by Joanne Fluke
Andrea began to smile and it was a very happy smile. “Go put that big bag in the kitchen and then look inside the smaller bag I’m carrying.”
“What’s in there?” Hannah asked as Andrea followed her to the kitchen.
“Something I hope you’ll like. I made them when I got home this afternoon.”
The moment the large bag of ingredients was empty, Hannah took a peek at Andrea’s smaller bag. “Cookies?” she asked, looking through the almost transparent green plastic lid of the food storage container inside.
“Yes. The kids really liked them and so did Grandma McCann. Of course the kids like almost anything, but Grandma McCann is a really good cook so her opinion counts.”
“Yes, it does,” Hannah agreed, lifting the lid and removing one of the cookies. If Andrea’s nanny and housekeeper thought the cookies were good, they were definitely good.
Hannah took a bite and chewed. And then she took another bite. “Excellent,” she said, but only after she’d finished the cookie. “I’ve never tasted anything quite like them before. You’re turning into a very good baker.”
“Thanks!” Andrea beamed at the compliment. “Of course Tracey and Bethie deserve some of the credit. Tracey stirred and she reminded me to put the scooping spoon in the freezer so the dough wouldn’t stick.”
“Good for Tracey.” Hannah already knew that her almost-seven-year-old niece was a big help to Andrea, but she wondered what two-year-old Bethie could do to help. “How about Bethie? What did she do?”
“She drank the pineapple juice after I drained the pineapple. And before you say anything, I know that’s not really helping, but I told her it was. And she did critique the cookies. She said, Yummy, Mummy! And then she asked for another one.”
“That’s a seal of approval in my book. Are all these cookies for me?”
“Yes. I’ve got another container at home for Lisa and Herb. I’ll bring them by The Cookie Jar in the morning.”
“Would you mind if I served your cookies tonight? They’d be really good with vanilla ice cream.”
Andrea’s face lit up. “I wouldn’t mind at all! Who’s coming over? You said there were six.”
“You, me, Mike, Norman, Mother, and Michelle.”
“Then it’s a family party except for Bill. He’s working late on some paperwork that has to be filed. He says it takes him a lot longer now that he has to explain everything to one of the temporary secretaries. Barbara used to take care of all that.” Andrea gave a little sigh. “I wonder if she’s ever going to come back to work. It’s so sad. And they’re still in the dark about exactly what happened and who attacked her. I wonder if she’ll ever be able to tell us.”
“I think she will. She was rational for longer periods of time when I saw her this afternoon. She said some strange things, but some things made sense, too.”
“Let me help you set the table,” Andrea offered. “And when we’re through, you can tell me all about it.”
PINEAPPLE COCONUT WHIPPERSNAPPER COOKIES
Do not preheat your oven quite yet—your mixing bowl and spoon must chill before mixing this cookie dough.
8-ounce can of crushed pineapple
1 box yellow cake mix (the kind that makes a
9-inch by 13-inch cake)
1 large egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a
fork)
2 cups of original Cool Whip (not low-fat Cool
Whip)
1 cup (8 ounces) sweetened coconut flakes
½ cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar (for rolling
the cookies)
15 to 18 maraschino cherries cut in half lengthwise
30 minutes before you’re ready to bake, stick a teaspoon from your silverware drawer in a large freezer-safe mixing bowl. Stick the bowl with the spoon in the freezer to chill.
Open the 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple and empty it in a small strainer. Occasionally, use the back of a tablespoon from your spoon drawer to press down on the top of the crushed pineapple in the strainer to speed up the draining time.
After 30 minutes have passed, empty the drained pineapple out onto a couple of paper towels and blot it gently to remove any remaining moisture.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Either spray a cookie sheet with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line it with parchment paper and then spray that.
Remove the large mixing bowl from the freezer, but leave the spoon in.
Pour approximately half of the yellow cake mix into your bowl.
Add the beaten egg and stir it in.
Add the drained pineapple and mix it in.
Sprinkle the rest of the yellow cake mix on top. Add the Cool Whip and the coconut. Stir everything together until it’s well mixed.
Place the half-cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Then take the spoon out of the freezer.
There are two ways to form dough balls with this sticky cookie dough. One is to scoop out dough with the chilled spoon and place it in the bowl of powdered sugar, rolling it around with your fingers until it forms a small ball. The other, easier way is to dust your hands with powdered sugar, pinch off a small amount of dough, place it in the bowl of powdered sugar and shape it into a ball with your fingers.
Use your favorite method (you may want to try both to see which one works best for you) to form 12 dough balls for each cookie sheet.
If you don’t have double ovens, place the remaining cookie dough in the refrigerator to wait until you have room to bake a second sheet of cookies. If you forget to do this and leave it on the counter, it will be even stickier!
Place one-half of a maraschino cherry, cut side down, on top of each cookie ball on the sheet. Flatten the balls just a bit by pressing down on the cherry halves.
