Cream Puff Murder (14 page)

Unwrap the candy bars and place them on top of the batter. Make a single layer, and try to cover as much of the batter as you can. You may have to break a couple of the bars to fill in the gaps.

Spoon the remaining batter on top of the candy bars, and use the rubber spatula to smooth it out.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Cool the Brownies Plus in the pan on a metal rack. When they’re thoroughly cool, grasp the edges of the foil and lift the brownies out of the pan. Put them facedown on a cutting board, peel the foil off the back, and cut them into brownie-sized pieces.

Place the squares on a plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar if you wish.

Hannah’s Note: These brownies freeze well if you leave them in one large piece. When they’re cool, just lift them out of the pan, fold the foil over the top, and slip them into a freezer bag. When you want to serve them, let them thaw on the counter, cut them into pieces, and dust with powdered sugar.

“O h, Hannah! How could you?!” Delores marched into the kitchen, coming close to mowing Hannah down. “Didn’t I raise you better than that?”

“Than what, Mother?” Hannah was ninety-nine percent certain she knew what Delores was talking about. The news must have broken on KCOW Radio, and Delores knew that her eldest daughter had found yet another murder victim.

“You know perfectly well what I mean. You found another body. Everyone in the Tri-County area knows you did. Why you decided to go in that gazebo and look in the Jacuzzi is beyond me!”

“But it’s not beyond me. Andrea and I were going to hop in the Jacuzzi until it was time for our class. She was still exercising, and I got there first.”

“Well…I guess I should be grateful for that!” Delores looked slightly mollified. “At least you’re used to things like that by now. Your sister’s the sensitive type. It would have devastated poor Andrea.”

“Right,” Hannah said. What Delores said was true. Andrea had never been able to handle things that were, to use their mother’s word, unpleasant. But if Andrea had discovered Ronni’s body, would it have been unpleasant for her? Perhaps she would have taken one look at Ronni’s lifeless countenance and let out a cheer of victory.

“Anyway,” Delores sat down on a stool at the workstation. “I know she was in the Jacuzzi. They said all that on KCOW. I want you to tell me something nobody else knows so that I can tell my friends. There’s got to be some advantage to being the mother of…of a body finder!”

Hannah thought back to the murder scene. It probably wouldn’t be politic to mention the smashed mini cream puffs, especially since Delores wanted them served at her book launch party. She didn’t want to mention the tipped stools at the bar, either. It could be something the police might use to weed out suspects. She needed a tidbit of information that was shocking enough for the Lake Eden gossip hotline, but not gross enough to upset Delores.

“I had to turn her over,” Hannah said, lighting on something titillating enough for her mother, but not something the police were likely to keep under their hats.

“You did?” Delores gave a little shiver, and Hannah knew it was more of excitement than fright.

“At first I thought someone had dropped their exercise outfit in the hot tub. Then I recognized that it was one of the outfits that the female staff wore, and I went to fish it out.”

“Oh, my!” Delores shivered again. “And you actually turned her over?”

“I did. I reached out and grabbed the outfit, and that’s when I realized that someone was wearing it.”

“Oh, my!” Delores repeated, and her voice was slightly breathless.

“I think turning her over was instinctive. I didn’t really think about it, I just did it. I don’t know if I thought she was still alive, or I could help, or what. I just rolled her over, looked at her face, and saw that she was Ronni Ward.”

“The anchorman on the news team said she suffered a blow to the head.” Delores stopped and cleared her throat. “Could I have a cup of coffee, dear? Black, of course. Hearing about something like this always makes me a little shaky.”

And caffeine will certainly help with that! Hannah thought, but of course she didn’t say it. Instead she brought her mother two newly frosted Carrot Cake Cookies along with the mug of coffee.

“Thank you, dear!” Delores took a sip of her coffee and sighed deeply. “I needed that. What are these cookies? They’re pretty.”

“They’re Terry’s Carrot Cake Cookies. She’s a friend of Lisa’s from Wisconsin. I mixed them up when I got back from the gym, and I just finished frosting them when you came in. I know they’re not chocolate, but they’re good.”

