Cinnamon Roll Murder (22 page)

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Authors: Joanne Fluke

Tags: #Romance, #Mystery, #Thriller, #Adult, #Chick-Lit

BOOK: Cinnamon Roll Murder
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“Absolutely not. It would only make her mad. Mother gave me her credit card and told me to use it. Besides, Mother can afford it. I can’t, and you can’t.”
“You’ve got a point.” Hannah gave a little shrug. “Okay. I’ll buy that. What kind of cookie are we going to make for Norman?”
“We’re making Peaches And Cream Cookies. I thought it all out when I was shopping in the store. They’re going to be soft, creamy, delicious cookies. Just wait and see.”
“You’re the boss on this one. I don’t think I’ve ever made peach cookies in my life.”
“There’s always a first time,” Michelle said, tossing Hannah a can of sliced peaches. “Open these and drain them, will you? I’m going to start softening the salted butter and the cream cheese.”
 
Thirty minutes later, Norman looked happier than Hannah had seen him look in several months. He was sitting at the kitchen table watching them mix up cookie dough, and Cuddles was in his lap. Hannah could hear her purring even over the whine of Norman’s stand mixer, and Moishe was purring too. Perhaps she was anthropomorphizing, but Hannah was convinced that her own cat was purring because he was happy to see his friend, Cuddles, so happy.
As Hannah watched, Cuddles jumped down from Norman’s lap and walked over to rub noses with Moishe. Then she turned, swished her tail, and wiggled her rear as she walked away.
“She wants Moishe to follow her,” Norman explained his cat’s actions. And to Hannah amazement, Moishe jumped up and padded after her.
“Where are they going?” Michelle asked.
“They’re going to check out the house to see if anything’s changed. And now that I put that silly table in the closet, they’re going to find out everything’s exactly the same. Cuddles is leading the way because she still considers it to be
her
house.”
From your lips to God’s ears
, Hannah thought, remembering the phrase her neighbor used to use when she wanted things to be as she said they were.
There was a loud thump from the den and then a startled meow. A scant second later, there was the sound of running footfalls on the stairway Norman had built for Moishe before he’d adopted Cuddles.
“The chase is on,” Norman said. There was another loud thump and then the sound of footfalls running down the circular staircase.
“And the chase has picked up speed,” Hannah commented. “Any second now they’ll probably … feet up everybody! Here they come!”
Hannah and Michelle hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter. Norman lifted his feet to the seat of a neighboring chair. They were just in time as the two cats rounded the corner into the kitchen and skidded across the tiles.
“Careful, guys!” Norman warned, but of course they didn’t listen. Norman didn’t speak cat and the cats didn’t speak caution. They slid past the refrigerator, rounded the center island on three paws, and ran smack dab into the cupboard under the sink.
“Rrrrow!” Moishe yowled, sounding dazed.
“Merrrowww,” Cuddles moaned, adding her voice to the complaint.
“Are they hurt?” Michelle asked, preparing to jump down from the counter.
“I really don’t think so,” Norman said with a chuckle, as the two cats shook their heads, regained their feet, and started to chase each other all over again. “Do they do this at your house?” he asked Hannah.
“Oh, yes. Every night.”
“But your place is so much smaller! How do they manage it?”
“They fly,” Hannah said, and left it at that.
PEACHES AND CREAM COOKIES
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
15 canned peach slices to garnish your cookies
1 and ¼ cups white
(granulated)
sugar
½ cup
(1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)
salted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
(the brick kind, not
the whipped kind—I used Philadelphia Cream
Cheese in the silver box)
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
(freshly grated is best, of
course)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and ½ cups peach pie filling
(I used Comstock—
my can was 15.5 ounces net weight, and it was
exactly 1 and ½ cups)
2 Tablespoons
(that’s
cup)
peach jam
3 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
(pack it down in the
cup when you measure it)
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Drain the can of peach slices in a strainer over the sink, or over a bowl. You do not need to reserve the juice. Let the peaches drain while you mix up your cookie dough.
Hannah’s 1st Note: Unless you have a very strong stirring arm, use an electric mixer to make this cookie dough.
Place the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Place the butter and the cream cheese, which must be softened to room temperature, on top of the sugar.
Turn the mixer to LOW and mix for one minute. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently and beating for one minute at each level, until you arrive at the highest speed.
Beat at the highest speed for at least 2 minutes or until the resulting mixture is very light and fluffy.
Turn the mixer down to LOW, and add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Continue to mix on LOW speed while you add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Mix until they are thoroughly incorporated.
Measure out a cup and a half of peach pie filling. If there are any large pieces of peach, chop them up with a knife into small pieces about the size of mini chocolate chips. The goal is to get some into each cookie.
With the mixer on LOW speed, add the peach pie filling to your bowl and mix it in.
Measure out the peach jam. If there are any large pieces of peach, chop them up with a knife just like you did with the peaches in the pie filling.
With the mixer on LOW speed, add the peach jam to your bowl and mix it in thoroughly.
Mix in the flour, one cup at a time, mixing on LOW after each addition.
(You don’t have to be exact—just add the flour in 4 increments)
 
Shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then give the mixture a final stir by hand. The resulting cookie dough should be fluffy, but not at all stiff like sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie dough. Let the bowl sit on the counter while you …
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. It’s the easiest way to bake these cookies. If you don’t have parchment paper and you really don’t want to go out to get any, grease your cookie sheets heavily, or spray them thoroughly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
If you haven’t already done so, put the pecans in the bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place, and process them with an on-and-off motion into fine pieces.
When the pecans are ready, place them in a shallow bowl. This is what you’ll use to coat the outside of your Peaches And Cream Cookies.
Using a teaspoon
(not the measuring kind, but one from your silverware drawer)
, drop a rounded teaspoon of cookie dough into the bowl of finely chopped pecans. Use your fingers and a light touch to form the cookie dough into a ball. Lift the ball gently and place it on your baking sheet. Continue to form dough balls covered with finely chopped pecans, 12 to a standard-size cookie sheet.
Lay your peach slices out on layers of paper towels on the counter. Pat them dry and then cut each one into two pieces, making thinner slices.
Top each Peaches And Cream cookie dough ball with a thin peach slice, cut side up. Press it down gently.
Bake your Peaches And Cream Cookies at 375 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Take them out of the oven and slide the cookie-laden parchment paper onto a wire rack to cool. If you used greased cookie sheets, you’re going to have to let the cookies sit on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack with a metal spatula.
Let the cookies cool completely before you attempt to remove them from the wire rack.
Yield: Approximately 4 to 5 dozen soft and moist cookies, depending on cookie size.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“
O
ne thing’s for sure,” Norman said grinning at Hannah. “These are the best peach cookies I ever ate.”
“These are the
only
peach cookies I ever ate. But I agree that they’re wonderful. Michelle is really talented at making up recipes. These are so good, I think I might have to serve them at The Cookie Jar.”
“Not these!” Norman jerked the plate away from her. “These are
my
cookies. You’ll have to get the recipe from Michelle and bake your
own
cookies.”
A message flashed on Norman’s computer monitor and he gave a little sigh. They were in his home office, a large room with a sofa, chairs, a spectacular view of the woods, a fireplace, and two walls of floor to ceiling bookcases. “I’m sorry, Hannah. None of the hits I got on Bernard Alan Neiman panned out.”
“That’s okay. It just goes a little further toward proving my fake name theory.”
“But we may never know who Buddy actually was.”
“I know that, but Doc and Mike are working on identifying him too, and they may have gotten some leads we don’t know about. Mike’s running his fingerprints and he’s got deputies checking for anyone who fits Buddy’s description in the missing person’s records.”
“That’s a big job.”
“Yes it is, but Andrea says Bill’s all for it. He even called in some retired deputies to work on it.”
“Is Doc helping the deputies?”
“No, he’s got his own plan. He told Mother that he was going to post Buddy’s picture in something called
Hospital News
. It’s a magazine like those airline magazines you read when you’re on a plane. Hospitals subscribe to
Hospital News
and put it in their waiting rooms. Lots of people see it, and one of them might recognize Buddy and know who he really is.”
“Doc really wants to know, doesn’t he?”
“Yes. He says that since Buddy died in his hospital, he feels a certain responsibility. And that responsibility is doubled because Mother was the one who discovered Buddy’s body. Both of them think that Buddy may have family or someone who needs to know what happened to him.”
“They’re probably right. Human beings don’t live in a vacuum.”
Norman’s computer gave a little ding, and Hannah turned to look at the screen. “What does that ding mean?”
“It means I have an e-mail message. It’s probably Andrea with the photo. Time to get busy, Hannah. I’ll download the photo and we’ll see if we can find out more about the woman in Shelby’s photograph.”
Hannah watched with envy as Norman called up his e-mail program and signed in. She really ought to learn to do some of these things. He’d offered to teach her on several occasions, and she simply hadn’t gotten around to taking him up on his offer. Now it was too late if his marriage to Doctor Bev went off as planned.
If
, she reminded herself. Those two little letters contained a world of possibilities, and she intended to take full advantage of them.
“Here we go, Hannah.” Norman said, gesturing toward his large computer screen. “See that little circle with all the little lines radiating out from it in the center of the screen?”
“I see it.”
“That means the JPEG Andrea sent me is downloading.”
“Oh,” Hannah said, trying to sound as if she knew exactly what
JPEG
and
downloading
meant.
