Cream Puff Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  There was a click and the line went dead, just as dead as Hannah’s respect for Mike. He’d lied to her about being involved with Ronni, and then, when he thought she’d found out about it, he’d tried to explain his behavior away by saying it meant nothing. Even worse, he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about the night she’d spent at Norman’s house.

  There was a sound from the top of the couch, a low growl. Hannah glanced up to find Moishe standing there with his fur bristling. He gave another low growl, just like he did when he spotted Delores coming up the stairs, and then he jumped down to the cushions and hopped on her lap to lick her cheek.

  “It’s okay, Moishe,” Hannah said, petting her loyal friend. And then she settled down again to watch the tape she’d decided she’d view before she headed off to The Cookie Jar to meet her sisters.

  The tape was clearly labeled with the date and camera number. The mall security staff was well organized. She didn’t have the list of camera numbers and their locations that Andrea had written up for them, but it took Hannah only a second or two to realize that the outdoor camera had generated this tape. There was a quick pop of the parking lot by the backdoor to Heavenly Bodies. It lasted a minute or two, showing nothing but parked cars and no movement. Hannah recognized several of the cars. There was Mayor Bascomb’s new Saab, Roger’s black Jeep, and Ronni’s old green wreck. Then horizontal lines began to stretch across the screen, and the image deteriorated until it was nothing but what her Grandmother Swensen, who’d had less than adequate television reception on her antenna out at the farm, had called “snow.”

  Hannah hit the fast-forward button, but the snow remained snow. This must be the camera that had malfunctioned and failed to record Lonnie and Mike leaving the area, thereby causing them to be considered as suspects. Even though Hannah doubted that the camera would suddenly heal itself, she watched the tape until the end.

  Something niggled at the back of her mind, something that wasn’t right. Hannah thought back to the beginning of the tape when the image had been clear, and she realized that Ronni’s old car was the problem. Mike had told her that the car had been sitting untouched on the street in front of the apartment building for at least two weeks. But that wasn’t true. There it was in all its dubious glory, on the security tape from the night Ronni was killed.

  Had Mike lied to her? Again? It was certainly possible, but Hannah couldn’t think of any reason he’d lie about something like that. And perhaps it wasn’t a lie. Perhaps Mike simply didn’t know that Ronni had taken her car to work the night of her death. But there was an even more puzzling question. How had Ronni’s car gotten back to the same parking spot on the street in front of the apartment complex? Had someone at her birthday party driven it home for her? Or had the sheriff’s department gone through it for possible evidence and then towed it back to The Oaks?

  It was something she had to check out, but there wasn’t time to do it now. One glance at the clock and Hannah knew she had to leave. She was expected at The Cookie Jar at eleven. After a quick scratch under the chin for Moishe and four of his favorite salmon-flavored treats, she flicked on the surveillance camera and went out the door.

  She was almost to her cookie truck when she heard someone calling her name. Hannah turned and saw Sue Plotnik putting Kevin into his car seat.

  “Hi, Sue.” Hannah walked over to greet her. “You’re out early.”

  “Not really. We have to be at Kiddie Korner by noon, and I need to stop to pick up some cookies for story time.”

  “Cookies? Consider yourself stopped. I’ve got three dozen Triplet Chiplet Cookies in the back of the truck if you want them.”

  “You bet I want them!” Sue finished buckling Kevin in and waited for Hannah to come back with the cookies. “Thanks for the job, Hannah. I just adore it. We’re having so much fun, it’s almost a crime Janice pays us.”

  “She needs you, Sue. The last time I dropped in on her at Kiddie Korner, she was really stressed out.”

  “I know. Sometimes it’s not the work. It’s just that you need another adult to talk to. Being around children as your only companions all day is…well…it’s wearing. But there’s two of us now, and we’re having a really good time.”

  “I can believe it.” Hannah smiled at her downstairs neighbor.

  “There’s something new every day, especially at Show and Tell time. You wouldn’t believe what some of the kids say!”

  “Tell me,” Hannah said. If she was a bit late, it wouldn’t matter, and it was wonderful seeing Sue so happy and energetic.

  “Well…the first day I started, Sonny Newberg got up and said, Mom had a big fight with Uncle Tad because he didn’t pay back the money for Nikki’s flowers. Mom said he shouldn’t buy flowers for a bimbo like that. What’s a bimbo, Mrs. Plotnik?”

  Hannah just shook her head. It sounded as if Tad Newberg’s sister-in-law didn’t approve of the girl he was dating. “What in the world do you say to a question like that?”

  “I just said I wasn’t sure what his mother had meant, and then I asked him about flowers and what kind he liked best. A couple of the other kids told me which flowers they thought were the prettiest, and then somebody else got up to tell about going to the Minnesota Zoo. Kids are fairly easy to distract at that age.”

  “Car go, Mommy!”

  Hannah and Sue turned to look at Kevin, who was twisting the little steering wheel attached to his car seat.

  “I think he’s getting impatient,” Hannah said.

  “Definitely impatient. I’d better go, Hannah. I’m going to be at work early because of your cookies.” Sue shut the back door of her car and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Thanks again, Hannah…for everything.”

