Banana Cream Pie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “I know. Doc makes sure the cooler is full every morning. He says I need to stay hydrated. When you reach a certain age . . .” Delores stopped and looked slightly embarrassed. “Of course I’m not there yet, but I humor him anyway.”

  “Do you have any champagne chilled?” Hannah asked her mother as she accepted the glass of wine.

  “Of course, dear. I always have a bottle in the refrigerator. And it just happens to be Stephanie’s favorite. I’ll call her right now and invite her for five. I believe Ricky-Ticky has a council meeting tonight.”

  “He does,” Hannah said. “Thank you, Mother. If anyone can find out who Tori’s business manager was, it’s you.”

  Delores looked determined as she went off to make the call while Hannah and Michelle waited in the penthouse garden under the dome. “I wish we had time to go swimming,” Michelle said. “It’s so nice to swim in Mother’s pool.”

  “I know. It’s especially wonderful in the winter when you’re relaxing in the pool or the Jacuzzi and snow is falling outside on the dome. This is a gorgeous place to live.”

  “It really is. And Mother deserves it. I know how much she enjoys it and she does a lot of entertaining out here.”

  The two sisters sipped in silence for a moment and then Michelle began to laugh.

  “What is it?” Hannah asked her.

  “I just had the craziest thought. I wonder if Mother and Doc ever go swimming out here without bathing suits.”

  “Really, Michelle!” Hannah was shocked, but she did her best to cover her reaction. “To tell the truth, I’d prefer not to think about that.”

  Michelle looked slightly ashamed of herself. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said that. But I’d really like to know if . . . never mind.”

  Hannah felt tremendously relieved when Michelle changed the subject and began to talk about the kinds of cookies they could mix up before they left work for the night. They were just discussing the advisability of baking something fancy, like Christmas Lace Cookies, when Delores came back to the garden.

  “Is Stephanie coming?” Hannah asked, resisting the urge to cross her fingers for luck.

  “Yes. She told me she really needed to get out of the house and she’d love to have tea with me. And she was very interested in the new bar cookies you’d baked. Would you cut them for me before you leave, Hannah? I never know how large to make the pieces.”

  “I’ll do it,” Michelle offered, getting up to go inside to the gourmet kitchen in her mother’s condo.

  “You’ll find a silver serving platter in the cupboard,” Delores called after her. “It has filigree handles and Grandma Knudson gave it to me when I married Doc. She said it had been in her family for almost a hundred years. I think the cookie bars would look lovely on that.”

  “I think anything would look lovely on that!” Hannah said, smiling at her mother. “I remember that platter and it’s gorgeous.”

  “Shall I leave it to you when I die?” Delores asked.

  “Mother! Don’t talk like that!” Hannah gave an involuntary shiver. “I don’t like to think of things like that.”

  “But why? Everyone dies eventually. Life is lethal, Hannah.”

  “I know that, but I don’t like to talk about it. The only purpose that serves is to make living life less enjoyable. We should savor every moment and live life to the fullest . . . shouldn’t we?”

  Delores blinked several times and then she nodded. “Yes, I think we should. And you have a valid point, Hannah. Dwelling on the inevitable does nothing except keep us from enjoying what we have now.”

  Michelle came back to the garden just in time to hear her mother’s comment. “That sounds like a deep discussion for such a nice afternoon. It’s a good thing I brought you something to lighten the mood.”

  “Oh, good!” Delores said, accepting the small plate that Michelle handed to her. “I’ve wanted to taste these ever since you told me what they were.”

  “Me, too,” Hannah admitted, reaching for one of the bar cookies. “Dig in, Michelle. Let’s see if these are good enough to serve to Stephanie with her first glass of champagne, or whether Mother should wait until she has poured the second or third glass.”

  Delores laughed and took a bite. And then a beatific expression spread over her face. “These are wonderful, dears!”

  “I thought so,” Michelle said. “I made one just a little too large, so I had to cut off the excess. I certainly didn’t want to throw it away, so I took one for the team and ate it.”

  “Nice!” Hannah agreed, taking a second bite. “I think the coconut was a great idea, Michelle.”

  Hannah was about to reach for her second bar cookie when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, glanced at the display, and smiled. “It’s Ross. Do you mind if I take this?”

  “Go ahead,” Delores said. “He probably wants to tell you what time he’s going to be home from work.”

  “Hi, honey,” Hannah answered the call. She listened for a moment and then she said, “You’re where?”

  As the conversation went on, both Delores and Michelle noticed that Hannah’s eager expression faded away to be replaced by a resigned look.

  “Of course,” she said. “I understand completely. I’ll see you when you get home, honey.” Hannah ended the call and looked up to see her sister and her mother looking concerned.

  “Is something wrong?” Delores asked her.

  “No, not really. I’m just disappointed, that’s all. Ross and P.K. are at the airport in Minneapolis and they’re flying out to New York tonight. KCOW wants Ross to do a bio on Tori and he needs to interview some of the people she worked with on Broadway.”

