Blackberry Pie Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)

by Fluke, Joanne

  “No, it’s the other way around. I asked to talk to Jennifer. I need to check her out for myself. Loretta came to see me this afternoon and she’s in a really bad situation. She knows Carly doesn’t think Jennifer’s her sister, but Loretta told me that she knows Jennifer is.”

  Michelle stared at Hannah for a moment and then an expression of doubt crossed her face. “Wouldn’t you think Loretta would know? Jennifer didn’t run away until she was a teenager.”

  “Yes, I think a mother would know. Maybe not if Jennifer had been kidnapped when she was a baby, but she wasn’t. Loretta knows.”

  “But then . . .” Michelle stopped and took a deep breath. “You think Loretta’s lying, don’t you!”

  It was more accusation than question, and Hannah nodded. “I think she could be.”

  “But you don’t know for sure and that’s why you have to go out there?”

  “Precisely. I want to talk to Jennifer alone, without Loretta or Carly anywhere around. I need some answers from her.”

  “Better take some cookies with you. Sweeten her up first and then ask the hard questions.”

  Hannah chuckled. “Has Lonnie been giving you interrogation lessons?”

  “No, you have. I’ve seen you do that sort of thing before.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Beautifully. Most people will tell you anything you ask after a couple of your cookies. You could probably sell them as a substitute for truth serum.”

  Hannah was still chuckling softly as she began to bake yet another batch of cookies. She just hoped that Michelle was right and her sweet potato cookies would be a good substitute for truth serum. In any event, Yummy Yam Cookies, the name she’d given them, would be a double-edged sword. Either Jennifer would love them and Hannah would know she was a fraud, or or she would hate them and Hannah would know that she was the real Jennifer after all.

  YUMMY YAM COOKIES

  (Sweet Potato or Yam Cookies)

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

  ½ cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons, 4 ounces) salted butter, softened

  1 and ½ cups brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  2 large eggs

  4 teaspoons baking powder (that’s 1 Tablespoon and 1 teaspoon)

  ½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 teaspoon lemon zest (zest is the yellow part of the lemon peel, finely grated)

  1 and ¼ cups mashed yams or sweet potatoes (You can buy these in the produce department, cook, peel, and mash your own OR use canned yams that you drain, pat dry, and mash.)

  2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  ¼ cup chopped dried papaya (If you can’t find this in your store, you can substitute chopped and dried almost anything—I’ve used chopped and dried dates, chopped and dried apricots, and chopped and dried candied ginger—all were delicious)

  ½ cup chopped pecans

  Approximately 30 marshmallows, cut in half horizontally. (I used kitchen scissors dipped in water to cut these.)

  Hannah’s 1st Note: This is much easier if you use an electric mixer, but you can also mix up the cookie dough by hand.

  In a medium-sized bowl, beat the softened butter and the brown sugar together until they are light and fluffy.

  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing them in thoroughly.

  Mix in the baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Beat until everything is well blended.

  Mix in the lemon zest.

  Once your yams or sweet potatoes are mashed, measure out one and a quarter cups. Add them to your mixing bowl and blend them in.

  Add the flour a half-cup at a time, mixing after each addition.

  Mix in the dried papaya and the half-cup of chopped pecans.

  If the cookie dough is too sticky to work with, cover it with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing it down around the dough itself, and refrigerate it for one hour. (Overnight is fine, too.)

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you decided to refrigerate your dough, don’t forget to shut off your oven and preheat it again right before you take your chilled cookie dough out of the refrigerator.

  Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper and spraying that.

  Drop the cookie dough by rounded Tablespoon onto the cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a sheet. (Lisa and I use a 2-Tablespoon scooper down at The Cookie Jar when we make these.)

  Use the back of a small spoon or your impeccably clean thumb to make an indentation in the center of each dough mound.

  Press a half-marshmallow, cut side down, into the indentation.

  Bake the Yummy Yam Cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the side of the cookie feels firm when lightly touched with a fingertip.

  Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

  Yield: Approximately 5 dozen soft and tasty cookies, depending on cookie size.

  Hannah’s 3rd Note: Andrea says Tracey’s friends love these because of the marshmallows and they don’t realize they’re eating vegetables that are good for them.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Hannah felt slightly guilty when she left The Cookie Jar at two-thirty in the afternoon, the cookies she’d baked especially for Jennifer sat on the seat beside her in one of her signature bakery boxes. She’d been at work for only three hours, and she usually put in at least ten hours a day.

  She told herself that it didn’t matter, that she’d baked cookies for the entire time she’d been there, but her conscience was bothering her a bit as she unscrewed the top on a bottle of cold water and drove out of town. It felt almost like playing hooky, something she’d done only once. It had happened when she was in grade school and she hadn’t played hooky deliberately. It had just worked out that way.

  She’d left school at a quarter to eleven in the morning for her annual fall dental checkup. Her appointment with Doc Bennett had been canceled at the last minute because of an emergency, but she hadn’t known that when she’d left her classroom. Doc Bennett’s receptionist had delivered the news and Hannah had walked away from his dental office intending to go straight back to school. But the fact that she wasn’t expected to return for at least an hour had made her feel as free as the proverbial bird.

