by Joanne Fluke
“About an hour and a half ago. I had Lonnie drop me off here and I hope that’s all right. I can stay with Mother and Doc if you don’t want company.”
Hannah stared at her youngest sister in surprise. “Why wouldn’t I want company?”
“I told you last night. You just got married and I thought you might want to be alone with Ross.”
“Don’t be silly. We have a guest room and you’re a perfect guest. You’re more than welcome to stay with us.”
“That’s great, but . . . maybe you’d better check with Ross to make sure he feels the same way? Mother and Doc have all sorts of empty bedrooms and I really don’t want to cause any problems.”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. “I’m sure Ross will want you to stay with us, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll call him to make sure. What are you doing here in Lake Eden? I thought you weren’t coming home until Thanksgiving break.”
“I wasn’t, but my one-act was a smash hit with the audience and with my professor, too. He was so pleased, he gave me permission to come back and direct the Lake Eden Players. They’ve only got a couple of weeks before they open their Thanksgiving play and with Tori gone, they’re going to need someone to direct them.”
Hannah began to smile. “I think I see Mother’s fine touch in that idea. Am I right?”
“You’re right. Mother called my professor and asked him if I could come back here to direct the Thanksgiving play for the Lake Eden Players. He checked with the college and he called me a couple of hours ago to tell me that I could get independent study credit if I wanted to do it.”
Hannah reached out to hug her sister. “That’s just wonderful, Michelle. I’m sure you’ll do a really good job.”
“That’s not all.” Michelle gave a smug smile. “From what I’ve heard about Tori’s abrasiveness from a couple of my friends in the Lake Eden Players, there are bound to be suspects in the group.”
Hannah laughed. “So you want to be my mole by directing the Lake Eden Players?”
“Don’t call me a mole. Dad showed me one once, and they’re ugly with those big feet and those tiny little eyes. I prefer to think of myself as an undercover agent. I know that I’m a good director, Hannah. I promise you that I’ll do a good job with their play.”
“I never doubted that for a moment.”
“Then call Ross and make sure it’s okay if I stay here. Mother says I can use her car so transportation won’t be a problem. And don’t try to talk Ross into it. I don’t want to stay here if he doesn’t want me.”
“I’ll check with him right after I taste one of those chocolate goodies you’re baking,” Hannah promised. “They smell delicious.”
“I hope so. I got the recipe from the mother of a student in my one-act play. She sent a box of them to our dress rehearsal and they were really good! They’re a no-bake dessert so they’re really easy to make.”
Hannah followed Michelle to the kitchen and sighed as Michelle took a pan from the refrigerator. “Are they like brownies?”
“A little. I’d describe them as a cross between brownies and candy. They’re not really firm enough yet, but I can cut one from the edge of the pan.”
A moment later, Hannah took her first bite of the brownie that was like candy. “Decadent!” she pronounced as she sat down at the kitchen table. “Now the only thing I’m missing is . . .”
“No, you’re not,” Michelle interrupted Hannah by setting a mug of black coffee down in front of her.
“Perfect. Thanks, Michelle,” Hannah took a sip and smiled in enjoyment. “This dessert is so rich, I really needed coffee.”
“That’s what I thought the first time I tasted it. And it’s so easy to make.” Michelle gestured toward the slow cooker on the counter. “What are you making? And who’s coming for dinner?”
“It’s a chicken dish I decided I’d try. I’m calling it Chicken Stroganoff and I just hope it’s going to be good.”
“It smells great and I know it’ll be good if you made it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. If it’s not good, will you run out to the Corner Tavern for burgers? Mike and Norman are joining us for dinner. They said they had a wedding present to give us. And now that you’re here, Mike will probably bring Lonnie, too.”
“Great. If Lonnie comes, that’ll make six. And of course I’ll run out to the Corner Tavern for burgers, except I’m pretty sure we won’t need them. Do you think you have enough of your Chicken Stroganoff for six? Or is that a stupid question?”
“I have enough. I’m going to serve it over egg noodles, and I picked up ingredients for a salad. I’m also making Cheesy Beer Muffins and we’ll have your Brownie Candy for dessert.”
“Beer muffins?” Michelle sounded puzzled. “I’ve never heard of muffins with beer before.”
“Norman sent me the recipe. He got it from a dentist friend of his and I thought I’d try it.”
“Is Norman bringing Cuddles?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Why don’t you call him and make sure he does. I picked up a big bag of salad shrimp and we’ll never use all of them in your salad. And don’t forget to touch base with Ross.”
“I’ll do it now,” Hannah said, heading for the bedroom. Her conversation with Ross had to be private. If he didn’t want Michelle to stay, they could think of some kind of excuse together so that she wouldn’t feel rejected.
As Hannah shut the door and prepared to make her call in private, she crossed her fingers for luck. Then she uncrossed them again, punched in the number for Ross’s cell phone, and crossed them again.
“Hannah!” Ross answered on the second ring. “Do you miss me?”
