Blackberry Pie Murder (6 page)

BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

39

“Nothing there,” Hannah said aloud, shaking her head.

“There aren’t any romantic pirates except Jack Sparrow . . .

and Lafayette.”

Perhaps the pantry would give her some ideas. Hannah got up and walked across the kitchen to the pantry. She was sur-veying the shelves with a frown on her face when she heard someone calling her name.

“Hannah?”

Hannah recognized the voice immediately. It was Lisa and she was in the kitchen. But what was Lisa doing here when she had the rest of the day off?

“In here,” Hannah said, sticking her head out the pantry door. “What are you doing back here? I thought you were going home to relax this afternoon.”

“I changed my plans. Herb’s got a meeting with Mayor Bascomb at noon and he’s not sure how long it’ll last. He’s taking Dillon with him, and Sammy’s got a play date with Vespers at the parsonage. I dropped him off at Grandma Knudson’s and I just couldn’t face the idea of going home alone. So I came here.” Lisa stopped speaking and gave a little sigh. “Besides, I keep thinking about that man and wishing I’d seen him there by the side of the road so I could have warned you.”

“It was raining too hard to see much of anything, Lisa.”

“I know that, but I keep wishing anyway. I knew I’d get depressed if I just stayed home and then I remembered how you bake whenever you’re upset. I thought I might as well try that here.”

“Makes sense to me. You can help me come up with a new cookie.” Hannah stepped out of the pantry and reached behind her to turn off the light.

“What kind of a cookie?”

“A pirate cookie. Winnie Henderson is having a pirate birthday party for her grandson and we have to come up with a theme cookie.”

Lisa poured herself a cup of coffee from the kitchen pot, 40

Joanne Fluke

sat down at the workstation, and waited for Hannah to join her. “Can you use your Berried Treasure Bar Cookies?” she asked.

“That won’t work. Winnie wants a cookie, not a bar cookie.”

Both women sat there thinking for several minutes and then Lisa began to smile.

“What did you just think of?” Hannah asked her.

“I thought of our Surprise Cookies. And then I thought of Little Snowballs. Why can’t we combine the two into one new cookie no one’s ever had before?”

“You mean . . . Little Snowballs made bigger with surprises inside of them?” Hannah asked her.

“Yes. We could put all sorts of things inside if they were a little bigger. How many do we need?”

“Six dozen.”

“By when?”

“By Saturday morning.

“Plenty of time.”

“But that’s tomorrow!”

Lisa didn’t look concerned. “Piece of cake . . .” she said.

“Or maybe I should say piece of
cookie
.”

“Very funny, Lisa.”

As Hannah watched, Lisa’s eyes began to sparkle. “It’s going to work, Hannah. We can call them Treasure Chest Cookies and they’ll be perfect for a pirate party. They all have different little gems of sweetness inside.”

“That sounds perfect to me. I wonder if we can make some kind of treasure chest to hold them.”

“Herb can,” Lisa quickly volunteered her husband. “He’s got the garage all outfitted for woodworking and he’s very creative. I know he can make something that looks like a treasure chest.”

“Aunt Hannah!” Tracey, Hannah’s eldest niece, came run-BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

41

ning into the kitchen from the coffee shop. “Mom said you were okay, but I needed to see you to make sure.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Hannah said, realizing that Andrea must have told Tracey about the accident. “I’m fine.”

“But it must feel awful to kill somebody!”

“Your mother told you
that
?!”

“Oh, no. Mom wouldn’t tell me anything like that. She thinks I’m too young to hear it. I found out at Vacation Bible School.”

“Who told you?” Lisa asked, clearly intrigued by the dissemination of gossip at the Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church.

“Well, Mrs. Reverend Bob didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Tracey shook her head so hard her shoulder-length blond hair swept her cheeks. “She’s my teacher this year and she says we should never repeat anything that hurts anyone else. But this can’t really hurt that man because he’s already dead.” She paused and turned to Hannah. “He is dead, isn’t he?”

