Blackberry Pie Murder (35 page)

“What’s that, Mother?” Michelle asked, and then she turned to give Hannah a shocked glance. “You’re going to change your mind about the bridesmaid dresses?”

Hannah sat down on a stool and put her head in her hands.

Delores was at it again despite the promise she’d made to choose something and stick with it.

“The menu, too?” Michelle asked, sounding even more shocked. She listened for a moment and then she started to frown. “But I thought you didn’t want salmon.”

As Hannah watched, Michelle pulled up a stool and sat down. Then she reached for the shorthand notebook that Hannah always kept by the phone. “Just a minute, Mother. I have to find a pen.”

As Hannah watched, Michelle grabbed a pen from the coffee mug with the broken handle that Hannah kept handy by the phone. Then she began to write. She wrote line after line until Hannah couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. Delores 292

Joanne Fluke

was obviously giving Michelle instructions and Hannah had to see what her sister was writing. She got up, walked over to the counter, and glanced at the long, narrow, spiral-bound page.

The first line was blank except for one word with an exclamation mark after it.
Buttercups
it read in Michelle’s perfect script. And below it, on the next line, were the words,
Where the Sam Hill are we supposed to get buttercups this
time of year
, followed by three question marks. On the third line, Michelle had written two words,
burgundy dresses
, and she’d underlined the first word,
burgundy
. And under it was the following inscription,
Oh, yeah. Hannah will be sooo
happy about this
, followed by an exclamation point.

Hannah’s eyes widened as she read the fifth line.
Lobster
Bisque, Salmon in Phyllo Dough, White Asparagus with
Caviar, Heart-Shaped Rolls with Our Initials
. This was followed by a sixth line that read,
Don’t want much, do you,
Mother,
followed by another three question marks.

Michelle was still writing and Hannah leaned closer to read the next line.
Butterscotch Champagne
it read. She grabbed the pen out of Michelle’s hand and wrote
She expects us to invent it,
followed by three question marks on the following line.

“Got to go, Mother,” Michelle said in a voice choked with laughter. “They need me in the coffee shop. Call me later, okay?” and then she hung up the phone and turned to Hannah.

The two sisters faced each other for a moment, both of them too stunned to speak. Then Hannah slowly shook her head. “No way,” she said. “This has gone on long enough.

I’m calling Doc. If anyone can talk some sense into Mother, it’s him.”

The words had no sooner left her mouth when the phone rang again. “I’ll get it,” she said, plucking the instrument of Michelle’s previous torture from the holder on the wall. “The Cookie Jar, Hannah speaking.”

She listened for a second and then she gave Michelle the BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

293

high sign. “Oh! Hi, Doc! I was just about to call you.” She listened for another couple of seconds and then she responded.

“Well . . . sure. I’d love to and I’m sure Michelle, Andrea, and Lisa would too. And we agree with you wholeheartedly. See you at six, then.”

That said, Hannah hung up the phone and turned to Michelle, who was having trouble containing her curiosity.

“I didn’t have to tell Doc about it. He walked in when Mother was talking to you and walked back out to call me from the front desk. We’re meeting him tonight at the Lake Eden Inn for dinner at six. Mother won’t be joining us until seven, so we’ll have an hour to discuss the problem. Doc says he has a solution in mind if we all agree.”

“Sounds great to me,” Michelle said. “I’ll agree with anything at this point. I’m so frustrated by the whole thing that I don’t know
what
to do.”

“Matricide is not an option,” Hannah told her, and she felt a lot better when Michelle laughed. At least they hadn’t lost their senses of humor quite yet.

“I’m surprised that Mother didn’t insist on joining us right away,” Michelle said. “What excuse did Doc use for getting away early?”

“He didn’t need an excuse. The Rainbow Ladies are host-ing a wedding shower for Mother at the hospital. It starts at five-thirty and she’ll be tied up until seven or maybe a little later. Doc’s going to ask her to meet him for dinner at the Lake Eden Inn as soon as her shower’s over. He already told her that we’re coming, too.”

“This all sounds good to me,” Michelle said. “Anything Doc can suggest to help will be great. Mother just doesn’t seem to understand that we can’t plan her wedding and reception dinner if she changes her mind every time the wind blows.”

“Right. Let’s hope Doc’s got something good in mind because I’m fresh out of ideas. Go tell Lisa about it, will you please? Doc wants her to come to the dinner, too. And ask if 294

Joanne Fluke

you can ride out to the Lake Eden Inn with her. I’ll call Andrea and tell her to meet you and Lisa in the dining room.

Doc wants the whole wedding planning committee to be there.”

“You’re coming too, aren’t you?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“But you asked me to ride with Lisa. Where will you be?”

“I have to run home to feed Moishe. And then I need to drive out to Loretta’s farm to meet Jennifer at four.”

“Jennifer asked to talk to you?” Michelle sounded surprised.

“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 interroga-tion lessons?”

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

BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

295

“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.

! % { # 9 *

YUMMY YAM COOKIES

(Sweet Potato or Yam Cookies)

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

1⁄2 cup
(1 stick, 8 Tablespoons, 4 ounces)
salted butter, softened

1 and 1⁄2 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)

1⁄2 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 1⁄4 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 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
(pack it down in the

cup when you measure it)

1⁄4 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)

! % { # 9 *

296

! % { # 9 *

1⁄2 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

! % { # 9 *

297

! % { # 9 *

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.

! % { # 9 *

298

! % { # 9 *

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.

! % { # 9 *

299

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 BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

301

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.