Bake your Pineapple Coconut Whippersnapper Cookies at 350 degrees F., for 15 minutes.
Remove your cookies from the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack.
When 2 minutes have passed, remove the cookies from the sheet with a metal spatula and place them on the wire rack to complete cooling. If you used the parchment paper, this is simple. Simply pull the paper off of the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack. The cookies can stay on the paper until they’re cool.
Hannah’s Note: Pineapple Coconut Whippersnapper Cookies are very pretty. Lisa and I are going to make them for Christmas parties using both red and green cherries since red and green are the traditional colors of Christmas.
Lisa’s Note: Herb absolutely adores these cookies. I can’t bake them fast enough for him!
Yield: Approximately 2 to 3 dozen very pretty and very yummy cookies.
Chapter Seventeen
“Ireally shouldn’t but . . . just one more, Hannah. I really like these pancakes.”
Hannah smiled as she passed the pancake platter. Her mother had already eaten two pancakes and this would be her third. As far back as Hannah could remember, her mother had never eaten more than one and a half.
“I like them too, and I don’t even like oatmeal,” Andrea commented, forking another piece of sausage. “I’d have another, but we want to save some for Mike, don’t we?”
Hannah shook her head. “No. I’ll make a fresh batch when he gets here. They’re best hot off the griddle.” She turned to look at the cats, who were rubbing against her legs. “Sorry, guys. You already shared a whole piece of sausage.”
“And don’t even think about trying that chase ploy again,” Norman warned them. “It worked with Lonnie’s steak, but it won’t work with the sausage. I’m holding the platter and my plate is empty.”
Moishe looked as innocent as a cat could look and Michelle laughed. “Look at Moishe. He’s pretending he doesn’t know what we’re talking about.”
“I almost forgot.” Delores turned to Hannah. “Doc says it’s fine if you bring Moishe out to visit Barbara. He thinks it might do her some good to have visible reminders of her current life beyond t
he isolation of her hospital room. He said reminders of the present could give her a temporal reference.”
“So Barbara realizes that some of the people she thought were currently in her life are really in the past?” Michelle asked.
“I think that’s what he meant, dear. It does make sense. Andrea and I are going to go over to Barbara’s house tomorrow to get some object that’s relatively new and one that’s from her parents’ era. Once she sees the two objects together she may remember that the house is hers now and she’s living there alone because her parents are dead.”
“That might work as far as her father is concerned, but I don’t think it’ll have any effect on the monster,” Hannah predicted. “Does Doc Knight have any suggestions for that delusion?”
“What monster?” Norman asked, and Hannah realized that he was out of the loop.
“Barbara said a monster comes into her room at night at the hospital. It scares her and she wants Moishe to chase it away.”
“Is she dreaming?” Norman asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t think anyone else does either. Barbara does think she saw a monster though. I could tell that she believed it.”
“You’re right. She did,” Delores confirmed. “Doc told me the monster has him puzzled. Barbara was quite rational all morning, and other than a couple of little slips with us, she was rational during our visit.”
Norman looked thoughtful. “Could there really be a monster?” He gave a little laugh as he saw their incredulous looks.
“I don’t mean a monster like Frankenstein or Beowulf, but something that Barbara construes as a monster. It could be as simple as a shadow on the wall, or a tree branch that rubs against her window.”
“You could be right,” Michelle said. “Things look different at night, especially when you first wake up. I remember thinking that my teddy bear turned into a monster at night when I was little.”
“That’s why you always threw a towel over his face!” Hannah exclaimed.
“That’s right. If he couldn’t see me, he couldn’t eat me.”
“It could be something like that with Barbara,” Delores suggested. “Doc says it’s common for patients on pain pills to have some level of confusion. Barbara could have seen something perfectly ordinary and thought it was a monster.”
Hannah wanted to remind her mother that Barbara had described the monster as a giant white rat and shadows weren’t white, but she bit her tongue and said nothing. No one wanted to think that Barbara’s mind had been badly damaged. They all needed to believe that her condition was temporary and soon she’d return to the happy, productive woman they knew.
Andrea cleared her throat and Hannah looked over at her. There was an expression of anticipation on her face and for a moment Hannah didn’t know what her sister wanted. It hit her then, and she gave a slight nod. Moments later she was clearing the table, putting on the coffee, and getting out the dessert bowls Delores had given her for Christmas several years ago. Andrea had been waiting for the meal to be over so that it would be time for dessert. It wasn’t that she wanted to eat it, at least not necessarily. What Andrea was anticipating was receiving more compliments on her new whippersnapper cookies.
At eight-thirty there was a knock on the door and Hannah went to answer it. This time she looked through the peephole because she knew it had to be Mike and he’d be upset with her if she didn’t take that precaution. Mike stood there in the light and he wasn’t smiling. That made Hannah experience a moment’s anxiety, but she managed to shrug it off. He was probably tired from working so hard. And he was probably hungry.
