Cream Puff Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “I certainly do! And then they’d be in trouble. That was a wise move on Bill’s part.”

  Hannah silently congratulated herself on a job well done. What she’d said wasn’t a mere rotation, or an ordinary revolution of the facts. She’d created an out-and-out whirling Moebius strip that outspun Andrea and then some!

  “It’s a good thing you’re helping them out, Hannah. They’ll never catch the killer without the best minds on the force.”

  “I’m not helping them officially, but I do want to do my part,” Hannah continued to spin. “And you don’t have to worry about rookie detectives, Charlotte. Bill’s brought in a really good detective from the Minneapolis Police Force. Her name is Stella Parks.”

  “That’s good. Well, good luck with the security…” Charlotte stopped speaking and looked worried again.

  “What is it?”

  “That security guard you’re going to interview…it’s not Frank Hurley, is it?”

  “No, his name is Tad Newberg. He was the guard on duty when Ronni was killed. Does Frank Hurley work out here at the mall?”

  “Yes. He’s a really nice guy, Hannah. He used to work for a private security firm up north, and he moved here to be closer to his relatives. I’m glad he wasn’t on duty when it happened.”

  “How do you know him?” Hannah was curious.

  “He works for us at the school whenever there’s a big basketball or football game, and we wouldn’t even think of holding a prom without him.”

  “The prom I can understand. That tends to get a little wild. But there’s that much trouble on big game nights?”

  “Oh, it’s not real trouble. It’s just kids acting up and causing an inconvenience. Sometimes they think it’s funny to let the air out of the opposing team’s bus tires. Frank patrols outside, and he gives them a lecture about how the Jordan High Gulls practice better sportsmanship than that. The kids think he’s pretty strict and old-fashioned, but they respect him.”

  Hannah knew she must have been tired, because it took several seconds for the next question to occur to her. “You said Frank works out here. Does he know Tad Newberg?”

  “I’m sure he does. The security staff out here isn’t that large, and they must have worked together at one time or another.”

  Hannah flipped her shorthand notebook open and wrote Frank’s name inside. “He could be a valuable resource. Could I have his number?”

  “Of course.” Charlotte gave it to her, but she looked puzzled. “Why do you need it if Frank wasn’t on duty when it happened?”

  “Because he works here,” Hannah thought fast, “and he knows how the mall security works. I probably won’t need him, but I’ll keep his name handy in case Tad’s not available and I’ve got questions about scheduling, or procedure, or something like that.”

  “Oh. Well, he’d probably know all about that. If you need him, call me and I’ll introduce you.”

  “Thanks,” Hannah said. And her mind said, Disaster averted. Good work.

  “So who do you think killed her, Hannah?” Charlotte leaned closer again. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I overheard her on her cell phone one day, and she told someone that she was going to turn her ex-fiancé in for tax evasion. Of course I don’t know if she did it or not, but the federal government’s nobody to fool around with. If Ronni actually called their tip line and he found out about it, he might have been so mad at her that he killed her.”

  “Not possible,” Hannah said, watching Charlotte’s face fall. “Wade Hoffman was in an auto accident, and he was still at Lake Eden Memorial under Doc Knight’s care when Ronni was murdered.”

  “Oh. Well…it was just a theory.”

  “And it was a good one. It’s the first thing I checked out.”

  “Really?” Charlotte looked pleased. “Well, how about Serena Roste? Did you check her out, too?”

  “Who’s Serena Roste?”

  “She’s Wade Hoffman’s former fiancée. He was engaged to Serena before he got engaged to Ronni.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “That’s because it’s Elk River gossip, not Lake Eden gossip. We use a substitute teacher from Elk River every once in a while, and she told me that it was a really nasty breakup. Serena and Ronni used to be close friends until Ronni stole Serena’s fiancé.”

  “Serena Roste.” Hannah flipped to her suspect page and added the name. “Do you think Serena was upset enough with Ronni to kill her?”

  Charlotte gave a little shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe. Did you just add her to your suspect list?”

  “Yes. Mike says that more murders are committed by spouses or jealous lovers than by any other group of people.”

  “I didn’t know that.” Charlotte gave a little grin. “That almost, but not quite, makes me glad I never got married.”

  “Did you bring the cookies?” Hannah asked, when Andrea met her in the Snack Shack.

  “Of course. Michelle’s got them. She’s getting a guest pass from Roger so she can come in anytime she likes.”

  “Does the owner know about this?”

  “Oh, yes. Roger’s handling it for him. He’s very worried that Heavenly Bodies will get a reputation for not being safe, and he wants Roger to do all he can to prove that they aren’t liable in any way for Ronni’s death.”

  “That figures. And it explains why Roger is being so generous with the guest passes.”

  “That’s only one reason. The other reason is that he wants us to hurry and catch Ronni’s killer because Stella interviewed him today.”

  “Roger didn’t like Stella?”

  “It’s not that. It’s just that he told her he was at home with his girlfriend the night that Ronni was killed, and she demanded proof.”

  “Can Roger prove that he was with his girlfriend all night?”