“Not everything has to be chocolate, dear. Of course that would be nice, but there’s room for other flavors.” Delores picked up a cookie and bit into it. “Cream cheese frosting?” she asked after she’d taken another bite.

“Yes. So what do you think?”

“They’re perfection, dear. And they do taste just like carrot cake.” Delores finished one cookie and took a bite from the second. “Now tell me more about Ronni’s appearance, dear.”

“While you’re eating?”

Delores thought about that for a moment, and then she shook her head. “Perhaps not. Just let me finish this cookie, and then we’ll talk.”

Hannah waited, her mother chewed, and the second cookie disappeared. “What else do you want to know?” she asked.

“Was there much blood?” Delores gave another little shiver and raised her coffee cup to her lips.

“No, Mother. She was facedown in the water, and the wound was washed clean.”

“Do you think she…suffered before she died?”

Hannah gave a little shrug. “I hope not, but I really don’t know. Only Doc Knight would be able to tell that.”

“I wonder how he could tell.”

“I think it would be pretty simple. If she didn’t die instantly or bleed out, she probably drowned. If she bled out, he could tell by the amount of blood left in her body. If she drowned, there would be water in her lungs.”

“That’s enough, dear. Let’s not talk about it anymore.” Delores took another sip of her coffee. “Will you let me know when you find out?”

“What makes you think I’m going to find out?”

Delores looked shocked. “Well, you’re going to investigate, aren’t you? You simply have to, Hannah!”

“Why do I have to, Mother?”

“Because we all have to work to catch Ronni’s killer before my launch party!”

I should have known it had something to do with you, Hannah thought, but she remained silent. Verbalizing that sentiment would only hurt her mother’s feelings. The book launch party, the very first for Delores, was an important event in her mother’s life. “Okay, Mother,” Hannah said instead. “I’ll do my best to catch Ronni’s killer. But I don’t really understand how it could possibly hurt your party if the case is still open.”

“Use your head, dear. Everybody will be talking about Ronni’s murder and how the killer hasn’t been caught yet. And no one will pay the least bit of attention to my book!”

So it was competition for the limelight. Now Hannah understood. Everyone should be focused on Delores’s book and nothing else. She was about to say that people were coming because they liked Delores and wanted to read her book, but her mother had a point. Everyone would be speculating about Ronni if her killer hadn’t been apprehended.

“You see what I mean, don’t you, dear?”

“I do, but don’t worry, Mother. I’ll catch him long before then.”

“You’re certain you can?”

“Absolutely.” Hannah crossed her fingers and hoped her words would be prophetic. She now had triple incentives to solve the case. She wanted to prove that she could do it alone in her own way, she wanted to catch the person who’d dumped her beautiful cream puffs on the floor of the gazebo, and her mother was depending on her to do it. “Nothing’s going to spoil your party, Mother. You have my word on that.”

Delores gave a relieved smile. “Thank you, dear. I certainly feel better now. You’re very good at investigating. I’ve said so to everyone I know. Is there anything Carrie and I can do to help?”

“Yes. You can help a lot if you’re willing to make some phone calls for me.”

“Of course we are! Just tell us what to do. But before you do, give me another one of those cookies. I’m not sure if it’s the cookie or the frosting, but they’re addictive.”

Hannah got up, plucked a cookie off the counter, and carried it to her mother. She couldn’t remember the last time Delores had eaten three cookies in one sitting, and that meant Terry’s Carrot Cake Cookies were an unqualified hit. Then she cleared her throat, trying to think of a polite way of saying it. “You’ve probably heard that Ronni was flirting with various men around town.”

“Much more than flirting, the way I hear it, dear. Say involved. It’s a much better word. And do stop trying to spare my sensibilities. I know what Ronni was.”

“You do?” Hannah still wasn’t sure her mother actually knew what was going on.

“Of course I do! I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. And here’s one you don’t know, dear. Did you know that Mayor Bascomb is putting in that indoor swimming pool and hot tub that Stephanie always wanted?”

“No. I had no idea. That must be terribly expensive.”

