Christmas Cupcake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “Really? I thought it would be much colder than that.” Andrea stopped when she saw Becky Summers at the receptionist’s desk. “Hi, Becky.”

  “Hello, girls.” Becky glanced down at her roster. “Did you both come to see Joe Smith?”

  “Yes, but not right away,” Hannah answered. “If Doc’s in his office, we’d like to see him first.”

  “Let me check.” Becky pressed a button on her phone and a moment later she spoke. “Hello, Vonnie. I’ve got Hannah and Andrea out here at the desk. Both of them would like to see Doc. Is he there?” There was a pause and then Becky gave a little nod. “Thanks, Vonnie. I’ll send them over to you right away.”

  “He’s in, and he’ll see us?” Hannah guessed.

  “That’s right. Go ahead, girls. And, Hannah . . . those were great cookies! I shared a few with the nurses and everybody loved them. Are you going to be making them down at The Cookie Jar?”

  “That depends. Do you think they’re Christmas-y enough?”

  “Oh, definitely! Everybody wanted to know if you were going to sell them.”

  “Then I will. Thanks for telling me about the warm reception they got, Becky. We’ll see you later, on our way out.”

  It only took a few moments to walk down the hallway to Doc’s office. Hannah and Andrea went in the open door and greeted Doc’s secretary.

  “Go right in,” Vonnie told them, gesturing toward the inner door. “Doc’s expecting you.”

  “Hello, Hannah,” Doc greeted her. “And Andrea! This must be my lucky day. I have two beautiful Swensen sisters gracing my office.”

  Hannah knew that from anyone else, such flattery would have been insincere. But she suspected that in Doc’s case, it was entirely truthful. Doc had always loved them, from the moment they’d been born to the present day.

  “Sit down, girls.” Doc indicated the two chairs in front of his desk. “Did you come out to see Joe Smith?”

  “Yes, we did,” Hannah answered for both of them. “I hope he’s doing well enough to have two visitors. Andrea would like to see him, too.”

  Doc turned to Andrea. “So Hannah recruited you to help her find out who Joe is?”

  Andrea looked a bit flummoxed. “Uh . . . yes, she thought I might be able to help.”

  “And you’re bored at home, now that you have Grandma McCann,” Doc stated, smiling kindly at Andrea. “It’s nice of you to offer to help your sister, since this is always her busiest season and Hannah has a lot on her plate this year.”

  “Thanks, Doc,” Andrea said politely, and then she began to look worried. “You don’t think it’s bad that I hired a nanny and didn’t stay home to take care of Tracey myself?”

  “Not at all. Some people are cut out for early motherhood and others aren’t. I’ve often thought that you’d be much better with older children. Just wait until Tracey starts school.”

  Andrea gave a relieved smile, and Hannah smiled, too. Doc always knew the right thing to say. “How’s Joe doing?” she asked, getting back to the reason they’d come.

  “Better than any of us expected. A lot has happened since the last time you were here, Hannah.”

  “But I only missed two days!” Hannah said, feeling a bit guilty. “I had back-to-back catering jobs, and I just couldn’t get out here before now.”

  “That’s okay, honey. I just didn’t want you to be shocked when you saw Joe. He looks entirely different, now that the nurses took him in hand. And physically, he’s doing a lot better than any of us expected. He’s still weak, but he’s gained a few pounds by eating everything in sight. I think he could give someone a run for their money, if he entered that hot dog eating contest they have in New York.”

  “Is it all right if we visit his room now?” Andrea asked.

  “It’s fine, but Joe’s not there. He’s down in the workroom with Freddy Sawyer putting the final touches on my charge nurse’s desk. You girls come with me and I’ll take you down there. Then you can see for yourselves what I meant about his recovery.”

  Doc led the way to the elevator and pressed the button. There were only two buttons, one for the main floor and the other for the basement. The elevator came almost immediately and all three of them got in. And when the door opened to reveal the basement of the hospital, Hannah gave a little gasp of surprise.

  “You painted!” she said, realizing that the basement walls were now a bright, sunny yellow.

  “Freddy did. And we had new lights put in. It was pretty gloomy down here before.”

