by Joanne Fluke
“But maybe he assumed it was payback time, and he was okay with that.”
Hannah shook her head. “Not a chance! The mayor’s very territorial. What’s good for the gander is definitely not good for the goose.”
“That’s not exactly fair,” Michelle pointed out.
“Who said life was fair?”
“No one, I guess.” Michelle looked thoughtful. “If you suspected the mayor, why didn’t you write his name on your suspect list?”
“Because I’m saving him for tomorrow. That way I can get up in the morning and write him down when I have my first cup of coffee. And then I can cross him out before I leave for work. That means I’ve accomplished something before I even leave the house.”
“Neat trick,” Michelle complimented her. “The next time I make out a To Do list, I’m going to write down something I’ve already done so I can cross it out and feel good.”
“That’s my girl!” Hannah said.
Michelle laughed and got up, heading down the hall toward the guest room. But before she got there, she turned back.
“Don’t bother setting your alarm,” she told Hannah. “Lisa said you should sleep in tomorrow morning. Herb’s got an early meeting with Mayor Bascomb, and she’s going to work early with Marge and Patsy. They’re going to take care of everything so that you can concentrate on the murder case.”
“That is so sweet,” Hannah said, and she meant every word of it. “Just when I think there aren’t enough hours in the day, Lisa takes over the work and I’ve got more time for other things. Do you know anything about Herb’s meeting with the mayor?”
“Yes. Lisa and I talked about it and had a good laugh. You know about Lover’s Lane, don’t you?”
“Yes, if you’re talking about the gravel road by the apple orchard just outside the city limits.”
“That’s it. Well, ever since Mayor Bascomb asked Herb to start patrolling there, the high school students have stopped using it as a parking spot. Herb found out that they’re all going to Spring Brook Cemetery now and parking on that winding road that divides the old cemetery from the new cemetery. The mayor figures it’s only a matter of time before they start getting out of their cars and spreading out blankets by the brook, and…well, you know. So Herb and the mayor are working out a schedule for him to patrol there.”
“They’re teenagers who want to be alone. If Herb patrols their new spot, they’ll just go somewhere else.”
“You know that, I know that, Lisa knows that, and Herb knows that. But Mayor Bascomb seems to have forgotten.”
Hannah bit her tongue. She knew the mayor occasionally frequented the Blue Moon Motel outside of town and no longer needed the dubious comfort of a blanket and a warm night, or the darkened interior of a second-hand car. “I’d better heat the oven,” she said.
“You’re going to bake?”
“Yes, but not cookies. Mike probably didn’t have time to stop for anything to eat and I’ll put in a Too Easy Hotdish.”
“A what?”
“Too Easy Hotdish. My friend, Mary Blain, used to make it in college. It’s the kind of thing you can throw together with whatever you have in the refrigerator.”
“I’ll turn on the oven.” Michelle walked into the kitchen, with Hannah following close behind. “What temperature do you want?”
“I need a hot oven. Make it four hundred.”
Michelle turned on the oven and set the temperature. “I’ll help you get it in the oven before I go to bed. What do you want me to do”
“Spray my cake pan with Pam. Then look in the freezer and see if I have a package of Tater Tots. If I don’t, any kind of frozen potato will do.”
While Michelle prepared the pan and checked the freezer, Hannah went to the pantry and took out a can of cream of mushroom soup and one of cream of celery soup. She carried them to the counter where Michelle had placed the package of potato nuggets. “Is there any meat in the refrigerator?” she asked. “I could probably make this with canned tuna or canned chicken, but I think fresh meat would be better.”
“Here’s a pound of hamburger,” Michelle said, her voice muffled since her head was in the refrigerator. “And I’ve got some sausage left from those pancakes I made.”
“That’ll be perfect. I need about a pound and a half. Did you have any leftover shredded cheese?”
“Right here. I’ll bring it.”
The two sisters worked quickly, layering everything evenly in the cake pan. Less than five minutes had passed when Hannah slipped the pan into the oven.
“How long does it bake?” Michelle asked her.
“Thirty-five to forty minutes, just until the potatoes are crisp.”
“I can see why your friend called it Too Easy Hotdish.”
“We finished just in time. There’s Mike,” Hannah said, reacting to Moishe’s sudden dash toward the front door.
“How can you tell? The doorbell didn’t ring.”
“It’s my early cat warning,” Hannah explained. “The doorbell should ring right about…” But she didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence because she was interrupted by the peal of the doorbell.
“I’ll go let him in,” Michelle said, heading for the door. “You get his coffee. I’m just going to say hello, and then I’m going straight to bed.”
TOO EASY HOTDISH
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
1 and ½ pounds lean ground meat
(you can use hamburger, pork, chicken, turkey, lean sausage, or venison—any ground meat will do—or you can use any leftover meat cut up in bite-size pieces)
2 cans
(12-ounce)
condensed cream of almost anything soup
(I usually use cream of celery, or mushroom, or chicken, or any combination—I’m not sure I’d use asparagus, but it might be good)
1-pound package frozen potato nuggets
(I used Tater Tots)
1 cup shredded cheese
(I used cheddar, but other cheeses are also good)
Hannah’s 1stNote: You can put in a thin layer of chopped onions, or a thin layer of vegetables cut in small pieces. Just don’t add too many things or the potatoes and cheese on top will burn before the inside gets done.
Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
Put the ground meat in the bottom of the pan, spreading it out as evenly as you can. Press it down with your impeccably clean hands, or use the back of a metal spatula. (The fat does not drain out of this hotdish and that’s why you should use lean ground meat.)
Spoon the 2 cans of cream-of-whatever soup on top of the meat. Using a rubber spatula, spread the condensed soup over the meat as evenly as possible.
Put the frozen potato nuggets on top of the soup in a single layer. (I’ve substituted hash browns or potatoes O’Brien when I didn’t have Tater Tots in my freezer.) Spread them out as evenly as you can.
Sprinkle on the shredded cheese to top the potatoes.
Hannah’s 2ndNote: Mary’s recipe is so easy, it’s almost impossible to get it wrong unless you use too much cheese. It’s a case of twice as much cheese is NOT twice as good. Too much melted cheese may act as an insulator, just like the insulation in your attic to keep out the cold Minnesota air in the winter. In this case, it could have the opposite effect. The cheese, when it melts, will spread out like insulation on top of the potatoes and keep the heat of the oven away from your Too Easy Hotdish. (I know. I made that mistake.)
DO NOT COVER your hotdish with anything. Just slip the pan in the oven at 400 degrees F. and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the potatoes on top are browned and crispy. (If you used a glass cake pan, it may bake a little faster.)
Hannah’s 3rdNote: You may have noticed that this hotdish uses no additional seasonings. Mary says some members of her family like to sprinkle it with Worcestershire sauce, but most people love it just as it is.
Yield: Mary says that accompanied by hot rolls
and a tossed green salad, a pan of Too Easy Hotdish will serve 4 teenage boys, or 6 normal adults. (Unless, of course, you invite Mike for a late supper—he must have been really hungry because he ate almost half the pan!)
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Thanks for dinner, Hannah,” Mike said, finishing his last forkful of Too Easy Hotdish. “It was great! Sometimes I feel like a freeloader because you always feed me. I’m going to have to take you out to dinner more often so I can pay you back.”
“It’s not about paybacks,” Hannah said, although she certainly wouldn’t mind going out to dinner more often. She reached out to refill Mike’s coffee cup from the carafe on the table and passed the plate of cookies left from the previous night.
Mike ate one cookie, took another to put down on a napkin, and pulled his notebook from his pocket. “I just finished meeting with Stacey Ramsey, Professor’s Ramsey’s first ex-wife. It turns out she had a very good reason to murder him.”
Hannah could barely believe her ears. She remembered Stacey as a tall, sylph-like girl with long brown hair, far too quiet and shy to ever commit murder. “What’s that?” she asked.
“Her parents were so impressed with Bradford, they wrote him into their will. He was to get half their estate, and Stacey would get the other half.”
“They must have been impressed!”
“It gets worse. Stacey’s parents were killed in an auto accident on Tuesday morning, and they never got around to changing their will after Bradford and Stacey divorced.”
“You’re telling me that Bradford was still in his first ex-in-law’s will?”
“That’s right. Bradford was all set to inherit half of Stacey’s parents’ assets. And according to the family lawyer, that amounted to several million dollars.”
“Several million which should have been Stacey’s alone.”
“Exactly.”
“Did Bradford know that Stacey’s parents had left him half of everything?”
“Yes. The family lawyer spoke to him on the phone Tuesday night. Bradford was supposed to drive to Fergus Falls on Thursday to sign all the documents.”
“But he was dead on Wednesday night, so the documents were never signed?”
“Right. You’re quick, Hannah.”
“Thank you. So what happens to the house and the land now?”
“Everything goes to Stacey since Professor Ramsey is dead. There was a provision in the will stating that if, at the time the will was formally read, either of the two beneficiaries had preceded the other in death, the living beneficiary would inherit the entire estate.”
“Do you think Stacey killed Bradford so that she could keep everything for herself?”
“That would be the logical conclusion, but it didn’t happen. Stacey has an iron clad alibi. She was riding in the back-seat when her parents were killed, and she broke her shoulder. She didn’t get out of the hospital until this morning.”
“How about a new husband, or a boyfriend, or someone who wanted Bradford out of the picture?”
“Good thought, but there isn’t anybody.” Mike picked up his other cookie and took a bite. “How about you? Did you get anywhere?”
“Yes, and no. We discovered that Stephanie and Mayor Bascomb were suspects, but we cleared both of them.”
“Who’s we?”
“I don’t think you want to know that.”
Mike looked as if he might object, but then he shrugged. “Okay. Tell me why Mayor Bascomb and his wife were suspects.”
“Well…it’s like…” Hannah stopped and threw up her hands. “Actually, it’s better if you don’t know that, either.”
“But they both have alibis?”
“Oh yes,” Hannah said, happy that she could answer at least one of Mike’s questions. “Mother saw both of them in the lobby during intermission at the talent show. They were there for the whole time, and then they went back to their seats together.”
