knew that Lisa was thinking about her own mother. “Is Essie getting worse?”

  “Doc Knight says no. Grandma Knudson asked him. But Essie told Annie that she doesn’t think she’ll live much longer. Annie said she asked Essie why, but Essie wouldn’t tell her.”

  “That’s so sad!” Lisa said.

  “I know. The Christmas Ball is very important to her, girls. And every day she asks me to thank you for baking all the cakes for the Christmas Cake Parade. She told us that the first cake piece was the most beautiful sight in the world.”

  “Did she say how many cakes there were?” Hannah asked. “We couldn’t really tell from the photograph. All we saw were the candles and the cakes themselves weren’t visible.”

  “I’ll ask her tomorrow,” Delores promised. “I’m sure she knows. She said she dreams about that beautiful sight almost every night because it’s such a happy memory.”

  “Did Essie ever mention the kinds of cakes that were in the parade?” Hannah asked.


  “Not specifically. She just told us that the cakes were all sizes and shapes. And, as I told you before, Hannah, there was a large cake that was shaped like a Christmas tree that led the parade.”

  “Was it a fruitcake?” Michelle asked, giving a little shudder at the thought.

  Delores laughed. “No, dear. That is one of the things that Essie told us. There were no fruitcakes in the cake parade. And right after she said it, she laughed.”

  “Essie doesn’t like fruitcake either?” Lisa guessed.

  “Grandma Knudson and Annie and I certainly got that impression. There are quite a few people who don’t like fruitcake.”

  “It’s probably because of the citron,” Hannah told them. “Many people think that the flavor of citron is too strong.”

  “That’s exactly what I don’t like about it,” Michelle agreed.

  “I must admit that I’m not fond of it either,” Delores concurred. “Your father used to say that he thought there were only a limited number of fruitcakes in existence. He speculated that the people who got them for Christmas saved them in their refrigerator all year. And then they gave them to someone else on the following Christmas.”

  “That’s funny!” Lisa began to laugh and so did everyone else.

  “Perhaps you should experiment with making another kind of fruitcake,” Delores suggested to Hannah. “You could make one with chocolate and fresh fruit instead of citron.”

  “I’ll do that, Mother,” Hannah promised, “but not before the Christmas Ball. We have only three days to get everything ready.”

  “Yes, dear. I know,” Delores said, giving a little sigh. “I’m well aware that we’re short on time. I just hope that we can get everything done before the big night.”

  “We will,” Andrea promised. “The decorating is almost complete.”

  “And we’re right on schedule with the baking,” Hannah told her. “The Christmas Cake Parade and the dessert buffet really won’t be a problem.”

  “Oh, good!” Delores looked slightly relieved. “We’re almost done with the repairs here and the electrician managed to hook us up with lights in the kitchen and ballroom. With all of us working hard, we can give Essie another Christmas Ball memory that she’ll treasure for the rest of her life.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I love your beef stew, dear!” Delores complimented Hannah on the bowl of Hunter’s Beef Stew that she’d just eaten. “I wish I could have more, but Claire took my measurements this afternoon.”

  “And if you have a second bowl, you might not fit into your new dress?” Michelle asked.

  “That’s it, exactly. But perhaps that depends.”

  “Depends on what, Mrs. Swensen?” Lisa asked her.

  “On what we’re having for dessert. If it’s something I’m not particularly fond of, I might decide to have more stew instead.”

  “Other than fruitcake, is there any dessert that you don’t particularly like?” Hannah asked her mother.

  “I’m sure there is. I just can’t think of what it is. There’s got to be something, don’t you think?”

  She faced a trio of grins as her eyes traveled from face to face. “Well . . . perhaps there doesn’t have to be any other dessert that I don’t like.” She turned to Hannah. “What did you bake, dear?”

  “Ultimate Butterscotch Bundt Cake with Cool Whip Butterscotch Frosting. And we picked up some vanilla and some chocolate ice cream on our way here.”

  “Oooooh!” Delores got up from her chair and took her bowl to the sink to rinse it out. “There’s no way I want to miss that!”

  “I thought of a dessert that you might not like, Mrs. Swensen,” Lisa said when Delores returned to the table.

  “What is it, dear?”

  “Chocolate sauce drizzled over dill pickles with a dish of chocolate ice cream.”

  Delores considered that for a moment and then she smiled. “Actually, that sounds rather interesting. Do you use dill pickle slices or whole dill pickles when you make it?”

  Lisa’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “I . . . I don’t know. I’ve never tried it. I just thought it sounded like an awful combination.”

  “Actually . . . it might just be good. Dill pickle slices over strawberry ice cream is a good combination.”

  All three girls stared at Delores in disbelief and she laughed. “Don’t worry, girls. I won’t ask for that anytime soon. The only time I ever tried it was when I was pregnant with Hannah.”

  “Mom says that pregnant ladies get cravings for all sorts of weird things,” Lisa said. “How about Andrea? Do you think she’d like strawberry ice cream with dill pickled slices?”