  Hannah gave a little shiver. She still remembered hiding in the morgue and how terrified she’d been. “It was gloomy before,” she commented, hoping that her voice wasn’t shaking.

  “This is really pretty nice,” Andrea said, stepping out onto the light blue linoleum floor. “And I love the pictures on the walls. They were taken during the construction, weren’t they?”

  “That’s right,” Doc answered, leading them toward the end of the hall. “Here’s the workroom,” he told them, gesturing toward a set of double doors. “We had to open both doors to move in that massive desk.”

  “Is it repaired?” Hannah asked, hoping that Joe had done a good job of repairing the big desk.

  “Yes, and I’m sure it’s never looked this good before.” Doc opened one of the double doors and ushered them in. “Freddy and Joe worked on that desk for a solid day.” Doc led them further into the room and around a corner. “You boys have guests,” he said, smiling at Freddy and Joe.

  “Hi, Hannah,” Freddy greeted her. “And . . . Andrea?”

  “That’s right.” Andrea smiled at him. “It’s good to see you again, Freddy.”

  “Hello, Joe.” Hannah walked over to stand next to the homeless man they’d found. “You’re certainly looking better than the last time I saw you!”

  “I am better,” Joe said, smiling back at her. “Freddy says you have two sisters. Is this pretty lady one of them?”

  Freddy laughed. “Joe flirts with everybody. The nurses told me that.” He turned to Joe. “Isn’t that right, Joe?”

  “That’s what they say, Freddy.”

  “But it’s not a bad thing to say,” Freddy told him, frowning slightly. “I think they like it, Joe.”

  “And I bet you’re right, Freddy,” Hannah jumped into the conversation.

  Hannah motioned to Andrea to come closer. “This is my sister, Andrea,” Hannah introduced them. “And this is Joe. We’re not sure about his last name yet.”

  “Your mother said you were going to try to find someone who knew me. Did you have any success with that, Hannah?”

  “Not yet, but Andrea offered to help me look. Have you remembered any more about your background, Joe?”

  “Not much.” He turned to Andrea. “Thank you for helping out, Andrea. Hannah’s probably told you that I don’t remember much about myself.”

  “She did tell me that. She also told me that you were fixing the charge nurse’s desk.”

  “It’s fixed,” Freddy said proudly. “Would you like to see it?”

  “We’d love to see it,” Hannah answered. “Will you show it to us?”

  “Follow me,” Joe said, leading them all through a wide doorway and into another room. “We’re waiting for someone to help us move it back where it belongs.”

  “You two girls take a look,” Doc told them. “Freddy and Joe showed it to me this morning. It’s quite a transformation.”

  “It certainly is!” Hannah said, moving closer so that she could run her hand over the smooth surface. “That scratch was really deep. How did you get it out, Joe?”

  Joe smiled. “I’ll let Freddy tell you what we used to do it.” Joe turned to Freddy. “Do you remember the name of the paper we used, Freddy?”

  “Yes. It was sand. And it had big sand on it. Joe used something he called a sand . . .” Freddy stopped speaking and sighed. “I forgot the name, Joe.”

  “That’s all right. You got most of the name right. It was an electric sander.”

>   “Yes. Electric,” Freddy said with a smile. “I helped Joe plug it in. We had to run a longer cord.”

  “It took a long time to sand it down, didn’t it, Freddy?” Joe asked him.

  “Yes, a long time. We had to put on new sandpaper a bunch of times. Joe taught me how to do that.”

  “I think you should show them the kind of sandpaper we used when we started to sand the desk,” Joe said to Freddy. “Can you find a piece of sandpaper like that?”

  “Yes. It’s the big kind,” Freddy answered immediately. “I’ll go get it, Joe.”

  Freddy went to a box on the workbench against the wall, opened it, and pulled out a sheet of sandpaper. “Here it is,” he said, carrying it over to show Joe. “See how big the sand is?”

  “Yes, it’s very coarse,” Joe added.

  “That’s the word! Coarse! I always forget that one. How can I remember that, Joe?”

  “You could think that of course you’ll remember it.”

  Freddy laughed. “That’s funny, Joe. And I won’t forget it now! Of course not.”