  “He told me he can if it comes to that, but he’s really hoping it won’t.”

  “Let me guess…Roger’s girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be staying with him, and she’ll get into trouble if she has to swear she was with him, for the whole night?”

  “You got it.”

  “She’s underage?” Hannah asked, crossing her fingers and hoping that wasn’t the case.

  “No, it’s just that she’s got a scholarship and she lives in the dorms at Lake Eden Community College. Resident students, regardless of age, aren’t supposed to be out all night.”

  “I understand,” Hannah said, and she did. “Roger doesn’t want to rat on his girlfriend unless it’s absolutely necessary to keep him from being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.”

  “That’s exactly right. It won’t come to that, will it?” Andrea looked worried.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” Hannah pushed back her chair and got up as Michelle waved to them from the doorway. “Roger must have told you his impression of Stella Parks. What did he say about her?”

  Andrea rose and they began to walk toward their younger sister. “Roger said that she was as tough as nails.”

  “There’s that same cliché again.” Hannah gave a little laugh. “Stella seems to attract them. I’m actually looking forward to meeting her. It sounds as if she plays hardball. And there goes another cliché.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “That’s Tad Newberg?” Michelle asked as she spotted the short, heavyset young man in the perfectly pressed uniform standing by the mall security station.

  “Yes, that’s Tad. Why do you look so surprised?”

  “I think I know him from somewhere, but I’m not sure where.”

  “You probably saw him out here when you were shopping,” Andrea told her. “He’s been here for about two years.”

  “Maybe,” Michelle said, but she sounded doubtful.

  “Tell him you think you met him before,” Hannah suggested. “Maybe he’ll remember where it was. Even if the two of you can’t figure it out, it’ll keep him distracted so that Andrea can take pictures of the security monitors.”

  “H
i, Hannah,” Tad greeted her as they stepped up to the station.

  “Hello, Tad. I just wanted to drop by and thank you for your help the other night.”

  “No thanks needed. That’s my job.”

  “Both Andrea and I are grateful that you waited with us until the sheriff’s department arrived.”

  “That’s right. We felt a lot safer with you there,” Andrea chimed in.

  “They brought you some cookies,” Michelle held out the box. “They’re chocolate with mocha frosting.”

  Tad looked genuinely pleased as he accepted the box. “Wow, thanks! I’m crazy about chocolate cookies.”

  “Do you like chocolate sauerkraut cake?” Hannah asked him.

  “I like it a lot. My sister-in-law makes one almost every Sunday for dinner. It’s my brother’s favorite cake.”

  “These cookies are based on that cake. I call them Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Cookies.”

  “Because of the sauerkraut? Or because of the military?”

  “The sauerkraut.”

  “That’s funny. I like the name.” Tad turned to Michelle with a contemplative look. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

  That was Andrea’s cue to take her phone out of her pocket. “Sorry,” she said to Tad, after glancing at the display. “It’s my babysitter. I’ve got to take the call.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” Michelle said, stepping a bit closer to completely capture Tad’s attention. “I mean, I was thinking I know you from somewhere.”

  “How about high school?” Tad asked her. “I’m a couple of years older than you are, but what school did you go to?”

  “Jordan High. How about you?”

  As the conversation went on between Michelle and Tad, Hannah glanced in Andrea’s direction. She’d managed to walk all the way back to the wall of security monitors and she was pacing back and forth, pretending to hold an imaginary conversation with Grandma McCann. And all the time she was talking, Hannah knew she was using her in-phone camera to take photos of everything inside the security station.

  “I don’t think I know anybody from Elmdale,” Michelle said, “but maybe we met at some kind of statewide school contest. Were you in the band? Or the chorus?”

  “Not me, but I was always in line at the Dairy Queen in Little Falls when they opened in the spring. How about you?”

  Hannah tuned out for a moment and stepped away slightly so that she could examine the rest of the station. It was fairly large, the size of someone’s living room, and other than two small cubicles in the back that were walled off into offices, everything was open to view.

  “Maybe I saw you out here when you were on duty,” Michelle suggested.

  “I don’t think that’s it. I know I saw you somewhere, but I don’t think it was out here.”

  Hannah tuned out again. She moved back slightly so that she could see what appeared to be bookshelves on the far wall. They were filled with tapes, clearly labeled with the day and date, and there was an obvious gap for the night of Ronni’s murder.

  Pay dirt! Hannah sidled a bit closer. The span of the tapes covered two weeks, and that was obviously as long as the security team kept them. Perhaps the older tapes were archived. It didn’t really matter. What mattered was the gap for the night of Ronni’s murder, a bare spot on the shelf.

  There was only one conclusion to draw. Hannah assumed that the sheriff’s department had taken the tapes. If she carried her theory further, Detective Stella Parks could be viewing them at this very moment.

  There were other assumptions to draw as well, although spotting the gap in coverage had nothing to do with it. Hannah had to assume that Ronni’s murder had not been caught on tape. If the killer had been identified, an arrest would have been made, and the Lake Eden Gossip Hotline would be buzzing like a whole boxcar of bees. Delores would have wasted no time in calling to tell all three of her daughters, and no such call had come.

