Blackberry Pie Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)

by Fluke, Joanne

  Hannah shook her head. “No way. They couldn’t put in a new toilet without getting permission from the homeowner’s committee. I’m on the homeowner’s committee and no one has asked permission for at least two months.”

  “You need permission just to put in a new toilet?”

  “Yes, for a brand new one. You don’t need permission if you’re just doing repairs on the old one. Our handyman does that free of charge to the homeowner. The problem is that the condo association is responsible for the plumbing and the electrical in all of the condos. If something goes wrong, our handyman fixes it. If the job is too big for him, we pay a plumber or an electrician to come in.”

  “That’s nice, but I still don’t understand why you need permission to put in a new toilet.”

  “It’s simple. People buy all sorts of fancy things with hookups in different spots like a bidet or whatever. The plumbing might need to be changed for those, and we want to check it out first to make sure that our handyman can do it. Changes to the plumbing are our responsibility and we don’t want to pay for re-plumbing a whole bathroom to accommodate a fancy toilet.”

  “But what if you want a fancy toilet?”

  “Then you have to pay for the plumbing and we have to authorize the permanent changes and inspect it when it’s completed. We’ve done it in the past for several units, but you have to come to a meeting with the plans and get our approval before you can start.”

  Michelle thought about that for several moments. “I’m not sure I want to buy a condo,” she said.

  “I wasn’t sure either, but that’s what was available in my price range. And it’s a lot easier now that I’m on the board.” Hannah stopped speaking and sighed deeply. “Actually . . . I’m not sure it’s easier. It’s easier for changes that I’d like to make, but I don’t really want any changes. And the board meets twice a month with meetings that last a couple of hours. Now that I think about it, I really don’t know if it’s worth it.”

  “Would you rather have a house?”

  “Maybe, but then all the headaches would be mine, and all the expenses, too. This way it’s a shared responsibility. I’m just not sure which I’d prefer, but this is what I have and I’m happy with it.” She stopped and motioned to Michelle. “Come on. My grand prize has to be here somewhere. We need to find it.”

  They looked in the guest bathroom, but there was nothing there. It was exactly as Hannah had said. The room was too small for anything that needed three football players to carry it.

  “The only place left is your bedroom,” Michelle said, opening the door to Hannah’s room. “Since we’ve eliminated all the other possibilities, it’s got to be in here.”

  Both women started to enter Hannah’s bedroom, but the moment they cleared the doorway, they both stopped dead in their tracks.

  “Whoa!” Hannah said, taking a step backward.

  “Whoa is right,” Michelle breathed. And then they both simply stared at the huge apparition taking up the space near the foot of Hannah’s bed.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Hannah asked, turning to face her sister.

  “I think so. It looks like one of those all-in-one trainers, the ones that take the place of stationary bicycles, rowing machines, cross-country ski simulators, and treadmills.”

  “I was afraid of that,” Hannah said, frowning deeply. Then she pointed to the front of the machine. “Is that what I think it is between the handlebars?”

  “If you’re thinking television set, you’re right. And I think there’s a . . .” Michelle stopped speaking and walked forward to approach the front of the machine. A moment later, she said, “I’m right. It’s a television set with a built-in DVD player so you can play exercise videos, or watch regular television while you use the treadmill. It’s an expensive piece of equipment, Hannah. You won an all-in-one fancy exercise machine that would make every member of a fitness center drool.”

  Hannah let out a groan and sat down on the edge of her bed. “Just what I needed. Oh, boy.”

  “You’re being sarcastic . . . aren’t you?”

  “And how! I don’t need an exercise machine. The last time I used one was at Heavenly Bodies Spa in the mall. And you know what happened when I did that!”

  “You discovered a dead body.” Michelle gave a little chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry about that. There’s no Jacuzzi here. And it’s certainly not a reason to avoid this machine. You won’t find a dead body here in your bedroom unless someone breaks in and exercises himself to death.”

  “That could happen. If I start using this machine, the victim could be me.”

  “You’re going to use it?” Michelle asked, sounding surprised.

  “Maybe. My jeans are getting a little tight around the hips. And it does have a DVD player. I don’t necessarily have to watch an exercise tape. I could amble on the treadmill and watch one of my favorite movies.”

  Michelle looked down at the machine. “Sorry, Hannah. There’s no setting for amble. The closest you could come would be fast walk.”

  “I could do a fast walk, especially if I watched Chariots of Fire or a documentary about the life of Roger Bannister.”

  “That’s true. And it might take the onus out of exercising for you. Actually . . . I wouldn’t mind using it while I’m here. If you don’t mind, that is.”

  “I don’t mind. Have at it. I’m going to go make a dessert for tonight’s dinner. Norman’s picking up pizza at Bertanelli’s.”

  “He’s going to leave the cats in the car while he goes inside?” Michelle asked, sounding worried.

  “Of course not. They’ve got a drive-in window now. Ellie told me that Bert put it in himself. They hired an extra person to man the window and business has increased fifteen percent already.”

