Candy Cane Murder (10 page)

“I guess I was!” Hannah said. “But I'm glad you're here, Emily. I'd like to know if this is Melinda's bedroom.”

“Oh! Well…yes. Yes, it is. But that's Mrs. Bergstrom's private business. I can't say anything more.”

“Of course you can,” Hannah interrupted her. “Your employer's dead, murdered in cold blood, and his widow doesn't seem to be grieving very much. Do you think she cares?”

“Not that one!” Emily said, shaking her head. “There's no love lost there and there wasn't on his side, either.” She moved closer and continued in a whisper. “I'm almost sure Mr. Bergstrom was going to divorce her, not that he said anything to me, of course. But it wasn't a real marriage, if you know what I mean. And now…I'd better take you back before she comes after both of us.”

Once back inside the tropical paradise, Hannah ignored Norman's curious glance, and sat down next to Melinda. They made polite conversation for a moment or two, and then Melinda took them on a tour of the most unusual and exotic flora that she had imported. Hannah admired brightly colored blooms that looked more artificial that real to her, smelled scents so heady they came close to making her sneeze, and pretended overwhelming interest in natural fertilizers and climate control. Then, mercifully, it was time to render their polite good-byes, repeat their condolences, and leave.

“Well?” Norman asked when they had boarded the elevator and were safely on their way down to the store.

“Well, what?”

“Well, why were you gone so long? And what did you discover?”

“No Cory,” Hannah said, summing up her findings in two words.

“What?”

“I found Melinda's family photo album. There were lots of pictures of Melinda and her parents, but not one single picture of Cory. Maybe Cory had a big fight with his parents and they took all his pictures out of the photo album. Or maybe Melinda did, and she removed them. Or…maybe there was something wrong with Cory that he didn't get fixed until he left home.”

“Like what?”

“Like a birthmark he had removed. Or maybe Cory was really Melinda's sister Corrine before she had the sex change.”

Hannah started to laugh, but she quickly sobered as she thought of another possibility. “Or…maybe Cory isn't Melinda's brother and that's why he isn't in the family album.”

“That's interesting,” Norman commented. “Don't you want to know what I found out while you were gone?”

“Absolutely.”

“I found out everything I really didn't need to know about exotic plants, flowers, and berries.”

“Lucky you.” Hannah stepped off the elevator and spotted the decorator dried wreath department, right where Delores had said it would be. “Let's go buy a peony wreath for your mother, and then go straight back to The Cookie Jar. I want to see if Lisa's hit pay dirt with her invisible waitress trick.”

DEVIL'S FOOD COOKIES

Do not preheat oven—this dough needs to chill.

When cocoa is used in any of my recipes, make sure to use plain old American cocoa (I usually use Hershey's unsweetened cocoa.) There are many designer cocoas on the market. They're wonderful in their own right, but they won't work in my recipes. Make sure you don't buy cocoa mix, which has powdered milk and a sweetener added. Stay away from Dutch process cocoa—it has alkaline added. Also beware of cocoas that are mixed with ground chocolate or other flavorings. They won't work either. Things were simpler in my grandmother's day (and this Devil's Food Cookie is one of her recipes.) If you're in doubt, check the ingredients that are listed on the container of cocoa. It should say “cocoa” and nothing else.

 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Once these dry ingredients are combined, add the melted butter and mix thoroughly.

 

Add the beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

 

Add the strong coffee and mix thoroughly.

 

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
(Overnight is fine, too.)

 

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

 

Roll the dough into one-inch diameter balls with your hands. This dough may be sticky, so roll only enough for the cookies you plan to bake immediately and then return the bowl to the refrigerator. Roll the dough balls in the bowl of white sugar and place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 balls to a standard sheet. Flatten them slightly with the heel of your impeccably clean hand so they won't roll off on their way to the oven.

 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
(If you leave them on the cookie sheet for too long, they'll stick.)

 

Hannah's Note: When Lisa wants to make these fancy for a cookie catering job, she drizzles them with fine horizontal lines of white powdered sugar icing. Then she mixes up chocolate powdered sugar icing and drizzles them with fine vertical lines. Here are the frostings she uses:

White Powdered Sugar Icing:

Lisa's 1
^st
Note: There's no need to sift the powdered sugar unless it has big lumps.

 

Line up your cookies, shoulder to shoulder, on a sheet of waxed paper.

 

Mix the powdered sugar with the vanilla and the salt. Add the light cream gradually until the frosting is the consistency you want.

 

Put the frosting into a plastic food storage bag. Twist the top closed and cut off one of the bottom corners to let out the frosting. Squeeze it out and drizzle it in fine lines over your cookies.

Chocolate Powdered Sugar Icing:

Turn the paper with the partially frosted cookies 90 degrees so that the thin lines of chocolate frosting will crisscross the white frosting.