  Hannah got into her cookie truck and followed Sue up the ramp and out of the parking garage. It was good to know that something she’d arranged had gone well. Now all she had to do was solve Ronni’s murder, lose enough weight to fit into the dress for her mother’s book launch party, and pretend that it didn’t matter at all that Mike was a skunk.

  TRIPLET CHIPLET COOKIES

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

  2 cups melted butter (4 sticks, one pound)

  3 cups white (granulated) sugar

  1½ cups brown sugar

  4 teaspoons vanilla

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon salt 4 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

  5 cups flour (not sifted—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  1 cup white chocolate chips (6-ounce package)

  1 cup milk chocolate chips (6-ounce package)

  1 cup semi-sweet (the regular kind) chocolate chips (6-ounce package)

  2 cups chopped salted cashews

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you can’t find white chocolate chips, you can substitute butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, or any other chips you like.

  Melt the butter by heating it in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 3 minutes, or in a pan on the stove.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: This dough gets really stiff—you might be better off using an electric mixer if you have one.

  Mix the white sugar and the brown sugar with the butter. Add the vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.

  Feel the bowl. If it’s not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, add them now and mix well.

  Add 2 cups of the flour and stir well. Then add the chips, and the chopped nuts. Mix it thoroughly.

  Add the 3 remaining cups of flour, and stir them in well.

  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased (or sprayed with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray) cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet. If the dough is too sticky to handle, chill it for an hour and try again.

  Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. (Mine took 11 minutes.)

  Let the cookies cool for two minutes, and then remove them from the baking sheets. Transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

&nbs
p; Yield: Approximately 10 to 12 dozen crunchy, nutty, chocolaty cookies that everyone will love.

  This recipe can be cut in half if you wish.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Her cell phone rang just as she exited the condo complex, and Hannah pulled over on the side of the road to answer it. “This is Hannah.”

  “Where are you?” It was Andrea’s voice, and she sounded anxious.

  “I’m just leaving the complex. I should be there in twenty minutes.”

  “Okay, I’ll wait fifteen minutes, and then I’ll pour coffee for you. Frank Hurley’s here, and he’s got something to tell you.”

  “What?”

  “He won’t tell us, only you. Do you think he’s interested, Hannah?”

  “You mean interested in me?”

  “Well, maybe not. He’s got to be almost thirty years older than you are. It’s probably because you’re leading our investigation and he wants to talk to the head person.”

  “That’s probably right.”

  “Lisa says to tell you that there was nothing on their Heavenly Bodies tapes. They watched all six hours. Then she went to bed, and Herb stayed up to watch a tape from the red-light camera at the mall. He says I should tell you he found out something very interesting.”

  “What is it?”

  “He won’t tell anybody except you and Mike.”

  “Mike? What’s he got to do with it?”

  “I don’t know. Herb knows he’s off the case, so it can’t have anything to do with Ronni’s murder. And then there’s Mother and Carrie.”

  “What about Mother and Carrie?”

  “I don’t know that, either. They’re here, but they want to wait until you come in to tell us some big news. Where are you now?”

  “What do you mean, where am I? I’m right where I was when I answered the phone.”

  “You’re not driving?”

  “Of course not. Cell phones are distracting. I never drive and talk on the cell phone at the same time.”

  “Right. I forgot about that. Only one more thing. I was supposed to remind you to call Detective Parks and ask her to check on the Macalester stalker.”

  “I did that. I left her a voice mail.”

  “Okay, then. I’m hanging up now. Hurry in because I’m dying of curiosity and nobody’ll tell me anything unless you’re here.”

  Hannah pulled out on the road again and tromped on the gas. She was curious, too. The snowplows had been out, the roadway wasn’t slippery, and her tires hummed along as she drove just slightly over the speed limit. What did Frank Hurley want to tell her? What did Herb want to tell Mike and her? What was Delores and Carrie’s big news?

  Her mind was sluicing through the possibilities as she turned in the alley and pulled into her parking spot at the back of The Cookie Jar. She shut off her truck and wasted no time rushing in the kitchen door, tossing her parka on the rack, and pushing through the swinging door to the coffee shop.

  Every stool and chair was occupied with customers who all looked up as she came in. It seemed that everyone here wanted something from her. She just hoped she’d be able to provide it.

  “Hannah!” Andrea rushed over to greet her. “We’re going to put you at the workstation in the kitchen since so many people want to talk to you in private.”

  “Okay,” Hannah said, feeling a bit like Marlon Brando at the wedding in The Godfather. “Are there really that many people?”

  “Not that many. Only six or so, unless somebody new comes in. I’ll bring your coffee and usher people in when you’re all set up.”

  Hannah went back through the swinging door and sat down on a stool at the workstation. She had several seconds to think about horse heads and sawed-off shotguns, and then Andrea came in.

  “Here’s your coffee. Do you want a cookie before we start?”

  “Diet,” Hannah said, shaking her head.

  “Right. Well, if you’re sure I can’t get you anything else, I’ll bring Frank Hurley back.”