“That’s what Doc Knight said,” Hannah confirmed.

“How about you, Aunt Lisa?” Tracey asked, turning to her.

“I should have asked you before. You were there with Aunt Hannah and I didn’t even ask you how you were.” She hurried over to Lisa and gave her a hug. “I’m so sorry I was . . . negligent. That’s the right word, isn’t it?”

“That’s the right word, but you weren’t negligent. You were just too worried about your Aunt Hannah to think about anyone else. But I still want to know who told you about the accident.”

“It was Karen Dunwright. She’s in my class. And she heard it from Calvin Janowski. We were out for recess this morning and Calvin’s mother called him to tell him she might be late to pick him up because the road was still blocked off for the crime scene investigation. She even sent him a picture of all the police cars parked on the road.”

42

Joanne Fluke

“Cell phones strike again,” Hannah said in a tone that she thought was under her breath, but Tracey turned to look at her.

“Most of the kids have them,” she explained. “I have one too, but I can’t use it except in emergencies.” She stopped speaking and looked worried again. “You weren’t talking on your cell phone when you had the accident, were you, Aunt Hannah?”

“No.”

“And you weren’t texting either?”

“No.”

“Oh, good. Dad says at least half of the accidents around here are caused by people texting.”

“You don’t have to worry about me texting, Tracey. My cell phone is old and I don’t think it has that capability.”

“You have a phone that can’t text?” Tracey asked, looking shocked.

“I think so. And even if it can, I don’t know how to do it.”

“I could teach you. I know how to text.”

Now it was Hannah’s turn to be shocked. “Your parents let you text?”

“No, but I know how. I watched some of the older kids and it’s easy. You just have to know all the abbreviations like LOL and TC.”

“I know LOL is laughing out loud,” Lisa said. “What’s TC?”

“Teacher coming. That’s for if you’re texting in class.”

Tracey stopped and looked a bit apprehensive. “You won’t tell Mom I know how to text, will you, Aunt Hannah?”

“Not as long as you don’t do it when you’re not supposed to.”

“Oh, good. I dodged a bullet
that
time, huh?”

Hannah glanced at Lisa who was biting her lip to keep from laughing. “I guess you did.”

“Anyway, can I help you and Aunt Lisa bake? Bethie’s down for a nap and Grandma McCann can’t come to pick me up for at least a half hour.”

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43

“Of course you can help. You can be our official stirrer. Lisa and I are going to test a recipe for Treasure Chest Cookies.”

“Oh boy!” Tracey said, clearly delighted as she ran to get the extra apron that Hannah kept in a drawer for her. “I think today is my lucky day because I’ve never even heard of a Treasure Chest Cookie before!”

! % { # 9 *

TREASURE CHEST COOKIES

(Lisa’s Aunt Nancy’s Babysitter’s Cookies)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

The Cookie Dough:

1⁄2 cup
(1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)
salted butter, room temperature

¾ cup powdered sugar
(plus 1 and ½ cups more

for rolling the cookies in and making the glaze)

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk
(that’s 1⁄8 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
(pack it down when

you measure it)

The “Treasure”:

Well-drained Maraschino cherries, chunks of well-drained canned pineapple, small pieces of chocolate, a walnut or pecan half, 1⁄4 teaspoon of any fruit jam, or any small soft candy or treat that will fit inside your cookie dough balls.

The Topping:

1 cup powdered
(confectioners)
sugar

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44

! % { # 9 *

To make the cookie dough:
Mix the softened butter and 3⁄4 cup powdered sugar together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat them until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the salt and mix it in.

Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Beat until they’re thoroughly blended.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing well after each addition.

Divide the dough into 4 equal quarters.
(You don’t have

to weigh it or measure it, or anything like that. It’s not

that critical.)

Roll each quarter into a log shape and then cut each log into 6 even pieces.
(The easy way to do this is to cut it in

half first and then cut each half into thirds.)