 

Mix the powdered sugar with the cocoa. Blend it in until the resulting mixture is a uniform color. Add the vanilla and the salt. Add the light cream gradually until the chocolate frosting is the consistency you want.

 

Put the chocolate frosting into a plastic food storage bag. Twist the top closed and cut off one of the bottom corners to let out the frosting. Squeeze it out and drizzle it in fine lines over your cookies.

 

Let the frosting dry thoroughly and then pack the cookies in single layers in a box lined with wax paper.

 

Lisa's 2
^nd
Note: If you want to be really fancy, you can make powdered sugar icing with food coloring and use other extracts besides vanilla.

“I
t was all speculation,” Lisa answered Hannah's query when they got back to The Cookie Jar, “but there was
one
interesting thing.”

“And that was?” Hannah prompted.

“Carrie thinks Jenny Bergstrom was in the family way when she left Lake Eden.”

Norman raised his eyebrows. “My mother actually said,
in the family way?”

“Yes.” Lisa turned to Hannah. “And your mother said,
No way, Jose. Dream on
.”

Norman gave a huge sigh, but Hannah noticed that his eyes were twinkling. “I always suspected it, but now I know it's true.”

“What's true?” Hannah asked.

“Your mother is cooler than my mother.”

Lisa cracked up, and both Hannah and Norman turned to look at her.

“Sorry,” she said, still giggling. “It's not
cooler
anymore. Now it's
rad
, or
phat
, or something like that. It changes every month, or so. The only way you can keep up is to watch the sitcoms on television.”

Hannah turned to Norman and gave him a little pat on the arm. “It's okay. I knew exactly what you meant.”

“Vernacular aside, do you think my mother knew what she was talking about?” Norman asked Lisa.

“She seemed pretty sure of herself.” Lisa turned to Hannah. “And she managed to convince your mother.”

“If she convinced Mother, it's probably true.”

“Jenny left town before she started to gain weight, or anything. And she never said anything about it in her letters to her friends in Lake Eden.”

“Okay.” Hannah got up to pour more coffee for all of them. Marge and Jack were still manning the shop and they had a little time to talk. “What else did Carrie say?”

“She said she almost came right out and asked Jenny, but then she heard about the divorce and she thought she must be wrong.”

“Why?” Hannah was curious.

“Because Wayne always wanted children and he would have forgotten all about marrying the
bimbo,
” Lisa glanced at Norman, “your mother's word, not mine, and gone straight back to Jenny if she'd told him that she was pregnant.”

“Oh, boy!” Norman gave a little groan. “The one thing I always loved about Lake Eden was that it could never be featured on a reality show. But now…I'm not so sure.”

Hannah laughed. “Don't worry about it. Gossip in a small town isn't that interesting unless you live there, and
Dancing with the Bovines
won't make it. Unless they decide to hold the summer Olympics on Winnie Henderson's farm, Lake Eden doesn't have a prayer of being on national television.”

 

“Hey, Hannah.”

Mike strode in shortly after Norman had left and Hannah's heart began to beat like a trip hammer. Why did he have this effect on her? She wished she could control it, but that sudden breathlessness and leap in blood pressure seemed to be eons beyond the control of biofeedback.

“Mike,” Hannah replied, pouring two mugs of coffee from the kitchen pot while her hand was still steady. “Would you like a couple of Linda's Shortbread Pecan Cookies?”

“Who's Linda?”

“Lisa's cousin. She sent us the recipe.”

“Sure, I'll try a couple. I promise I'll never refuse
anything
you offer me. You can count on that.”

Mike gave her a devilish grin and Hannah almost didn't make it to the work island with the mugs of coffee intact. He was implying a lot more than he should, but she didn't really dare to react. If she accused him of a suggestive comment, he'd act all innocent and tell her it was all in her head.

“Hold on and I'll get a plate of cookies,” she said, setting the coffee down on the work island and never quite meeting his eyes.

It didn't take long to fill a plate with cookies and put them down in front of Mike. Hannah waited until he'd eaten two and washed them down with a whole mug of coffee. Then she got up to pour them more. “So how did you like them?” she asked, sitting down across from him once more.

“Great! Cover them with a napkin or something, will you, Hannah? Otherwise I'm going to eat them all.”

“You're going back out to the sheriff's department, aren't you?”

“Right after I leave here.”

“Mother picked up something for Bill and she doesn't want him to hang it in his closet at home. She's afraid Tracey will see it and stop believing in Santa Claus.”

“I take it it's a Santa costume?”

“Bingo. She bought it this morning at Bergstrom's.”

“No problem. I'll take it out there and hang it in Bill's closet.”

Hannah waited, but Mike didn't say anything else. The man was a genius when it came to holding his tongue. They sat there in silence for the space of a half-cup of coffee and then Hannah caved in.

“How's the investigation going?” she asked.

“It's going. How about you?”

“What do you mean?” Hannah assumed the most innocent expression she could muster.

“I know you're asking questions. And I know people talk to you. Do you have anything I should know about?”

