Cherry Cheesecake Murder (10 page)

“Forewarned is forearmed,” Ross said, moving closer and placing his hands against Hannah’s back. “If he knocks you over, I’ll catch you.

“Deal,” Hannah agreed, surprised at the reaction she had to Ross’s touch. Just this totally impersonal gesture even through his gloves and her coat made her heart beat a bit faster.

Ross gave a startled chuckle as Hannah opened the door and an orange-and-white ball of flying fur hurtled through the air directly at them. Hannah caught her cat expertly, resisted the urge to lean back against Ross even though she wasn’t one bit off-balance, and stepped forward into her living room.

“Meet Ross,” she said, giving Moishe a little scratch behind the ears before placing him on the ledge at the back of the couch. “If you act cute, Ross might make you into a movie star. Then she turned to Ross, who was smiling. “This is my roommate, Moishe.”

“Lucky cat,” Ross said with a grin.

Moishe stared at Hannah for a moment, as if he were digesting the information she’d given him about being a kitty movie star, and then he arched his back and went into his Halloween cat pose. He held that position for a moment or two, and then he relaxed his whole body and did what Hannah thought of as his kitty toupee, tucking his tail under his body and stretching out flat over the back of the couch like a miniature throw rug.

“He’s going through his paces,” Hannah told Ross. “Do you think he’s auditioning for you?”

“Without a doubt. He must have understood what you said about being a kitty movie star, and he wants his paw prints at Mann’s Chinese.”

“Not to mention his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” Hannah’s smile turned into a laugh as Moishe lifted his head and yawned widely, showing them a full set of sharp white teeth. Then he swiveled his ears, first together, like twin satellite dishes receiving the same signal, and then separately, one ear turning forward and the other backward.

“I still can’t do that,” Ross said, glancing over at Hannah. “Can you?”

Hannah shook her head. She knew exactly what Ross was talking about. When they were all in college, Lynne had learned to simultaneously move her right hand in a circle going forward, like a miniature Ferris Wheel, while her left moved in a circle traveling in the opposite direction, backward toward her chest. Both circles had to be started at the same time and they had to be of the same size and speed. “I tried for months and I still couldn’t do it. I think it takes more than practice.”

“I know it does. I practiced, too. Lynne didn’t. She got it right the first time she tried it. I’m sure there’s some sort of psychological measure we could devise about the differences between the people who can do it and the people who can’t, but we probably shouldn’t get into that now.”

Hannah turned to give Ross a sharp look, but he was staring at Moishe. Ross had claimed he wasn’t bitter about the breakup with Lynne, but she’d heard an undercurrent in his voice that told her it hadn’t been all sweetness and light. It wasn’t really any of her business and she certainly wasn’t going to ask him about it now, but that curious bone in her body began to tingle. “Do you want coffee?”

“I’d love some, if you’re not in a hurry to get to bed, or anything like that.”

What a line! Hannah thought, but it probably wasn’t and she wasn’t sure if she was disappointed, or not. “Coffee’s no trouble at all. I usually stay up until at least ten on nights before work, and it’s only a little after nine.”

“Okay. You’re the boss. What time do you open your shop?”

“We’ve been opening at nine. When the tourists are here in the summer, we open earlier.”

“Well, I don’t need you to open before ten, so that’ll give you an extra hour.”

“Not really. I promised to deliver Mr. Lawrence’s cheesecake at nine and I still have to bake it. That’ll take me about two hours.”

“Do you want company while you bake it?”

“Sure,” Hannah said, hoping Ross would be content to spend most of that time sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee. Now that he was a big-time movie producer, he might have different ideas about what behavior was appropriate between two friends who hadn’t seen each other for years, but he was a guest in her home and that meant she defined the terms.

By the time Hannah came back with two mugs of coffee, Ross was sitting on the couch and Moishe was on his lap. “He must know it’s a casting couch,” she quipped, and then wished she hadn’t when Ross gave her a devilish smile.

“Well, he’s got the part so he doesn’t have to extend himself any further. His owner, however, could…”

Right on cue, Moishe yowled, interrupting what Hannah was fairly certain had been an opening gambit from her old college chum. Then her overprotective feline undraped himself and settled down on the couch between them, discouraging any possible intimacy.