“Of course,” Hannah said quickly, “but that’s not why I called. Michelle’s here. She took the bus to Lake Eden and I wondered if it was all right if she stayed in our guest room.”
“Of course it is!”
The answer came immediately and Hannah breathed a sigh of relief. “Then you really don’t mind? Michelle thought we might want to be alone.”
“I don’t mind at all, if you don’t.”
Hannah felt a little pang. Ross didn’t mind if they weren’t alone. Was that good? Or was that bad? She just wasn’t sure. Before she could think better of it, she asked, “Don’t you want to be alone with me?”
“Of course I do, Cookie!” Again the answer came immediately. “It’s just that we have the rest of our lives to be alone with each other. Eventually, Michelle will get married and have children. And then she’ll have her own family and she won’t be able to spend as much time with you. I just think that you should enjoy your time with her while you can.”
Hannah wanted to ask Ross if that’s what had happened with his own family, but that was a conversation for another time. All she really knew about Ross’s family was that he said he’d called them and they’d been unable to come to the wedding.
“Okay then,” she said quickly. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’ll tell Michelle that she’s welcome to stay.”
“I don’t mind. As a matter of fact, I like having her stay with us. She takes some of the workload off you at The Cookie Jar and I know you want her to stick around so that she can help you find out who killed the mayor’s sister.”
“That’s true. I could use Michelle’s help. As a matter of fact, there’s a friend of hers who could answer some of my questions. If Michelle goes with me to talk to her, we might learn more than I would alone.”
“How long can Michelle stay in Lake Eden before she has to go back to college?”
“Two weeks and maybe a little more. Michelle’s filling in as the interim director of the Lake Eden Players. She’s currently enrolled in an advanced directing class and her professor is giving her college credit for helping out here.”
“That’s even better. The mayor’s sister was the director, wasn’t she?”
“That’s right. Tori Bascomb directed the Lake Eden Players and she also directed the plays at J
ordan High.”
“If Michelle is working with the same people, she’ll probably be able to find out some things about Tori Bascomb as a director. If she was tough on anyone in particular at rehearsals, if she had favorites, how she got along with the crew, that sort of thing. Oops. I’m needed for something. Hold on for just a second or two, Hannah.”
Hannah frowned slightly as Ross put the phone down with a thunk and said something she couldn’t quite hear to a colleague. Then the phone thunked again as he picked it up.
“Sorry about that. I’ve got to go, Hannah. I’ll be home around six.”
“Good. Mike, Norman, and maybe Lonnie are coming to dinner. Mike and Norman are bringing a wedding present for us.”
“Okay, sounds good. I love you, Cookie.”
And then, before Hannah could tell him that she loved him too, Ross ended the call with a click.
BROWNIE CANDY
DO NOT preheat oven. This dessert needs NO baking!
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound) salted butter, softened
1 cup cashew butter
1 pound powdered (confectioners) sugar
1 and ½ cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (I used Nabisco Nilla wafers)
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (6-ounce by weight bag is fine)
Hannah’s 1st Note: Take the 2 sticks of butter out of the refrigerator, unwrap them, and put them in a covered mixing bowl the night before you want to make this Brownie Candy. They’ll be nice and soft in the morning.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: I chop my vanilla wafers in the food processor with the steel blade in an on-and-off motion. If you don’t have a food processor, put them in a sealable plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Just make sure they’re finely crushed.
In a medium-size mixing bowl, mix the salted butter with the cashew butter. A wooden spoon works well for this. Continue to mix until the mixture is smooth, creamy, and thoroughly incorporated.
Add the powdered sugar to your bowl. There’s no need to sift unless it’s got big lumps. Stir until the powdered sugar is thoroughly incorporated.
Measure out a cup and a half of crushed vanilla wafers and add them to your bowl. Mix until you have a homogenous mixture.
Spray the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can line the pan with heavy duty aluminum foil and spray that.
Dump the butter, cashew butter, powdered sugar, and crushed vanilla wafer mixture into the cake pan and pat it out as evenly as you can in the bottom.
Melt the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over MEDIUM heat or in a heavy metal saucepan on LOW heat, stirring constantly.
Alternatively, you can melt the chips in the microwave by placing them in a small microwave-safe bowl or Pyrex 2-cup measuring cup and heating them on HIGH for 1 minute. At the end of that time, let them stand in the microwave for 1 minute and then try to stir them smooth. If there are still lumps, heat them in 20-second intervals with 20-second standing times until you can stir them smooth.
With a heat resistant spatula, spread the melted chocolate on top of the mixture in the cake pan. Spread it out as evenly as possible.
Place the pan in the refrigerator until the Brownie Candy is firm. This will take at least 2 hours.
When your dessert is firm and the chocolate on top has hardened, take the cake pan out of the refrigerator and cut your dessert into brownie-sized pieces.
Yield: Approximately 24 to 36 pieces, depending on cutting size.
Chapter Eight
Hannah was smiling as she carried the crockpot to the table. She’d tasted the Chicken Stroganoff and Noodles and it was delicious. The Cheesy Beer Muffins had also turned out to be very tasty and they had gone perfectly with the salad that Michelle had made for a first course.