Roll the pieces into balls about the size of a walnut with its shell on, or a little larger.

Flatten each ball with your impeccably clean hands.

Wrap the dough around a “treasure” of your choice. If you use jam, don’t use over a quarter-teaspoon as it will leak out if there’s too much jam inside the dough ball.

Pat the resulting “package” into a ball shape and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet, 12 balls to a standard-size

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45

! % { # 9 *

sheet. Push the dough balls down just slightly so they don’t roll off on their way to your oven.

Hannah’s 1st Note: I use baking sheets with sides and
line them with parchment paper when I bake these with
jam. If part of the jam leaks out, the parchment paper contains it and I don’t have sticky jam on my baking sheets or
in the bottom of my oven.

Bake the Treasure Chest Cookies at 350° F. for approximately 18 minutes, or until the bottom edge is just beginning to brown when you raise it with a spatula.

Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the sheets for about 5 minutes.

Place 1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl.

Place wax paper or parchment paper under the wire racks.

Roll the still-warm cookies in the powdered sugar. The sugar will stick to the warm cookies. Coat them evenly and then return them to the wire racks to cool completely.

(You’ll notice that the powdered sugar will “soak” into

the warm cookie balls. That’s okay. You’re going to roll

them in powdered sugar again for a final coat when

they’re cool.)

When the cookies are completely cool, place another 1⁄2

cup powdered sugar in your bowl. Roll the cooled cookies

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46

! % { # 9 *

in the powdered sugar again. Then transfer them to a cookie jar or another container and store them in a cool, dry place.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: I tried putting a couple of miniature
marshmallows or half of a regular-size marshmallow in the
center of my cookies for the “treasure”. It didn’t work.

The marshmallows in the center completely melted away.

Lisa’s Note: I’m going to try my Treasure Chest Cookies
with a roll of Rollo’s next time I make them. Herb just
adores those chocolate covered soft caramels. He wants
me to try the miniature Reese’s Pieces, too.

Yield: 2 dozen delicious cookies that both kids and adults will love to eat.

! % { # 9 *

47

Chapter

!
Five
#

It seemed like forever, but at last Hannah’s day was almost over. As Delores had promised, she had called after the board member luncheon to say that none of Doc Knight’s paramedics or hospital staff had recognized the man that Hannah had hit. She’d also said that, just as Hannah had suspected, the man’s neck had been broken. Doc was planning to perform an autopsy later in the afternoon to ascertain the exact cause of death.

Everyone else was gone and the shop was closed. Andrea had left when they locked the front door and Herb had come to get Lisa. Lisa’s car was ready. Herb had checked, and they were picking it up at Murphy’s Motors before they went home. Hannah and Michelle had done the prep work for the morning and, except for the two of them, The Cookie Jar was deserted.

“Are you almost ready to go, Hannah?” Michelle came out of the walk-in cooler after stashing the final batch of cookie dough for the morning’s baking.

“I’m ready, but my truck’s not here yet.”

“I know. Lonnie just called me on my cell and said that they need to keep it overnight.”

“Oh, great!” Hannah said sarcastically. “What are we going to do for transportation?”

“Lonnie took care of that. He checked with his dad and a BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

49

couple of Cyril’s mechanics are dropping off a loaner for you from the shop. You can keep it until you get your truck back.”

“That’s nice of Cyril, but I wonder why they need to keep my truck so long.”

“Lonnie said something about waiting for the autopsy report so they could make sure the man’s injuries were consistent with the damage to your truck.”

Hannah thought about that for a moment. “Okay. I guess that makes sense.”

Both sisters sat down at the workstation and propped their feet up on neighboring stools. They munched on a couple of Treasure Chest Cookies, which both of them agreed were perfect for Little Matt’s party, until there was a knock on the back door and the mechanics with the loaner arrived. Less than twenty-five minutes after that, the two sisters were pulling into Hannah’s condo complex. Michelle was driving.