“Does he do this with everyone?” Ross asked, just as the phone rang.

“Only men,” Hannah answered, reaching out to pick up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hi, Hannah.” Hannah frowned as she recognized Mike’s voice. “I just wanted to tell you that someone drove through the wooden arm on your entrance gate again.”

“I know. It was broken when we came in. It happens almost every weekend. People put their gate cards next to their credit cards and the little magnetic strip gets corrupted. And then, when it won’t open the gate, they get mad and drive right through.”

“You’re probably right, but you don’t know for sure,” Mike sounded very serious. “Someone could have broken in and I thought I should warn you.”

“Okay, I’m warned. Thanks for calling, Mike.”

“Don’t hang up, Hannah! I was just thinking that maybe I should come over so you’re not alone. I mean, you shouldn’t be alone when someone could be out there roaming around with an eye to a possible break-in.”

And the only thing you’re concerned about is my safety, Hannah thought, but instead of saying that, she said, “That’s okay, Mike. I’m not alone.”

“You’re not? But it’s almost ten o’clock and you always go to bed at ten on work nights. I mean, you have to get up early to open the shop tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Not really. Ross just told me that I don’t have to open until ten,” Hannah said, not mentioning that she still had a cheesecake to bake. “Isn’t that just great?”

“Great,” Mike repeated, sounding massively insincere. “So…maybe I’ll take a run out there and do a little patrolling on foot. You know…just to make sure and all. That broken gate has been nagging at me ever since I saw it.”

Gotcha! Hannah thought and started to smile. She’d suspected from the beginning that Mike was calling because he was jealous of the time she was spending with Ross, and now she knew it for a fact. “Ever since you saw it?”

“Yeah. Uh…it’s like this, Hannah. I had to take a run out your way earlier. Somebody thought they spotted a guy on one of those Most Wanted programs. And since I was so close anyway, I decided to drop by to see if you were home. That’s when I noticed the gate.”

“I see,” Hannah said, seeing much more than Mike had hoped she would. “Well, you don’t have to bother. Everything’s perfectly all right out here. Thanks for being concerned, though. I appreciate it. See you tomorrow, Mike.”

“So Mike’s jealous?” Ross asked the moment Hannah hung up the phone.

“You could say that. I might not say it because it wouldn’t be nice, but you could.”

Ross laughed. “He’s jealous, all right. It’s probably because you turned him down.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Michelle told me. I asked if you were dating anyone, and she gave me the lowdown.”

“It seems that everybody knows my business,” Hannah said, trying not to sound churlish.

“Life’s like that a lot. I’ll give him five minutes. How about you?”

“Who?”

“Norman. Mike’s bound to touch base with him. They’re probably in each other’s back pockets, now that you rejected them both. There’s nothing that unites two former rivals more than a third guy coming on the scene.”

“And the third guy would be you?” Hannah asked, noticing his wicked grin and smiling in spite of herself.

“Oh, yes. That would be me. So, do you want to bet, or…” The phone rang again, interrupting Ross’s sentence and he laughed. “There he is.”

“It’s not him.”

“How can you tell?”

“Look at Moishe,” Hannah said, gesturing toward the feline between them.

“What’s wrong with him? He’s all puffed up and his hair is standing on end.”

“Cats do that instinctually when they’re angry or frightened. It’s a defense mechanism to make them look bigger. Moishe gets like this when Mother calls. He’s not infallible, but he gets it right more times than he gets it wrong.” She plucked the receiver from the cradle and brought it up to her ear. “Hello, Mother.”

“I wish you wouldn’t answer the phone like that, Hannah,” Delores complained, but Hannah could tell from her tone of voice that her heart wasn’t it it. “Carrie just called. She said Norman told her that Ross was still out at your place. Don’t you think it’s time you went to bed?”

“What a marvelous idea!” Hannah turned to grin at Ross. “I’ll tell him you suggested it. I really had no idea you were so liberal minded.”