  Delores shrugged. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I know that she’s always loved strawberry ice cream. And she likes dill pickles, too. We’ll have to ask her the next time we see her.”

  * * *

  With all of them working, it didn’t take long before they were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee for Hannah and Delores, and tall glasses of milk for Michelle and Lisa. Hannah had cut generous slices of Ultimate Butterscotch Bundt Cake for all of them, and the ice cream cartons, complete with scoops, were sitting on the kitchen table.

  “Let’s taste it without ice cream first and then you can tell me how you think we should serve it at the Christmas Ball,” Hannah suggested.

  “Why don’t we cut it, put the slices on little plates, and let everyone decide for themselves,” Michelle suggested.

  “Good idea!” Delores praised her youngest daughter. “It would certainly be less work if you didn’t serve it with ice cream.”

  “Not necessarily,” Hannah said. “We could put a tub of ice on a side table, open the ice cream cartons, and let everyone scoop their own if they wanted it.”

  “Then they’d have it for the other Bundt cakes, too,” Lisa pointed out. “And we wouldn’t have to scoop it for them.”

  “You’d need coffee ice cream for that wonderful chocolate Bundt cake of yours,” Delores said. “We should taste all the cakes first and decide which ice cream flavors complement them. Then we can ask Florence to set those aside for us.”

  “We should taste all the cakes?” Hannah asked her. “I thought you were going on a diet, Mother.”

  “I am, but I know my duty. I’ve already tasted the Ultimate Lemon Bundt Cake and I think I’d choose vanilla ice cream with that. And I think either vanilla or coffee ice cream would go with the chocolate cake.”

  “Or chocolate,” Michelle said. “Some people are real chocoholics, Mother.”

  Delores nodded. “You’re right, of course.”

  Hannah took a sip of her coffee and picked up her fork. “Here goes nothing,” she said as she cut off a bite, popped it into her mouth, and chewed.

  Except for little sighs of pleasure and the sound of forks clinking against the dessert plates, there was silence for long moments. They were all intent on analyzing the complex flavors of Hannah’s cake.

  “Wonderful!” Delores said with a smile as she set her fork on her empty dessert plate.

  “Which ice cream flavor did you think was best with the cake?” Hannah asked her.

  “Oh, dear!” Delores said, looking surprised. “I forgot to try any of the ice cream. I imagine some people will want it à la mode, but I preferred it plain.”

  “I had a little vanilla ice cream and it was good,” Lisa told them.

  “And I had a little chocolate,” Michelle added her opinion. “That was good, too.”

  “I’m with Mother on this one,” Hannah admitted. “I forgot all about the ice cream and just ate the cake.”

  “Then I have a suggestion,” Delores said with a smile.

  “What’s that, Mother?” Michelle asked her.

  “I think we all owe it to Hannah to test her cake both ways.” Delores picked up her dessert plate, pushed back her chair, and got to her feet. “Come on, girls. Duty calls.”

  ULTIMATE BUTTERSCOTCH BUNDT CAKE

  Preheat oven to
350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

  4 large eggs

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  ½ cup cold whole milk

  8-ounce (by weight) tub of sour cream (I used Knudsen)

  1 box of white cake mix with or without pudding in the mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake or a 2-layer cake (I used Duncan Hines)

  5.1-ounce package of instant butterscotch pudding mix (I used Jell-O, the kind that makes 6 half-cup servings.)

  12-ounce (by weight) bag of butterscotch chips (11-ounce package will do, too—I used Nestlé.)

  Prepare your cake pan. You’ll need a Bundt pan that has been sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray and then floured. To flour a pan, put some flour in the bottom, hold it over your kitchen wastebasket, and tap the pan to move the flour all over the inside of the pan. Continue this until all the inside surfaces of the pan, including the sides of the crater in the center of the pan, have been covered with a light coating of flour. Be sure to shake out the excess flour.

  Crack the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix them up on LOW speed until they’re a uniform color.

  Pour in the half-cup of vegetable oil and mix it in with the eggs on LOW speed.

  Add the half-cup of cold milk and mix it in on LOW speed.

  Scoop out the container of sour cream, and add the sour cream to your bowl. Mix that in on LOW speed.

  When everything is well combined, open the box of dry cake mix and sprinkle it on top of the liquid ingredients in the bowl of the mixer. Mix that in on LOW speed.

  Add the package of instant butterscotch pudding and mix that in, again on LOW speed.

  Finally, chop up the butterscotch chips in a food processor or blender and then sprinkle them into the mixer. Mix in the chips on LOW speed.

  Shut off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and give your batter a final stir by hand.

  Use a rubber spatula to transfer the cake batter to the prepared Bundt pan.

  Smooth the top of your cake with the rubber spatula and place it in the oven.

  Bake your Ultimate Butterscotch Bundt Cake at 350 degrees F. for 55 minutes.