  Why go back? the little imp that resided in her mind had asked her. No one at school will know you’re not at the dentist. This is a lucky break for you. Go do something you want to do.

  It had seemed like a wonderful idea at the time and Hannah had put aside her scruples and stopped at the park a block from the school. A sidewalk ran all the way around the perimeter of the park in a huge circle and Hannah had walked slowly around the circle. Usually the sidewalk was filled with mothers pushing strollers, kids on tricycles and older kids on bicycles. Today there was no one on the sidewalk circle except her.

  It was almost eleven in the morning and the park was deserted this time of day. The kids who rode bicycles were in school and mothers with small children had taken them home for morning naps and were busy fixing noon lunch. The park would be crowded again by two in the afternoon, but for now Hannah was the only kid around.

  The swings hung straight and listless on their heavy chains. Hannah sat down on the highest one. Some were lower for smaller children and one was a baby swing with a little seat, two leg holes, and a strap to hold a small child secure. Since Hannah was tall for her age, her feet dragged a bit when she tried to swing on the smaller swings and the big swing, the one she had now, was almost always taken by someone else. At last she had it all to herself, but the thrill she’d thought would be hers when she swung high on the big swing wasn’t nearly as thrilling as she’d imagined.

  It was no fun swinging alone, not even on the big swing, and Hannah let the chains slow their back and forth motion and eventually come to
a stop. She hadn’t expected kids in the park, but she’d thought that there might be people sitting on the benches reading newspapers or flipping pages in a magazine. No one was here, not a single soul, not even anyone cutting through the middle of the park on their way to somewhere else. There weren’t even any cars on the street. She was all alone and she suddenly missed her classmates. Playing hooky was no fun if you had to do it alone.

  She had glanced at the watch her grandparents had given her for her birthday. Only five minutes had passed since she’d left Doc Bennett’s office and it seemed much longer than that. Maybe she should go back to school. At least she wouldn’t be lonely there and it was a little strange here, all by herself. It was so quiet, it was almost scary.

  Hannah came out of her trip down memory lane with a snap when she turned into her condo complex. She used her key card, waved at Norma, the guard in the kiosk who kept solicitors out and made sure that nonresidents had permission to visit, and drove down the ramp that led to the underground garage.

  The garage was mostly deserted. The only other car in her section belonged to Phil Plotnik, her downstairs neighbor, who worked the night shift at Delray Manufacturing. Phil would be getting up in a couple of hours to go to work, but since it was summer, he’d actually get to wake up and see the sun. This didn’t happen in the winter because Minnesota was a northern state and the days were shorter in the winter. Then Phil would have to drive home from work in the dark, get up in the dark to go back to work, and only see the sun on the weekends.

  As she climbed the outside staircase to her second-floor unit, Hannah heard a noise emanating from the bedroom. This time she knew what it was and she smiled in amusement. Moishe was on the treadmill again. If this kept up, she wouldn’t have to put him on a diet. He’d lose the weight on the grand prize she’d won in the Jordan High raffle.

  She unlocked her front door, but Moishe didn’t come out to jump into her arms as he usually did. He must not have heard her over the humming noise of the treadmill. She walked down the hall and her smile grew wider as she watched her cat exercise. He obviously loved it and that was fine with her.

  “Hey, Moishe!” she said, her voice carrying over the sound of the machine.

  Moishe turned to look at her and hopped off the belt, hurrying over to rub against her ankles.

  “I know. I’m early and you didn’t expect me. But you can exercise anytime you want. I have to get dressed in something presentable because I’m going out to dinner with Doc and Mother.”

  The ridge of hair began to rise on Moishe’s back, a sure sign that he’d recognized the M word. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “Mother’s not coming back here. Let’s shut off the machine and I’ll feed you dinner early tonight.”

  Moishe followed her down the hallway and into the kitchen and observed her as she filled his food bowl. “Salmon tonight?” she asked him.

  “Rrrrowww!”

  That was definitely a yes. Hannah got a small can of salmon out of the cupboard, opened it, and spread it on top of his kitty crunchies. “Here you go,” she said, setting his bowl on the floor. “I’m going to take a quick shower and I’ll be right back.”

  As she passed the desk in the living room, she noticed that the middle drawer was slightly ajar. Moishe was a genius at opening drawers and cabinets, so she pulled it open to check the contents. Everything appeared to be there, but she opened the jeweler’s box where she had stored the ring that Keith Branson had been wearing, just to make sure it was still there.

  Ring. Man’s ring. Her mind replayed the conversation she’d had with Winnie on the phone today. Connor couldn’t wear his copper bracelet or his ring because his hand was in a cast. But what if the cast wasn’t the only reason that Connor couldn’t wear his ring? What if the reason was that he’d lost it and hadn’t found it yet? And what about Connor’s hand? He’d blamed his horse, but was that the real reason? Had Connor broken his hand in a fight with Keith Branson?