  Freddy carried it over to Hannah and Andrea so that they could see it. “It’s coarse,” he said. “This is the one we started with. Joe said it was so that he could take off more wood with this one.”

  “And what did I tell you about the wood, Freddy?”

  “You said it was very thick and it was a different color than the rest of the desk.”

  “That’s right. And what did we do about the color, Freddy?”

  “We rubbed on something that was called stain. It’s like when you put a leaky pen in your pocket. That happened to me once.”

  “I think that’s happened to almost everybody, Freddy,” Doc told him.

  “Even you, Doc?”

  “Even me, Freddy. What did you do after you put the stain on the desk?”

  “Then we rubbed in something that was a little like wax, but it wasn’t wax. And we rubbed and polished, and rubbed and polished, and then we rubbed and polished again.”

  “Exactly right, Freddy. We wanted to make sure the stain wouldn’t come off when the nurse put papers on her desk.”

  “That’s right. We had to make sure that didn’t happen.” Freddy ran his hand over the top of the desk. “It’s smooth now. Try it, Hannah.”

  Hannah ran her hand over the smooth surface. “It certainly is smooth. You must have worked very hard on it, Freddy.”

  “Oh, we did! Joe and I did it together, and now, if another desk gets a scratch, I can fix it because Joe taught me what to do.”

  “We’re here!” someone called out, and two of Doc’s maintenance workers came into the room. “You wanted us to deliver a desk?”

  “Yes,” Joe said, and then he turned to Freddy. “Why don’t you go with them, Freddy. You know exactly where it goes and you can tell me what the charge nurse says when she sees it.”

  “She’ll say wow!” Freddy told him. “Her name is Carole, and Carole always says wow! when something makes her happy.”

  The two men made short work of loading the desk onto a rolling dolly and Freddy went out the door with them. After the door closed behind them, Doc gave a little laugh. “Freddy’s right about Carole. Wow is her favorite word.” He turned to Joe. “You’re really good with Freddy, Joe. Most people wouldn’t have as much patience as you do.”

  “I like Freddy. He reminds me of Donnie.”

  “Who’s Donnie?” Hannah asked quickly.

  “Donnie’s my . . . my . . .” Joe stopped speaking and sighed. “Sorry, Hannah. I don’t remember.”

  “Could Donnie be your brother?” Andrea asked him.

  “He could be, but I just don’t know.”

  “How about Donnie’s last name?” Doc asked him. “Do you remember that?”

  “I wish I did!” Joe said emphatically. “If I knew Donnie’s last name, I’d know mine.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Wow!” they all heard Carole, the charge nurse, say as they came around the corner. “This is a miracle, Freddy!”

  Freddy shook his head. “No, Carole. It’s just hard work and knowing what to do. Joe showed me and now I know. If you get another scratch, I can fix it.”

  “No way I’m going to get a scratch on this beautiful desk, Freddy! And I didn’t scratch it in the first place. The movers did it when Doc had it brought here.”

  Freddy smiled. “I’m glad you didn’t scratch it, Carole. Now, it’s beautiful again.”

  “It sure is!” Carole ran her hand over the surface of the desk. “It’s so beautiful, I don’t want to put anything on top of it.” She turned to Joe, who had followed them along with Hannah, Andrea, and Doc. “Thank you for teaching Freddy how to repair my desk, Joe. Who taught you how to do it?”

  Joe laughed and, for a moment, Hannah thought he’d misunderstood the question.

  “That was a good try, Carole. I know you and all the other nurses try to jog my memory, but I’m afraid it didn’t work. All I know is that the minute I saw the desk, I knew exactly what to do to fix it.”

  “And that probably means you’ve done it before,” Carole extrapolated.

  “It probably does,” Joe agreed.

  “And you told me exactly what I needed to buy at the hardware store,” Doc pointed out. “You did remember the names of the products.”

  “That’s right!” Joe looked pleased as he considered what Doc had said. “I wonder how I remembered all that, but forgot my name and where I came from.”