  “I can understand that. Their pizza is the best in Winnetka County. What kind of pizza is Norman getting?”

  “He’s getting three. Sausage and pepperoni, five cheese, and a garbage pizza with everything on it.”

  “Who else is coming?”

  “Nobody, as far as I know. But Norman wanted us to have plenty of leftovers so we wouldn’t have to cook for a couple of nights.”

  “That’s nice of him. What are you making for dessert?”

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”

  “Okay,” Michelle said, paging through the manual that had come with the machine. “It says that this machine can take the place of almost every machine in a well-equipped gym.”

  “That’s interesting,” Hannah said for lack of something better to say.

  “I’ll be there to help you in a couple of minutes. I just want to try this thing out and see if it does what they say it can do.”

  “No hurry,” Hannah told her, turning to leave. “Knock yourself out, but not literally, of course.”

  Hannah was frowning slightly as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen. She wasn’t head-over-heels delighted about her grand prize, but she had to admit it was impressive. Unfortunately, they’d given it to the wrong person. She could think of several people right here in Lake Eden who’d really enjoy it and would use it every day. Giving it to her was almost like throwing money up in the air and watching it blow away. She might use it, sooner or later. And it would probably be later, if she were entirely honest about it. But she wasn’t thrilled by the prospect. At least Michelle seemed to appreciate it and that was good. Now that she thought about it, there were several people she knew who might appreciate it. She’d show it to Norman when he got here and get his opinion, and she’d certainly show it to Mike the next time he came over. Mike was the expert when it came to exercise equipment. He’d ordered all of the fitness machines for the gym at the sheriff’s station, and Bill had told her that they had the best equipped law enforcement exercise facility in the whole state of Minnesota.

  Hannah entered the kitchen, flicked on the lights again, and took an apron out of the drawer. Then she opened the refrigerator to see what was there. Perhaps Michelle
had gone shopping while she was in jail, and there would be some special ingredient she could use for her dessert.

  “No such luck,” Hannah said aloud, staring at the empty shelves. Lonnie and Michelle must have gone out to eat or brought in takeout every night that she was gone. It was time to try the pantry and hope she could find something there.

  Of course the basic ingredients for cookies were in her pantry. She kept them on hand in case of fire, flood, earthquake, blizzard, or any other natural disaster. Cookies made everything bearable. Hannah and every one of her customers at The Cookie Jar would testify to that!

  What could she put in the cookies to make them interesting and different? She had several different flavors of chips including white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, butterscotch, and peanut butter, but she wanted something more special than a variation on her Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies. The only item that was even remotely promising was a packet of sweetened dried cranberries that had been on her shelf since Christmas before last. Hannah read the “use by” date on the package. It was good until September this year. Of course the sweetened, dried cranberries were still good. Nothing affected sweetened dried cranberries if the package hadn’t been opened. And this package was not only unopened, it had also been sitting untouched on her pantry shelf ever since she’d bought it at Florence’s Red Owl grocery store twenty months ago.

  What could she do with the cranberries? Hannah thought for a minute. Of course she could always make a batch of Boggles. She had all the ingredients including the oatmeal right here in her pantry. But she’d baked three batches of Boggles today and she didn’t feel like baking them again. What other dessert used sweetened dried cranberries? She could use the cranberries in Imperial Cereal, but she didn’t have enough dry cereal for that. And Imperial Cereal was more of a snack than a dessert. Her third choice was Cranberry Scones, but those weren’t a dessert either.

  “Whoa!” Hannah breathed as she visualized a beautiful lacy cookie with sweetened dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. She could do it! She’d use her recipe for Christmas Lace Cookies as a guide and go from there. It was fun to come up with a new cookie and Hannah was smiling as she walked to the living room to print out the recipe on her home computer.

  Once she’d printed the recipe for her Christmas Lace Cookies, she carried the paper back to the kitchen. If the cookies turned out as well as she thought they would, they’d add them to the menu at The Cookie Jar. And that meant she had to come up with a descriptive and catchy cookie name. She didn’t want to use the word lace in the name. That was unique to their Christmas Lace Cookies.

  “Airy Berry Cookies?” Hannah asked herself out loud as she assembled the ingredients on the kitchen counter. Yes, that cookie name was perfect. Now all she had to do was mix up and bake the cookies to see if they were good and the name actually fit. She was about to start mixing the cookie dough when the phone on the kitchen wall rang.

  Hannah made a beeline for the phone and lifted the receiver. “Hello?” she answered the call.

  “I’m glad I caught you, dear. You’re not going to leave to go out to eat or anything, are you?”

  “No, Mother,” Hannah said, squelching the uncharitable urge to groan. It wasn’t that she didn’t like talking to her mother. She enjoyed their conversations. It was just that Delores could keep her on the phone for what seemed like hours on end and she had cookies to bake before Norman arrived.

  “Good! Doc asked me to call. He needs to talk to you, Hannah. He says it’s very important and it’ll only take a minute or two.”

  “Okay. Put Doc on the phone.”