There was a sputtering on the line, a close cousin to the sound of Bill’s old Ford when the plugs were dirty. “That’s not what I meant and you know it!” Delores finally managed to say. “What are you doing, Hannah?”

“We’re having coffee, Mother. And then I’m going to bake a cheesecake. But your suggestion sounds like a lot more fun than…”

“Cut that out right now, Hannah Louise!” Delores interrupted her.

“Just kidding, Mother.”

“Well, it’s not funny! I want you to bake that cheesecake now. And then send him straight home. Don’t forget that you have to face yourself in the mirror in the morning.”

Hannah heard a resounding click and she laughed as she hung up the phone. “I’m a mean person. I gave my mother such a hard time, she hung up on me. A good daughter wouldn’t have done that.”

“Maybe not, but it feels good once in a while, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does!” Hannah turned to give him a grin. “Your five minutes are almost up and Norman hasn’t…” The phone pealed loudly, drowning out the rest of her sentence.

“That’s Norman,” Ross said.

“You’re probably right.” Hannah reached for the phone. “Hello, Norman.”

“Hi, Hannah. I figured you’d rather hear from me than my mother.”

“You got that right!”

“I just wanted to ask…I don’t have anything to worry about with Ross, do I?”

Hannah stifled the urge to give Norman an earful about privacy, and personal freedom, and sticking his nose into someone else’s business, but she didn’t. He’d asked her straight out instead of being devious, and she owed him a straight answer. “If you ever do, I’ll let you know. How’s that?”

“Fair enough,” Norman said. “Good night, Hannah. I love you, you know.”

“I know,” Hannah said, wishing she could return the sentiment, but not wanting to give him false hope. She gently replaced the receiver in the cradle and turned to Ross. “Seems like the whole town’s talking about us.”

“I figured as much. I hate to say it, but maybe I’d better go. There’ll be other times…won’t there?”

“That’s up to you,” Hannah said, giving him a playful grin as she headed for the chair by the door to get his coat.

SALLY’S FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position

Hannah’s Note: This cake is going to fall in the center. There’s just no way around it since there’s no flour to hold it up. That really doesn’t matter, because it’s so delicious. Just be prepared to cover up the crater in the middle with plenty of whipped cream—Sally whips two cups of cream sweetened with 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, spreads it on the top, and shaves some bittersweet chocolate on top of that.

½ cup butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 and 1/3cups—I used Ghirardelli’s)

4 egg yolks (save the whites in a separate bowl for later)

½ cup white (granulated) sugar

½ teaspoon rum extract (or vanilla if you don’t have rum)

4 egg whites (the ones you saved)

½ cup white (granulated) sugar (you’ll use ½ cup in all)

sweetened whipped cream to decorate top

shaved chocolate or chocolate curls to decorate top (optional)

sliced or whole berries to decorate top (optional)

Spray an 8-inch Springform pan with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. (An 8½-inch Springform will also work, but a 9-inch is too big.) Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper (wax paper will also work.) Spray the paper with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Melt for one minute on HIGH, stir, and heat for an additional 20 seconds if necessary. (Some chocolate maintains its shape even when melted. Stir before you microwave for the additional time.) Cover your bowl, or put it back in the microwave, to keep it warm.

In a medium bowl, beat ½ cup of granulated sugar with the egg yolks until they’re a light yellow in color. Mix in the rum extract. (This is easy with an electric mixer, although you can do it by hand.)

Stir a bit of the egg yolk mixture into the melted chocolate to temper it. Then add the chocolate to the egg yolk mixture and stir until it’s well blended.

In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Continue beating while sprinkling in the remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form (about ½ minute.)

Stir just a bit of the egg white mixture into the bowl with the chocolate. Now add the chocolate to the bowl with the rest of the egg whites and gently fold it in with a rubber spatula. Continue folding until the mixture is a uniform chocolate color.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the inside of the rim of the pan, invert the pan on a serving plate, and cool for another 10 minutes. Release the catch on the Springform pan and remove it. DON’T PEEL OFF THE PARCHMENT PAPER UNTIL THE CAKE IS COMPLETELY COOL TO THE TOUCH.