  Hannah had time for three sips of her coffee before Frank came through the swinging door. He took the seat across from her at the workstation and gave a little sigh. “I’m really sorry, Hannah. I forgot to tell you something about the night Miss Ward was killed.”

  “What’s that, Frank?”

  “It happened earlier, on my watch. I just didn’t connect the dots before. There was somebody hanging around the mall entrance to the spa. You know, where the window is. I wouldn’t have thought anything about it, but he just walked back and forth in front of the window, and there wasn’t anything to see inside. The receptionist was gone, and there were no lights in the front. I thought maybe he was waiting for someone to come out so he could sneak in, so I went over and asked him if he was a member. He said no, that he was just browsing. Browsing is a strange word to use at a spa. You browse in a store, you know? I got the impression he wasn’t all there, if you know what I mean.”

  “I know what you mean. Can you describe him for me?”

  “A male Caucasian in his midthirties, light-brown hair, average build, average height. He was wearing jeans and a dark blue parka with fur around the neck.”

  “Do you think he was homeless?”

  Frank shook his head. “I didn’t see anything that pointed in that direction. He was clean, his clothes were clean, and he was dressed for the weather. He just sent up red flags for me, you know? I told him to move along, and he went out to the parking lot. I didn’t see him again, and I left at midnight.”

  “Is there any way he could have gotten into Heavenly Bodies?”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. I should have told Tad about it when he came in at eleven, but I really didn’t think it was important. The guy was gone. That was that.”

  “But now you’re giving it a second thought?”

  “Yeah. The thing is, people were coming and going for Miss Ward’s birthday party, and that back door was opening and closing a lot. He could have slipped in with one of the guests.”

  After Frank had left, Hannah took out her shorthand notebook and added the man in the blue parka to her suspect list. It wasn’t much to go on, but there had to be some reason he’d been hanging around the mall entrance to Heavenly Bodies. Then she closed her notebook and slipped it into her large shoulder bag, the one her mother hated and her fashionable sisters kept trying to replace.

  “Ready?” Andrea asked, opening the door partway.

  “Ready,” Hannah answered, hoping her coffee would hold out.

  She’d gone through five people with tidbits of information for her that had proved to be less than useful. Then Delores and Carrie had come in to tell her that they’d won the karaoke contest at The Moosehead and now had a fifty-dollar credit at the bar. When the door opened and Herb walked in with Mike, Hannah hoped they’d have something interesting to tell her.

  “You can go back to baking cookies now, Hannah,” Mike said with a grin that couldn’t have been any wider.

  “What do you mean?” Hannah gazed from Mike to Herb and then back again.

  “I reviewed the red-light camera photos from the night that Ronni was killed,” Herb explained. “The camera’s mounted by the traffic light at the mall exit, and it catches anybody running the red light to get on the freeway. It shows Mike entering the intersection on yellow at twelve thirty-five.”

  “And Ronni was killed between one and two-thirty in the morning,” Hannah said, recalling the time from Doc Knight’s autopsy report.

  “That’s right.” Mike gave a little nod. “The only reason the highway patrol didn’t write me up is that I was driving a patrol car.”

  “We’re taking the photo out to the sheriff’s department to show Bill,” Herb said.

  “And I’ll be back on the case this afternoon.” Mike gave her a little kiss on the top of the head. “You’ve done a good job, Hannah. Write up what you’ve learned so far, will you? I’ll take over now.”

  “He actually said that?” Michelle looked outraged.


  “He actually did.”

  “You’re not going to do it, are you?” Andrea asked, bringing up the rear with Norman as they climbed the steps to Hannah’s condo.

  “Do what?” Hannah asked her.

  “Write up a report for Mike.”

  Hannah turned around as she reached the landing. “Of course I am. But he told me to go back to baking cookies, and reports take time to write. It’ll probably be a week or so before I have the chance to put anything down on paper.”

  When she got inside, the first place Hannah headed was the kitchen. She glanced down at the Kitty Valet and let out a whoop of excitement. “Moishe’s out of food again. Now we’ll get to see if the kitty-cam worked.”

  Hannah put on the coffee, Norman took the tape out of the kitty-cam, and Michelle and Andrea refilled the food tube on Moishe’s Kitty Valet. In less than five minutes, they were all settled in the living room with fresh mugs of coffee and a box of Lois Brown’s Lemon Cookies that Hannah had brought home from The Cookie Jar, ready to watch the tape from the surveillance camera.

  “These are great lemon cookies!” Michelle said, reaching for her second in less than a minute. “There’s a lot of lemon, and that makes them nice and tart.”

  “Sometimes I sprinkle them with powdered sugar before I serve them,” Hannah told her. “Does anybody want me to do that?”

  There were headshakes all around. It seemed they all liked the tart, lemony flavor.

  “Okay, then…let’s get started,” Hannah said, taking a sip of her coffee. “At least we won’t be bored silly. Moishe’s kitty-cam is motion activated. If nothing moves, it doesn’t record.”

  “No more hours of closed doors and empty rooms?” Andrea asked her.