It wasn’t the same magic as watching a print come up in the developer, but Hannah decided that it was magic nonetheless as the image on the screen became detailed before her very eyes. She could see a woman and a man standing in the parking lot of Club Nineteen, in the same row that Andrea had parked her Volvo less than twelve hours ago. Was the man Buddy Neiman? She’d be hard-pressed to give a definitive answer. The best she could do was say that it
could
be Buddy Neiman.
“Let me see if I can make the woman any clearer,” Norman said, pulling down a menu from the top of the screen and clicking on several selections.
As Hannah watched, the dark background lightened slightly and she was now able to see the evergreen shrubs lining the parking lot and the arc light glinting off the hoods and fenders of the cars. She still could not have positively identified Buddy from the photo, but luckily that wasn’t necessary. Shelby had identified Buddy for them, and she had been an eyewitness. Not only that, she’d heard part of their conversation, which Hannah had written down.
“Are they arguing?” Norman asked, as he worked on the contrast of the photograph.
“Yes. Hold on and I’ll tell you what the waitress overheard them say.”
Out came the murder book, and Hannah flipped to the correct page. “She said,
I’d know you anywhere
, and Buddy said,
You got the wrong guy, lady. Leave me alone!
Then she said something that Shelby couldn’t hear. Buddy hollered at her to let go, she did, and then he shouted,
I’m not the guy you think I am!
And she shouted,
Yes you are! I know you are!
Then she slapped him and walked away. Shelby thinks she went to a parked car, but she didn’t see which one.”
“Interesting.”
“The argument?”
“No, look at this.” Norman used the mouse to point to a section of the photograph on the screen. “See these three spots of light here?”
“On the woman’s wrist?”
“Yes.”
“I see them. They’re a reflection of some type, aren’t they?”
“Exactly right. They must have caught the light from the arc light in the parking lot behind them. The reflection is clearer than the rest of the photo.”
Hannah’s mind was going so fast, she felt dizzy. This very same thing had happened with the photo of Boyd Watson’s killer. In that case, it had been one spot of light from the moon, and it had reflected off a cufflink that had led them to the killer. Could they be lucky enough to identify the woman who’d argued with Buddy by a reflection?
“This should work,” Norman said. “I’ll select the area of her wrist and start by enlarging two hundred percent.”
Hannah watched as the section of the photo Norman had selected filled more of the screen. “Could it be her watch? Or maybe a bracelet?”
“It could be, but it looks to me like something on the watch or bracelet is catching the light.”
“Can you enlarge it even more?”
“I think so. Those spots are bright.”
“And they’re in sharper focus than the rest of the photo?” Hannah asked.
“That’s right! How did you know that?”
“You told me when we were working on the photo Lucy took of the killer. You said that since the cufflink emitted reflective light of its own, it was sharper than the rest of the photo.”
Norman began to smile. “Do you remember everything I say?”
“Not everything. Sometimes I forget on purpose.”
“Give me an example of what you forget on purpose.”
The fact that you’re getting married and I’m losing you forever
, Hannah thought, but of course she didn’t say that. “I’m forgetting the fact you said I should have my teeth checked.”
Norman laughed. “Okay. That’s fair. But you probably should have …”
“I know. I know. One of these days when I have more time … okay?”
While they were talking, Norman had changed the percentage of enlargement until it now stood at four hundred percent.
“They look like little starbursts,” Hannah said, but they’re getting a little … what do you call that?”
“Grainy, if you’re doing print photography. Since this is digital photography, I think we could say that we’ve enlarged so much, the image is breaking up into pixels.”
“Would that be like Pointillism? It looks a little like George Seurat’s painting of boats on the Seine, except that the dots are like stars and all three of them are pinkish-orange.”
“That’s it exactly. The color is from the arc light. And you’re right when you say they look like starbursts. They’re snowflake ornaments on a silver bracelet.”
Hannah turned to stare at him in shock. “How do you know that?”
“I know because Bev has a bracelet just like it. My mother gave it to her for Christmas.”
Hannah was so shocked, she wasn’t sure what to say. “Do you … do you think the woman in the photo is
Bev
?!”
“No,” Norman gave a little laugh. “You said this was taken at a jazz club, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Club Nineteen.”
“Well, Bev doesn’t really like jazz and I can’t imagine her going to a place like that. If you’d said it was taken outside Orchestra Hall, I would have believed it, but definitely not a jazz club.”
Don’t push it
, Hannah’s better sense put the warning in her mind.
The seed of doubt has been planted. Now let it grow. You already know she’s a liar, but he doesn’t know that yet.
“I wonder where your mother got that bracelet,” Hannah said, pushing back the suspicious thoughts that were filling her mind.
“I’m not sure. I know she picked it up at the last minute. It’s only nine and I’m sure they’re still up. Why don’t we call and ask her?”
 