  “No, dear. Doc needs to talk to you in person. We’ll be leaving the hospital immediately and we’ll drive right out. I just didn’t want you to leave before we got there.”

  “What does Doc want to talk to me about?” Hannah asked, feeling a bit apprehensive. The last time Doc had asked to talk to her in person was on the night Bill had come to arrest her.

  “I don’t know, dear. I asked, but he won’t tell me. The only thing I know is that it’s not bad news. I asked him that because I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “Thanks for asking, Mother.”

  “Certainly, dear. It’s all right if we come over, then?”

  Hannah did the only thing she could do. She agreed. “Okay then,” she said, but it sounded rather curt even to her own ears, so she added, “Would you and Doc like to join us for dinner? Norman’s bringing pizza from Bertanelli’s.”

  “That would be lovely, dear. Thank you. Shall we pick up anything on the way?”

  “I don’t really need anything, unless . . .” Hannah stopped and began to grin. “Are you wearing silk stockings?”

  Delores laughed. “Yes, and I have some fish-shaped, salmon-flavored treats for Moishe in the glove compartment of Doc’s car. I’ll carry them in with me so I can bribe Moishe.”

  Hannah was still smiling as she said goodbye and hung up the phone. Delores knew the drill. If she wore silk stockings and arrived without Moishe’s favorite kitty treats, there could be another pair of shredded hose to add to the two dozen or so that had gone before them.

  The phone rang again and Hannah picked it up. Delores must have forgotten to tell her something. “Hello again, Mother.”

  But it wasn’t her mother. It was Norman. She recognized his laugh immediately. “You just got off the phone with your mother?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’m glad you called, Norman. If you haven’t gone to Bertanelli’s yet, will you pick up some garden salads? Mother and Doc will be joining us for dinner.”

  “Eight salads, and I’ll order a small Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza for your mother.”

  “That would be great. I know she loves . . . wait a second.” A puzzled expression crossed Hannah’s face. “We’re only five for dinner. Mother and Doc, Michelle, you, and me.”

  “Five so far,” Norman said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dinner at your place always grows by the time I get there. I’ll play it safe and get eight salads. And I’d better get a couple orders of meatballs, too.”

  “Do you know something I don’t know?”

  “A lot of things. I know how to do a root canal, and you don’t. And I can extract a tooth painlessly, which I’m willing to bet you can’t do.”

  Hannah laughed. “Not dental things. I admit I don’t know much about those. I meant, do you know anyone else who’s going to come here for dinner?”

  “Not for sure, but I figure there’s a fifty-fifty chance that Lonnie and Mike will drop by.”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. “You’re probably right. Lonnie will want to see Michelle.”

  “And Mike was at the courthouse this morning. He’ll probably drop by to see how you’re doing.”

  “You could be right. But that’s only seven people. Who’s the eighth?”

  “Andrea if she’s still mad at Bill. Do you know if she is?”

  “She’s still mad. I talked to her on the phone earlier.”

  “Then she might drop by your place so she doesn’t have to talk to Bill.”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. “That’s possible,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind picking up more food. When you get here, I’ll pay you back.”

  “Don’t be silly. They’re my friends, too. And I need to talk to Doc, anyway.”

  “About the tooth?”

  “The tooth and other things. And before you ask, I didn’t find out anything definitive about the tooth except that the diamond is real.”

  “Real as in real valuable?” Hannah quipped.

  “Very funny. And yes, it is real valuable. In fact, it’s worth a small fortune. I’ll tell you all about it when I get there. Right now, I have to call in another couple of pizzas and order the green salads, put the cats in the carry crate, and get on the road. I’ll see you in a while, Hannah. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Hannah said, hanging up the
phone and heading back to the kitchen counter again. She did love Norman. Perhaps she didn’t love him enough to marry him, or . . . perhaps she did. She’d have to think about that when she had more time. Right now, she had cookies to bake before Norman and everyone else came through the door.

  AIRY BERRY COOKIES

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

  1 and ½ cups rolled oats (uncooked dry oatmeal—use the old-fashioned kind that takes 5 minutes to cook, not the quick 1-minute variety)

  ½ cup salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)

  ¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon flour (that’s not a misprint—it’s only one teaspoon!)

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 large egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)

  ½ cup sweetened dried cranberries (I used Craisins)

  ½ cup white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli’s)

  Measure the oatmeal and place it in a medium-sized bowl.

  Melt the butter and pour it over the oatmeal. Stir until it’s thoroughly mixed.

  In a small bowl, combine the white sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt. Mix well.

  Add the sugar mixture to the oatmeal mixture and blend them together thoroughly.

  Mix in the vanilla extract.

  Add the beaten egg and stir until everything is combined.

  Mix in the half-cup of sweetened dried cranberries. Then add the white chocolate chips and stir them in thoroughly.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: I once used cherry-flavored Craisins in these cookies. That means I had to rename them Airy Cherry-Berry Cookies.

  Line cookie sheets with foil, shiny side up. Spray the foil lightly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.