  “Memory is a tricky thing,” Doc said, giving him a kind smile. “I really think your memory will come back when you recover all of your physical stamina and relax enough to let it happen.” Doc turned to Hannah. “Let’s all go to the cafeteria and taste some of those bar cookies you baked. I’m getting hungry just thinking about them. ”

  Doc led the way to the cafeteria, and Hannah joined them once she’d retrieved her pan of bar cookies from the kitchen where she’d stashed them. Carole poured coffee for all of them and Hannah carried one pan of bar cookies and a knife to the table. Carole had set out small paper plates and Hannah gave each of them two bar cookies.

  “What kind of bar cookies are these?” Carole asked.

  “Pineapple White Chocolate Bar Cookies,” Hannah answered. “They’re made with a salted crust that really sets off the sweetness.”

  “Now I understand!” Joe said.

  “Understand what?” Carole asked him.

  “Why my mother always added salt to chocolate. She said it set off the sweetness, but I was too young to understand.”

  “That’s why my mother mixes chocolate chips and salted cashews,” Hannah told him.

  “That sounds good,” Carole said. “I’ll have to try it sometime. Your bar cookies smell really good, Hannah.”

  “Then go ahead and taste one,” Hannah invited. “There are plenty more here, and I brought an extra pan for the nurses. This pan is ours, and you can have more if you want them.”

  “I think we will,” Doc announced after he’d taken his first bite. “These are really good, Hannah.”

  “I know. I’ve always loved pineapple. My grandmother used to bake a pineapple upside-down cake, and the kitchen smelled so good I could hardly wait for it to come out of the oven and cool.”

  Andrea nodded. “I remember that. I was too young to remember very much, but I know I loved to go out to the farm.”

  “Was it a dairy farm?” Joe asked her.

  “I don’t remember,” Andrea confessed, “but I think it must have been. I remember being afraid of the cows.”

  “We had cows and I was afraid of them, too,” Joe said. “There was one big black and white cow that didn’t like me.”

  “A Holstein?” Hannah asked him.

  “Yes. Her name was Chelsea. My mother tried to put me up on her back for a ride, but Chelsea didn’t like it. The minute my mom’s back was turned, Chelsea shook me off and I landed in the dirt.”

  “How many cows did you have?” Carole asked.


  “I don’t know, but I remember the big truck from the creamery coming to collect the milk cans every morning.”

  “Were there a lot of milk cans?” Hannah asked, realizing what Carole was trying to do.

  “I think so. It used to take a while to load them all.”

  Dairy farm, Hannah thought to herself. I have to remember to write down that Joe lived on a dairy farm.

  “The barn was just down the hill from the shop.” Joe took another bite of his Pineapple White Chocolate Bar Cookie. “My dad said the shop was on a hill so that people could see it from the road. The shop was on one side and the lake was a little ways away on the other side of the road. When I got older, I used to ride my bike there in the summer and go swimming.”

  It was the first time Joe had mentioned the shop, and Hannah made a mental note to write that down in the notes she was keeping about Joe’s background. “What kind of shop was it?” she asked him.

  “It was . . .” Joe stopped speaking and sighed. “I don’t remember, Hannah.”

  “Do you think that it could have been a furniture repair place?” Andrea asked.

  “I . . .” Joe hesitated and then he sighed again. “It could have been, I guess. I just don’t remember.”

  “Enough,” Doc said, calling a halt to their attempts to jog Joe’s memory. “You’ve remembered enough for one day, Joe. I want you to rest this afternoon. You need to build up your strength.”

  “I am a little tired,” Joe agreed.

  “I can tell,” Doc said, pushing back his chair and standing up. “You three girls stay here. I’m going to walk Joe down to my office and then I’ll take him back to his room.”

  “You want me to come to your office?” Joe asked, looking puzzled.

  “Yes. There’s a chair there I want you to see. It’s old, but it’s a favorite of mine, and I’d like your opinion on whether I should try to have it repaired, or whether I should junk it and get a new one.”

  Joe smiled. “Okay. Let’s go, and I’ll take a look at it. I think I can tell you if it can be saved.”

  “I’ll stay and help you clean up,” Carole said when Doc and Joe had left. “I’m here early and I still have twenty minutes before my shift starts.”