“The snowflake bracelet?” Carrie repeated when Hannah had posed the question to her. “Of course I remember. Is Norman still on, dear?”
“No. Would you like to …”
“No! I just don’t want him to know how much I paid for it. You see, I always pick up a few extra Christmas presents every year. People visit over the holidays and if they bring gifts, I like to give them something in return. I call them
Annies
, just like my mother used to. That’s for
Annie
-body. Isn’t that cute?”
“Yes, it is,” Hannah said quite honestly. She also bought some generic gifts for Christmas drop-ins, and so did Delores.
“Well, that bracelet was an
Annie
. I had no idea Norman was going to drop by with her. And since she brought me flowers, I gave her one of my
Annies
.”
“Do you remember where you got it?”
“Oh, yes. It was on-sale at CostMart for twenty-five dollars. I bought three, but that’s the only one I used this year.”
“Do you know if they were a popular item?” Hannah asked, hoping that Carrie might have asked at the jewelry counter about them.
“Oh, yes! They were
very
popular. The lady in line ahead of me was buying four, and the lady behind me had two in her cart. I heard the clerk tell the lady in front that they’d gotten in a shipment that morning and they were already almost sold out. They were online, too. Earl checked for me. I don’t know where CostMart got them, but they were just darling, the design was gorgeous, and they were a great value for the price.”
“Stop, Carrie!”
“What?”
“You’re making me want to go to CostMart and see what they’ve got. And I
hate
to shop.”
“Well, just call me any time you want to go and I’ll go with you. I’ve got my CostMart Constant Customer Card, and I get an automatic fifteen percent off.”
Hannah gave a little groan, and Norman looked worried. “What is it?” he asked.
“Your mother’s convincing me I should go to CostMart with her. She’s very convincing.”
Carrie laughed on the other end of the line. Of course she’d heard their conversation. “I told you. Anytime you want to go, just call me. Oops! I’ve got to go. Earl’s calling me, and that means his favorite program is on. Talk to you later, Angel.”
“What’s the matter?” Norman asked, noticing the puzzled expression on Hannah’s face as she hung up the phone.
“Nothing really, but … your mother just called me
Angel
. She’s never called me
Angel
before.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. She said,
Talk to you later, Angel.
And then she hung up. What does that mean?”
“It means she really likes you.”
“I know she likes me.”
“You don’t understand. It means she
really
likes you. The only people she calls
Angel
are Earl and me. And now you.”
“She’s
that
pleased that I might want to go to CostMart with her?”
“No, I think it’s more than that,” Norman said. And then he reached out to give her a hug.

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