“Oh, it is.” Delores took another sip of her coffee in preparation for delivering her punch line. “But it’s not as expensive as divorce.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“I know, dear. I have my ear to the pulse of Lake Eden. Now what, exactly, do you want Carrie and me to troll for.”

Hannah laughed. She couldn’t help it. Her father had been an avid fisherman and Delores was using fishing terms again. “I want you to troll for trouble. Find out who Ronni was flirting…”

“Involved,” Delores interrupted her.

“Right. Find out who Ronni was involved with and how it affects or affected their lives. I don’t need dates, or times of…assignations, or anything like that. I just need to know who might have wanted to…”

“Put a period to Ronni’s existence,” Delores interrupted to finish the sentence for her in Regency romance phrasing.

“Anybody who might have wanted her dead for any reason. If you hear something that’s not about…uh…”

“Sex, dear. Say sex. It’s the word you want. Let’s not equivocate here.”

“Okay, Mother. If you hear something that’s not about sex, that might be important, too.”

“What’s not about sex?”

“Mother!”

“I’m sorry, dear, but you’re beating around the bush. Say what you mean. And before we go any further, I have to tell you something I heard from a very good source.”

“What’s that, Mother?”

“Mike. I heard that he was involved with Ronni. He’s a bounder, dear. He’s always going to have a roving eye. I know he’s handsome, and I know he’s appealing, but he’s never going to be true to you. Norman will. He’s a much better bet for a husband.”

Hannah just blinked. Delores had never been so frank with her before, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“I realize that I’m overstepping my bounds here,” her mother went on. “I do it all the time, and I can’t seem to stop, especially with you. I used to be able to control it much better when I had a love life of my own, but now that Winthrop’s gone, there’s no one to diffuse my concern. And…I think I may have a control issue.”

Hannah’s mind went on red alert. A control issue? Overstepping her bounds? That wasn’t her mother’s usual terminology. Either she was seeking professional psychiatric help, or…“Are you listening to Doctor Love on KCOW talk radio?”

“Yes, dear. But how did you know…”

“Did you ever call in?”

“No, of course not. I’m not the type to do something like that.”

Hannah relaxed slightly. Delores would never take the chance that someone might recognize her voice on the air. “Did you read, Love Is Right Around the Corner?”

“Pop psychology,” Delores dismissed Doctor Love’s newest book, the one she plugged on every show.

“But you read it.”

“Well, yes. But how did you…?”

“Control issue,” Hannah said, before her mother could finish the question. “That’s Doctor Love’s favorite diagnosis. She also likes to talk about overstepping bounds, and diffusing concern.”

“But Doctor Love is right. I do have a control issue, especially when I try to run your life. If I’m not careful, you’re going to hate me for it.”

Hannah shook her head and said what was in her heart. “I couldn’t hate you, Mother. I love you too much.”

“Oh!”

Delores looked as if she was about to break into tears, and Hannah knew that would embarrass them both. As a family, they’d always kept their emotions under control and private. “Okay, let’s get back to business, here,” Hannah changed the subject quickly. “You’re going to help me catch Ronni’s killer…right?”

“Right.” Her voice quavered a bit, but Delores took a deep breath and managed to pull herself together. “You said you want Carrie and me to find out who Ronni was involved with and how it affects or affected their lives.”

“Exactly right.”

“We’ll do that, dear. Anything else?”

“Just be alert for anyone who hated Ronni enough to kill her. You uncover the motive. I’ll check it out and see if there’s an alibi.”

“We’re all set, dear.” Delores got up and walked around the stainless steel island to give her eldest daughter a hug. “I’m proud of you, Hannah. And I love you very much. I know I don’t tell you that enough.”

“Thank you, Mother. Was that Doctor Love?”

“Yes. Most of the time she’s full of hot air, but that’s some of her very best advice.”

TERRY’S CARROT CAKE COOKIES

DO NOT preheat oven yet—this cookie dough has to chill for at least 2 hours before baking.

1 cup butter (2 sticks, ½ pound) at room temperature

2 cups white (granulated) sugar

3 eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

20-ounce can crushed pineapple (very well drained)

1 cup golden raisins