Michelle followed Hannah with the huge bowl of egg noodles. They’d cooked them in boiling water and four chicken bouillon cubes to add extra flavor. Michelle had drained and buttered them so the noodles wouldn’t stick together in the bowl and the entrée part of their dinner was complete.
“This is a real feast, honey,” Ross said after he’d taken the first bite. “Please don’t tell me that we’re going to eat like this all the time.”
Hannah frowned slightly. “Why? Is there something you don’t like?”
“I like absolutely everything, and that’s the problem. If I eat like this every night, I’m going to gain hundreds of pounds.”
Everyone at the table laughed and so did Hannah. At first she’d thought Ross might be serious, but he was only teasing her.
“Just wait for dessert,” she told him. “Michelle made it and it’s delicious. You might have to change to your sweatpants after dinner if you don’t limit yourself to three pieces.”
“What’s for dessert?” Lonnie asked Michelle.
“Something we named Brownie Candy. One of the girls in my directing class brought it to rehearsal and I asked for the recipe.”
“Sounds dangerous,” Mike commented, ladling another helping of noodles on his plate. “I may have to stop with this helping or I’ll be too full for dessert.”
“Very funny,” Hannah said with a smile. “You’ve never been too full for dessert in your whole life, have you?”
“My sister says she remembers the time I refused ice cream. And it was chocolate, my favorite flavor.”
“Really?” Hannah asked.
“At least that’s what my sister says. I was so young, I don’t remember it.”
That earned Mike a laugh, but Hannah noticed that Norman was quiet. “Is there something wrong, Norman? You haven’t said much all evening.”
Norman shook his head. “It’s probably nothing, but I’m going to take Cuddles to Doctor Bob’s office tomorrow. She’s been sleeping a lot lately.”
“Maybe Cuddles is recovering from all that chasing she did with Moishe,” Hannah suggested. “She’s not used to having another cat in the house and they probably played all day while you were gone.”
“Maybe. But I’m going to take her in anyway. Cuddles likes Dr. Bob. She’s due for her annual checkup anyway and I’d feel terrible if something were wrong and I ignored the warning signs.”
“You’re right,” Hannah agreed. “I wouldn’t want to take any chances with Moishe, either. He means the world to me.”
“I thought I meant the world to you!” Ross jumped into the conversation. “Don’t tell me that I come in second to a cat!”
Hannah turned quickly to look at him. He’d sounded slightly upset, but there was the hint of a grin on his face and she assumed that he was kidding. “Moishe’s not just a cat. He’s a fur person. And you mean the world to me, too. But don’t ask me to choose between you and Moishe. That’s something that I would never do.”
Slightly too late, Hannah caught the pained expression on Norman’s face. She knew that he was remembering how she had given Cuddles a home when his fiancée, Doctor Bev, had pretended to be allergic to cats. She reached out to squeeze his hand to show him how sorry she was that she’d spoken without thinking, and he gave her a smile to say that all was forgiven.
“I’m going down to the car to get your wedding present out of the trunk,” Norman announced, standing up and heading for the door.
“Wait and I’ll come with you,” Mike said quickly. “It’s pretty heavy.”
“Did you bring us a popcorn machine?” Hannah asked, remembering the one Norman had bought for his own media room.
Norman shook his head. “No, but it’s something just as good. I think you’re really going to like it.”
Ross and Lonnie cleared the table while Hannah put on the coffee and Michelle cut her Brownie Candy for dessert. By the time Mike and Norman came back in, everything was ready for the final course.
“Wow!” Ross exclaimed as the two men carried in a large box. “It’s huge!”
“It’s not as big as it looks,” Mike told him as they set the box in the middle of the living room.
Hannah turned to Ross. “Come on. Since it’s our wedding present, we should open it together.”
She cut the tape and Ross pulled up the flaps on the large cardboard box. Together, they lifted out mounds of packing material until they reached the smaller box inside. Ross lifted it out and set it on the rug, and Hannah bent down to read the legend on the side. “RoboVac,” she read aloud. And then she turned to Mike and Norman with a puzzled expression. “Now I know what it’s called, but I still don’t know what it is.”
“I do,” Ross said, smiling at her as they returned to the table. “It’s a robotic vacuum cleaner.” He turned to Mike and Norman. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“You are,” Norman told him. “I know how Hannah hates to vacuum, so Mike and I got you this. Now she’ll never have to vacuum the rug again.”
“I didn’t know you hated to vacuum,” Ross said to Hannah.
“I’ve always hated to vacuum. I don’t mind other housekeeping chores, but vacuuming is so boring.”
“That’s exactly how I feel about it,” Norman said, smiling at her. “And that’s one of the reasons that I bought a RoboVac for myself.” He got up to get the owner’s manual out of the bottom of the box and handed it to Ross. “You can program it for any time of day and any combination of days. The only problem I have with it is that my house is two stories and I have to carry it upstairs.”
“Why don’t you get another one that you keep upstairs?” Ross suggested.