  Perhaps viewing the tapes would be a waste of time, but Hannah’s gut feeling was that they might learn something about the people who had visited Heavenly Bodies that night, gym members who might have seen something that would prove to be important.

  Try to get those tapes, Hannah made a mental note. And then she added, And meet Stella Parks to find out her agenda.

  “What an absolute nerd!” Michelle said as she climbed into the rear seat of Hannah’s cookie truck. They’d decided to go out to the inn together in Hannah’s truck. On the way back, Andrea would pick up her Volvo in the mall parking lot.

  “You’re talking about Tad Newberg?” Andrea asked her.

  “Who else? The only thing that bothers me is where I met him before. It’s one of those questions that’ll keep me up for hours tonight.”

  “Nothing is going to keep me up for hours tonight!” Hannah pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the Lake Eden Inn.

  They were just turning onto the access road that led to the inn when Andrea’s cell phone rang. “It’s Bill,” she said, identifying her husband’s ring tone. “I’d better take this.”

  As Hannah guided her truck over the bumpy road that wound through the trees, she heard Andrea’s end of the conversation.

  “Oh, hi, honey!” Andrea said, and Hannah could almost hear the smile in her voice. “Don’t tell me you’re coming home early! We’re just about to meet Mother at the inn for dinner.”

  There was a silence, and then Andrea spoke again. “Of course. I entirely understand. You have to make Detective Parks feel welcome. Where are you taking her?”

  In her rearview mirror, Hannah saw Michelle lean forward so that she could hear better. Was trouble brewing in paradise?

  “You’re coming here, too?” Andrea sounded surprised. There was a beat of silence while Bill obviously said something. “But we can’t! Of course we’d love to, honey, but Mother planned this out so that we could discuss Ronni’s murder case. I don’t think you want her to hear about that…do you?”

  Another beat and Andrea laughed. “That’s what I thought. It’s okay, honey. You just tell her all about Lake Eden and how nice it is to live here.”

  “And if he wants us to join them for coffee afterward, that would be nice,” Hannah jumped in, even though it meant that she had to admit she’d been following what was supposed to be a private conversation.

  “Nice touch,” Michelle said, patting Hannah on the shoulder.

  Hannah smiled. “I thought so. I want to meet her.”

  “But does she want to meet you?” Michelle countered.

  Andrea shushed them both by holding up her hand. “Bill says that’ll be fine. She wants to meet us all anyway. They’re leaving the sheriff’s station now, so they’ll be only fifteen minutes or so behind us.”

  Michelle waited until Andrea had ended the call, and then she tapped her on the shoulder. “Have you met her yet?” she asked.

  “No. I just hope she’s not…”

  “Really attractive?” Michelle guessed.

  “That, too. But I was thinking more about the department. I hope she’s not critical of the way Bill’s been running things.”

  “Right,” Hannah said.

  “I understand,” Michelle added. “Maybe we should point out that Bill has no unsolved murder cases on the books.”

  Hannah gave a nod. “That’s good. We could all sing Bill’s praises, but if his cliché is true and her mind really is like a steel trap, she’ll see right through it. Maybe we ought to give her some cookies for her office instead. That usually brings people around.”

  “Good idea.” Michelle turned to look at the cookies Hannah always carried in the back. “Do you have anything good to give her?”

  “Do I have anything good?” Hannah did her best to sound outraged.

  “You know what she means,” Andrea gave a little laugh. “Do you have anything that a tough-as-nails, brave-as-a-lion, mind-like-a-steel-trap visiting detective would like?”

  “I’ve got Blueberry Crunch Cookies. I pack
ed them up for Mother, but I’ve got enough for Detective Parks, too.”

  “Perfect,” Andrea pronounced. “They ought to sweeten her up.”

  “In more ways than one,” Hannah said.

  BLUEBERRY CRUNCH COOKIES

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

  1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound)

  2 cups white (granulated) sugar

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1½ teaspoons baking soda

  2 large eggs, beaten (just whip them up with a fork)

  2½ cups flour (no need to sift—pack it down when you measure it)

  1 cup dried sweetened blueberries (other dried fruit will also work if you cut it in blueberry-sized pieces)

  2 cups GROUND dry oatmeal (measure before grinding)

  Hannah’s 1st Note: Mixing this dough is much easier with an electric mixer, but you can also do it by hand.

  Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute on HIGH. Add the white sugar and mix it in thoroughly.

  Add the vanilla, salt, and the baking soda. Mix it in well.

  When the mixture has cooled to room temperature, stir in the beaten eggs. When they are fully incorporated, add 197 the flour in half-cup increments, stirring after each addition.

  Mix in the dried blueberries.

  Prepare your oatmeal. (Use Quaker if you have it—the cardboard canister is useful for all sorts of things.) Measure out two cups and place them in the bowl of a food processor or a blender, chopping with the steel blade until the oatmeal is the consistency of coarse sand. (Just in case you’re wondering, the ground oatmeal is the ingredient that makes the cookies crunchy.)