  “Of course you’re disappointed, dear,” Delores did her best to console Hannah. “You’re a new bride and your husband is going away.”

  “I just wish he’d told me earlier. He could have called me on the way to the airport, or even when he was at home, packing. But he didn’t.”

  “He was probably in a rush,” Michelle made an effort to explain Ross’s actions.

  “They’re staying at the Weston in the theater district!” Hannah swallowed with some difficulty. She had no idea why she was holding back tears, but she was. “That’s where we stayed when we went to New York for the dessert contest. And he didn’t even think to . . . to . . . invite me to go with him!”

  “I’m sure Ross knew that you couldn’t have gone anyway,” Delores said hurriedly. “He knows that you have to work. And he also knows that you’re investigating Tori’s murder.”

  “That’s . . . true,” Hannah spoke past the lump in her throat. “I’m just being silly, I know. I would have told him that I couldn’t go, but . . . I really wish he’d asked me anyway!”

  Michelle gave her a sympathetic look. “Of course you do, but look on the bright side.”

  “There’s a bright side?” Hannah managed to get part of her equilibrium back.

  “You bet there is! Now you don’t have to rush straight home after work to fix dinner for Ross.”

  “You’re right.” Hannah managed a smile. “And I didn’t have any idea what I was going to make.”

  “Now you two girls can join Andrea and the kids for dinner with me!” Delores said. “Doc has a consultation at the hospital and he thinks it might run late. Bill’s working tonight so I invited Andrea and the children to join me at the Lake Eden Inn for dinner. You haven’t seen Tracey and Bethie since you got back from your honeymoon, have you, Hannah?”

  “No, I haven’t,” Hannah said, realizing that her mother was right. She hadn’t seen her nieces since the night of her wedding reception, and that had taken place over a week and a half ago. It was a diversion and she welcomed it. If she went straight home from work, she’d probably just dwell on the fact that Ross was gone. “I’ll have to run home to feed Moishe, but I’d love to join you, Mother.”

  “Good.” Delores turned to Michelle. “And you’ll come too, won’t you, dear?”

  Michelle l
aughed. “It’s not in my budget to miss a free meal. And dinner at the Inn is always wonderful. Of course I’ll come, Mother. Thank you for inviting me.”

  “Excellent. Andrea and the children are going to meet me there at seven. Grandma McCann is giving Bethie a long afternoon nap so she won’t be too tired. Can you two girls come a little earlier than that?”

  “Of course we can!” Hannah said quickly, realizing that her mother wanted a private conversation with just the three of them. “Michelle and I will leave The Cookie Jar at five, go straight back to my condo to change clothes and feed Moishe, and drive right out to the Inn. Will you be there by six-thirty?”

  “I’ll be there and six-thirty is perfect,” Delores told them. “I reserved one of the curtained booths, and I’ll be waiting for you. That will give me plenty of time to tell you both everything that I managed to pry out of Stephanie.”

  ORANGE MARMALADE BAR COOKIES

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

  Coconut Shortbread Crust and Topping:

  1 and ½ cups shredded coconut flakes

  ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  ½ cup powdered sugar (not sifted)

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

  1 and ½ cups cold butter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, ¾ pound)

  2 cups all-purpose flour (don’t sift—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1 teaspoon coconut extract (If you don’t have coconut extract, use a total of 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract)

  Orange Marmalade Filling:

  18-ounce (by weight) jar of orange marmalade (I used Smucker’s – if you can only find 10-ounce jars, use two jars)

  Prepare your baking pan by spraying a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. You can also line it with heavy-duty aluminum foil, leaving “ears” of foil on the top, bottom, and sides, and then spray the foil. (If you do this, you may not have to wash your cake pan!)

  To make the Crust:

  Put the shredded coconut in the bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place.

  Add the cinnamon, powdered sugar, and brown sugar.

  Process in an on-and-off motion with the steel blade until the coconut is finely cut and the cinnamon and sugars are mixed in thoroughly.

  Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces.

  Place eight pieces on top of the shredded coconut mixture.

  Sprinkle one cup of flour on top of the butter.

  Place the 8 pieces from the second stick of butter on top of the flour.

  Sprinkle HALF of the remaining flour on top of the butter.

  Place the 8 pieces from the final stick of butter over the flour.

  Sprinkle the rest of the flour on top of the butter.

  Sprinkle the vanilla extract and the coconut extract on top of the flour.

  Process in an on-and-off motion with the steel blade until the resulting mixture is the size of coarse gravel.

  Spread HALF of the crust and topping mixture out in the bottom of your prepared 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan.

  Pick up the cake pan and shake it back and forth a couple of times until it looks as if the crust mixture is spread out evenly.

  Pat the crust mixture down with the palms of your impeccably clean hands or with a wide blade off-set metal spatula.