“It’s Mike,” she said to everyone inside and then she opened the door. “Hi, Mike. Come in.”
“Thanks.” Mike stepped in, but he still wasn’t smiling.
“Are you hungry?” Hannah asked him.
“Yes, but I don’t have time to eat.” Mike gave a little wave to the group assembled in the living room and then he turned back to Hannah. “I’m sorry, Hannah, but you’ll have to come with me.”
Hannah was thoroughly puzzled. “But . . . why?”
“I was going to take your statement here, but things have changed. We need to keep this formal. Will you go with me, or not?”
Mike sounded so serious, Hannah knew something was dreadfully wrong. “Of course I’ll go with you,” she said. “Just tell me what things have changed.”
“Doctor Beverly Thorndike’s accident was not an accident.”
“Murder?” Hannah’s voice shook slightly as she asked the question.
“Yes.”
There were gasps from the others, but no one spoke. Hannah surmised the reason was that they were every bit as shocked as she was and they didn’t know what to say.
“But you’ve taken my statements in other murder cases right here in the condo. You’ve never asked me to go down to the station before. Why is it so different this time?”
Mike sighed deeply. He was obviously reluctant to elaborate. He swallowed hard and then he answered in as few words as possible. “Because you’re the prime suspect,” he said.
Chapter Eighteen
“Who baked the Red Velvet Surprise Cupcakes for the victim?”
Hannah glanced over at Howie Levine. He gave a little nod and she knew that it was all right to answer Mike’s question. The moment she’d left the condo with Mike, Delores had called Doc Knight on her cell phone to find out the results of the autopsy, and Norman had called Howie Levine, Lake Eden’s lawyer, and asked him to meet Hannah when she arrived at the sheriff’s station.
“I baked them,” Hannah answered.
“Was there anyone else in the kitchen when you baked them?”
Again, Hannah looked over at Howie. She didn’t like the idea of getting legal advice on each and every question Mike asked her, but she knew it was the wise thing to do. “Lisa came in a couple of times when they were in the oven, but I was alone when I mixed up the batter.”
Howie motioned for Hannah to move closer. Then he spoke in an undertone. “You’re being too helpful, Hannah. Just answer the question he asks. Don’t volunteer information.”
“What should I have said?” Hannah asked, also in an undertone.
“You should have said yes. No more than that. There was someone with you in the kitchen when you baked them. It’s up to him to ask who that person was and how long they were there. Don’t do his work for him.”
Hannah sighed and turned back to Mike again. So far his questions had covered every single thing she’d done from the time she’d gotten up this morning to the time he’d arrived on the scene after she’d discovered Doctor Bev’s body in the car and pulled her onto the shore. He’d covered that period of time in minute detail twice, and now he was covering it for the third time.
The door to the interrogation room, the room that Mike had once called the box, clicked open, to admit Lonnie. Lonnie didn’t say anything. He just motioned to Mike.
“Excuse me.” Mike spoke to them politely, and then he stood up and left the room.
Hannah closed her eyes. She’d never been so exhausted in her life. She wondered if every suspect who had gone through the same material multiple times had been as exhausted as she was right now. All she wanted to do was go home and go to bed.
Perhaps she dozed for a brief moment, hoping that all this was simply a very bad dream. When she opened her eyes again, she turned to Howie with a question. “It doesn’t usually take this long to give a statement about finding a murder victim, does it?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought. They think I put something in those cupcakes to kill Doctor Bev, don’t they?”
“It seems that way.”
“Do you think I killed her?”
“It doesn’t matter whether I do or I don’t. It’s my responsibility to make sure you don’t inadvertently incriminate yourself during the interrogation.”
“But do you think I killed her? I want to know!”
Howie shook his hea
d. “No, of course I don’t think you killed her.”
Hannah drew a relieved breath. “That makes me feel a lot better. Why don’t you think I killed her?”
“There were too many mistakes,” Howie said. “Using poison or another lethal substance as a murder weapon necessitates planning and premeditation. You have to obtain the substance, you have to devise a way to deliver it to the victim without being detected, and unless you simply don’t care about collateral damage, you have to make certain no one except your intended victim consumes it. You didn’t do any of those things.”
“That’s true, but how does that convince you that I’m innocent?”
Howie smiled. “You’re smart, Hannah. You would have known all this. And frankly, just between you and me, if you’d set out to kill Doctor Bev, you wouldn’t have made any rookie mistakes.”
Hannah blinked. She wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, and she wasn’t quite sure how she should respond. But it didn’t matter because before she could think of a reply, the door to the interrogation room opened and Mike came back in.
“You’re free to go, Hannah,” he said.
“But . . .” Hannah began to ask him why he’d suddenly stopped before he finished asking all the questions he’d asked her before when Howie reached out to take her arm.