  Connor was usually a truthful man. Hannah knew that. He said he hadn’t known Keith Branson when she’d shown him the photo, but perhaps that was true. You didn’t have to know someone to get into a fight with him. And the evidence certainly pointed to the fact that Keith had stolen Winnie’s pie. Was that enough to make Connor hit Keith so hard that he caused an intracranial hemorrhage?

  Something had made Connor absolutely furious and Hannah didn’t think that the theft of Winnie’s pie would do it. He would be angry, but not that angry. She stood there in her sunny living room, trying to think of what would make Connor fighting mad. When she couldn’t think of anything, she decided to go after her scenario from another angle. What was a pimp like Keith Branson from Minneapolis doing in Lake Eden? Was he coming after Honey, the girl who’d run away from his stable?

  It all began to fall in place when Hannah realized that there was only one new girl in town and that girl was Loretta’s long-lost daughter, Jennifer. What if Keith had come here for Jennifer and Jennifer’s street name was Honey? Winnie’s ranch bordered Loretta’s farm, and Keith had worked a brief time for Winnie. Jennifer had lived right next door and Keith could have met her that summer. Winnie had mentioned that Keith had slipped away to spend time with the local kids at the swimming hole. It was one of the reasons she’d fired him. What if Keith had met Jennifer there and convinced her to run away with him?

  Hannah’s mind spun with the possibilities. If she was right and Jennifer had run away with Keith, he knew where she lived. What if Keith had come back to Lake Eden, found Jennifer, and was dragging her back to his car when Connor rode up on Diablo? Carly had said something about Jennifer falling down in the woods and hurting herself, but what if those scratches and bruises were from her efforts to resist Keith?

  Connor would have fought for Jennifer. Hannah was sure of that. Connor was a good man and he would have done his best to rescue Jennifer from Keith.

  “This ring goes with me,” Hannah said out loud. Perhaps she was indulging in a wild flight of fancy, pulling assumptions and connections out of thin air. But perhaps she wasn’t. This could be Connor’s grandfather’s ring from a high school that no longer existed. That would explain why they hadn’t been able to find the seal on the Internet.

  There was only one way to find out if she was right and Hannah put the ring in her purse. It was a good thing she’d made a batch of Easy Pralines this morning before she’d left for The Cookie Jar. She’d planned them as a surprise for Michelle, a thank you for baking the Blue Apple Muffins, but she’d stop at Winnie’s ranch on her way to Loretta’s farm and give a box of them to Winnie. It would be a good excuse for dropping by, and Connor would probably be there, painting the inside of the ranch house. She’d say she’d found the ring, and watch him carefully to see if he gave any sign he recognized it.

  Hannah realized that her hands were shaking on the wheel as she turned onto the gravel road that ran past the wooded area where she’d hit and killed Keith Branson. She shivered slightly as dark clouds gathered in the sky. There just couldn’t be another summer storm. Not now. Not when she was about to pass the very spot where it had happened.

  The sky darkened momentarily as the cloud passed across the sun, but within the space of several heartbeats, it was sunny again. Hannah breathed a sigh of relief and rolled down her window for a breath of summer air. It was hot, but there was a slight breeze as she drove by the swimming hole the local kids used and she could smell damp earth, fresh water, and the sweet scent of red clover on the currents of air.

  Hannah saw three beautiful mares standing by the white fence that separated Winnie’s ranch from the neighboring farms. Seeing the mares made Hannah smile. It looked as if they were watching for cars to pass by and speculating on where the drivers and passengers were going. The one in the center neighed as she drove past, almost as if she were saying hello.

  An open field was next, bare of trees and planted with low ground cover. Hannah began to shiver slightly as she passed it. This was the field where the lightn
ing had struck so violently and so frequently on that fateful morning. There was room for her to have pulled over here. The shoulder was certainly wide enough to have parked there to wait for the storm to cease. But if she had, she would have been exposing both Lisa and herself to the raging elements and what had seemed to Hannah to be probable electrocution.

  Hannah slowed as she came around the bend and into the tree-lined area. The huge branch was gone, but there were round chunks of wood piled by the side of the road. A county road crew must have come out with chain saws to remove the branch from the roadway.

  Winnie’s ranch was just ahead, and Hannah turned onto the winding road that led to the ranch house. It was a beautiful area and Winnie kept the white fences painted and the ground free of debris. The rolling green hills reminded Hannah of the pictures she’d seen of the English countryside. She’d like to go to England someday, but for now, the Lake Eden countryside was certainly beautiful enough for her. Hannah pulled up at the ranch house, got out of the car, and walked up to Winnie’s front door. She still wasn’t sure how she would handle this. She just hoped that the right words would come to her when she needed them.

  “Hi, Winnie,” Hannah said when Winnie opened the door. “I brought you something on my way to Loretta’s place.”

  “That’s nice of you, Hannah.” Winnie took the box that Hannah handed her. “What’s in it?”

  “Pralines. One of my college friends gave me the recipe and I made them this morning. She was from New Orleans and she claimed they were authentic.”