“Okay. How about any other suspects?”
“Norman’s checking into any students that Bradford flunked.”
“That’s really unlikely as a motive. Anything else?”
“Nothing important. Michelle knows one of Bradford’s research assistants, so she’s going to talk to him to see if he knows anything. How about you?”
“I talked to a couple of people who’d been at the luncheon on Wednesday afternoon. One of them said she saw Professor Ramsey getting into Samantha Summerfield’s car right after the luncheon was over.”
“Really?”
“I checked it out and her driver said he took them to Professor Ramsey’s apartment building. Then he waited in the parking lot for them to come out.”
Hannah didn’t ask. She just stared at Mike knowingly.
“Ten minutes,” Mike answered her unspoken question.
“Ten minutes?”
“That’s right. And when Miss Summerfield got back to the car, she wasn’t happy.”
“The driver could tell?”
“Anyone in the vicinity could tell. When Professor Ramsey turned to leave, Miss Summerfield rolled down her window and yelled, “Just stuff it, Brad! And if you even think about upstaging me tonight, I’ll bury you!”
“Do you think she was angry enough to kill him?”
“Possibly, but she didn’t have the opportunity. The driver said he waited for her at the back of the auditorium, and the moment the curtain came down on the first act, they hurried back out to the car. It wasn’t quite fast enough, because there were dozens of fans waiting for her. She got into the car, rolled down the window, and signed autographs for at least twenty minutes. I checked that out, and it’s true. And then the driver took Miss Summerfield back to Minneapolis.”
“I guess that clears her.”
Mike gave her a knowing grin. “But you still want to know what Professor Ramsey did to make her so mad, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Hannah admitted.
“Well, so did I, so I called and asked her.”
“You didn’t!”
“I did.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she thought they were going to talk about the talent show, but Professor Ramsey told her he’d admired her from afar ever since he’d first seen her on television, and he’d written a poem for her. He read it aloud, and then he…well…you can probably guess what he tried to do.”
“I can guess.”
“She told me that it might have worked on a naïve college freshman, but she wasn’t impressed with his line. She told him to get lost and marched right out of there.”
“Good for her!” Hannah said, wishing she’d done the same. But this was no time to indulge in regrets and recriminations. “Do you have any other suspects?”
“No, but I’m heading to Macalester in the morning to check out things there. Stella Parks is going to meet me on campus.”
Hannah remembered the Minneapolis detective with fondness. “Tell her hello from me,” she said.
“I will. Anything else I should know?”
“I don’t think so. If I think of anything, I’ll call.”
Mike stood up and headed to the door with Hannah following close behind. When he got there, he turned and asked, “How’s Norman?”
Hannah was ready to give her standard just fine answer, but Mike was Norman’s friend and she could tell he really wanted to know. “I’m not sure,” she said honestly. “Sometimes he seems just fine, but other times I know there’s something bothering him.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I wish he could tell me what it was.”
“Me, too,” Mike said. “Then maybe we could do something to help.”
They stood there quietly, looking at each other, until Hannah dropped her eyes. “Goodnight, Mike,” she said.
“Goodnight, Hannah.” Mike pulled open the door, but he didn’t step out immediately. First he touched her cheek very gently, with the tip of his finger. “Take care,” he said, giving her a smile. And then he turned and walked down the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hannah awoke to a rough tongue licking her nose and sunlight streaming in her bedroom window. “What time is it?” she asked her feline bedfellow.
“Rrowww!” Moishe answered, assuming a sphinx-like posture on the pillow next to hers.
Since she didn’t speak cat and had no interpreter, Hannah turned to look at the clock. It was seven-thirty, and she’d gotten over six and a half hours of sleep. This hadn’t happened since…Hannah’s mind balked at going that far back in time. It certainly hadn’t happened since she’d opened The Cookie Jar.
She threw back the light cotton coverlet she used during the summer months and smiled. This morning there was time for a luxurious cat stretch that imitated Moishe’s ritual stretch. Hannah rolled over on her stomach and extended her arms and legs in random order until they were spread out in opposite directions. When that was concluded, she tucked arms and legs back in and rolled to one side, then the other side, and ended up on her back. And then came the best stretch of all, with all four paws, or in Hannah’s case limbs, pointing straight up to the heavens. After that there was a flip to the side, another stretch extending toward the doorway, and Hannah sat up on the edge of the bed feeling better than she had in months. Obviously sleep was the key. If only there were some way to get more of it! Leaving her roommate to take quite literally a spit bath, Hannah headed off to the shower.
Twelve minutes later, cat and mistress left their bedroom and padded down the hall. Moishe was wearing his orange and white fur suit, and Hannah was dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved buttercup yellow blouse. Hannah was still wearing her fur-lined slippers and Moishe was doing the same.
“Oh, my!” Hannah said as a welcome aroma drifted out from the kitchen. She’d forgotten to set the timer for the coffee last night, but Michelle had made a pot.
“Good morning, Hannah,” Michelle greeted her. “I’m falling down on the job. All I made for breakfast this morning is coffee.”
“Coffee’s perfect. It’s exactly what I need. Can you think of a better way to start the day?”