  Open the jar(s) of orange marmalade and place puddles of it all over the crust in the pan.

  Spread the puddles of marmalade out evenly with a rubber spatula.

  Sprinkle the remaining crust and topping mixture over the top of the marmalade filling.

  Bake your Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the crumble topping is golden brown.

  Take the pan out of the oven and place it on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to finish cooling.

  Refrigerate the bar cookies after they’re cooled so the orange marmalade filling will “set”.

  When you’re ready to serve, cut the bar cookies into brownie-size pieces and place them on a pretty platter.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you lined your cake pan with foil, this is easy. You simply lift up the bars by the foil “ears” and place them on a cutting board. Then flatten the top and the sides of the foil, and cut your Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies.

  Yield: One cake pan full of brownie-sized, Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies fit for a King (or a Queen).

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: Everyone loves these bar cookies. Mother says that Stephanie Bascomb told her they were especially good with champagne.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The first thing Hannah did when she got back to the condo was feed Moishe. The second thing she did was to go off toward the bedroom to take a quick shower and get into the clothing her mother would deem suitable for a fancy family dinner.

  She entered the bedroom, glanced around, and began to frown. It was fairly obvious that Ross had not been in a hurry to pack. She turned on her heel, and hurried to the guest room where Michelle was changing into something dressier than jeans and a sweatshirt. “Can you come out for a second? I’ve got something to show you.”

  “Sure! I’m ready!” Michelle opened the door and frowned slightly as she noticed that Hannah hadn’t yet changed clothes. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”

  “Follow me.” Hannah led the way inside the master bedroom. “Look around. I think you were wrong about Ross being in too much of a hurry to call me.”

  Michelle stepped into the room and her frown deepened. “He took a shower. I can smell the soap.”

  “That’s just one thing he did. Go see what’s in the wastebasket.” Hannah gestured toward the wicker wastebasket that matched the wicker clothes hamper and the wicker tissue holder.

  “Dry cleaning bags,” Michelle announced, plucking something from the contents of the wastebasket. “Here’s a receipt. And it’s date-stamped with the time of pickup.”

  “I missed that,” Hannah said, mentally chastising herself. “What time did Ross pick up his dry cleaning?”

  “One twelve this afternoon.”

  Hannah thought back to her activities of the day. “I was at work, baking in the kitchen. He must have known he was leaving. Otherwise, he would have picked up his dry cleaning after work. But he knew by then and he didn’t call me!”

  “That appears to be the case,” Michelle said carefully. “Perhaps he didn’t have his phone with him.”

  “Ross always carries his phone. He calls it his electronic leash and he says he doesn’t like it, but he has to keep in constant touch with the television station.”

  “Maybe he was on his lunch hour then and he just happened to pick up his dry cleaning,” Michelle suggested another possibility.

  “No. I called to check on it yesterday, Michelle. It wasn’t ready then, but they told me that I could pick it up any time after three today.”

  “Did you mention that to Ross?”

  “No. I was planning to pick it up after work today, but Ross beat me to it. And he didn’t even know if it was ready. He must have called them and told them to rush it, that he needed it right away.”

  “That means he knew he was leaving before one today?”

  “You got it.” Hannah sighed deeply. “There’s only one conclusion I can draw, Michelle. Ross simply didn’t bother to tell me that he had to go to New York until he was actually leaving and that means he didn’t think that I was important enough to tell.”

  Michelle took a moment to digest that, and when she did, she shook her head. “You could be wrong, Hannah. He might have wanted to tell you earlier, but he was too busy rushing around, trying to get everything that he needed to take with him. Not to mention that he had to coordinate with P.K. That might have taken a while.”

  “Maybe . . .” Hannah knew she sounded doubtful, “but how much time does it take to make a phone call? It could have been as simple as, Honey, I’ve got to fly to New York for a special assignment. I just wanted you
to know right away. I’ll call you back later to explain. That would have taken him just a few seconds and then I’d have known.”

  “That’s true.” Michelle conceded the point. “Maybe he just didn’t want to upset you and he was putting off calling you.”

  “Upset me?” Hannah stared at her sister in shock. “Telling me wouldn’t have upset me. Not telling me did!”

  “Okay, but he might not have known that. You’ve only been married for a little over a week. And you got married in a real rush. I realize that you knew each other in college, but you didn’t really know each other as adults.”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. “Okay. That’s true, I guess.”

  “Ross might have been afraid that he’d have to spend a long time on the phone explaining things to you, and he simply didn’t have that kind of time. And no husband wants to tell his wife something that’ll make her angry with him.”

  “True . . . but, Michelle, I don’t resent the fact that he had to leave on business, and I thought Ross knew that. I’m sure he realizes that I have my own life to run, and he has his own life to take care of. We’re married, yes, but it’s not like we’re joined at the hip.”

  Michelle laughed. “Maybe not at the hip, but . . . never mind. Maybe he did try to call you earlier and you didn’t answer.”