Hannah took a brief second to consider what she should give Mike so that he could give her something in return. “One thing,” she said.

“What's that?”

“I know the name of Wayne's lawyer if you want to ask about his will.”

“That was next on my list, but you can save me some time. Who is it?”

“Larry Helms. He's with Helms, Jackson, and Connors out at the mall.”

Mike reached in his pocket for his notebook and pen, and wrote it down. “Thanks, Hannah.”

“You're welcome. Did you happen to examine the Santa suit that Wayne was wearing?”

“Not personally. The crime lab has it. What did you want to know about it?”

“I was just wondering if there were any candy canes left in Wayne's pocket.”

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Just curious. Wayne was such a tightwad about those candy canes. I asked him if I could have the ones that were left, and he told me he needed them for the next time he played Santa, and he told me to pour them in his pocket. I guess they all fell out the hole.”

“
What
hole?”

“The one in Wayne's pocket. There must have been a hole. And the candy canes dropped out of the hole and onto the path. That's how we found him. We followed the trail of candy canes.”

“Right. Do you want me to find out about the hole and the candy canes?”

“Sure, if you've got a spare minute. But I'm just satisfying my curiosity. I figured Wayne was being cheap when he said he needed to use the rest of the candy canes.”

“I've heard that before!”

“Heard what?” Hannah asked, wondering how many other people had asked about Wayne's candy canes.

“What a cheapskate Wayne was. Even his ex-wife implied that. She thought it might relate to his murder. But I came away with the impression she still had a lot of affection for him.”

“You talked to Jenny?”

Mike flipped open his notebook. “Jennifer Perkins Bergstrom. That's right.”

“What did you think of her?”

“I told you already. She's the only one I've talked to so far who seemed really sorry her ex-husband was dead.”

“I hope she's okay. I have to go out to the inn to see her tonight.”

“To ask her questions?”

“No, to deliver cookies. Mother wants me to take a dozen of something chocolate to Jenny. She thought it might help.”

“Good idea. It doesn't happen often, especially when I'm working a murder investigation, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
She
was the grieving widow. The current wife didn't seem all that upset.”

“I agree,” Hannah said, before she could think better of it.

“You saw Melinda Bergstrom today?”

“Actually…I brought her some cookies. Chocolate.”

“Your mother's idea again?”

“No, it was Cory's. Norman and I drove out to the mall to get a Christmas gift for his mother. We ran into Cory and he mentioned that Melinda had been crying all night. I had some cookies with me, and we took her some.”

“Hmm.” Mike gave her a long, level glance. “What did you think of Melinda?”

To give, or not to give. That was the question. Hannah decided that it couldn't hurt to have the law on her side. “Melinda didn't seem to be mourning Wayne's death very much, but you already know that. I found it particularly interesting that she didn't share the master suite with her husband. Her bedroom's down the hall right next to her brother's.”

“She
told
you that?”

“No. I just…” Hannah searched for a phrase to explain that she'd fibbed and snooped, but she couldn't come up with one that was socially acceptable. “I just found out, that's all.”

Mike gave her another long, level glance, and Hannah was sure it was the same glance he used in the interrogation room. “What else did you just find out?” he asked.

“Well…nothing really. Except that she knows a lot about plants. Her maid is named Emily, if that helps.”

“Right.” Mike stood up to go. “Let me know if you hear anything you think I should know. And remember to leave the investigating…”

“…up to the professionals,” Hannah finished the sentence in tandem with him. “Hold on a second and I'll wrap up these cookies. You can take them out to the station with you.”

LINDA'S PECAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES

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

 

Put one cup of white sugar and one cup of brown sugar in the bowl of your mixer. Zoop them up together to make really light brown sugar.

 

You have two choices with the butter. You can let it come up to room temperature on its own, or you can soften it in the microwave. If you're in a hurry and you don't want to wait for nature to take its course, do this:

 

Unwrap a stick of refrigerated butter. Put it on a paper plate. Nuke it for 5 seconds on HIGH in your microwave. Roll it forward so the topside is now on the side. Nuke it for another 5 seconds on HIGH. Roll it forward again and nuke it for another 5 seconds on HIGH. Repeat rolling forward again and nuking for 5 seconds once again. You're done. Take the plate out of the microwave and dump the butter into your mixing bowl.

 

Repeat the whole thing for the second stick of butter.

 

Once you've added the butter to your mixing bowl, mix it until it's smooth.

 

Pour in one cup of vegetable oil and add one egg. Mix it all up together at slow speed.

 

Add the vanilla, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Mix it all up together.

 

Add the cup of oatmeal and the Rice Krispies. Mix thoroughly.

 

Add 4 cups of flour to your bowl in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.

 

Take the bowl from the mixer, give it another stir with a spoon, and mix in 2 cups of chopped pecans by hand.

 

With your hands, roll dough balls approximately 1-inch in diameter and place them on the cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-sized sheet.