Cherry Cheesecake Murder (15 page)

“Well I didn’t let you read the letter before I proposed. And I need to know if that’s why you turned me down.”

“No,” Hannah said, quite honestly. “The letter had nothing to do with my decision. I just chose not to choose right then. I explained all that down at the café.”

“Okay, I just had to check. It was really bothering me. I figured if that letter was the only thing standing between fried egg sandwiches at my bachelor kitchen table and happily ever after with you, I’d bite the bullet and publish the darned thing in the Lake Eden Journal.”

Hannah’s eyes widened. “But you said it would just about kill your mother!”

“I didn’t mean it literally. It would embarrass her a lot, but I’m pretty sure she’d get over it eventually.”

“You’d take a chance like that?”

“Yes, if you’d marry me.”

Hannah was silent for a long moment. She knew Norman adored his mother, but he must love her even more. She was tempted, sorely tempted to say yes, but she couldn’t.

“Hannah? Should I take that letter to Rod at the paper? I really will do it, you know.”

“I know. And that’s very sweet, but I can’t marry you.” Hannah saw Norman’s face fall and she softened her response, “…at least not yet.”

“Ouch!” Hannah yelped, staring down at her pet in surprise. Moishe’s ears were back and his fur was beginning to bristle. She might have followed her earlier ouch with something a bit more colorful, but it was Tuesday, Moishe was filming his second scene in Crisis in Cherrywood, and she was sitting in a pew at Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church. Even though Moishe’s claws were needle sharp and her thighs stung from the punctures, swearing would not have been appropriate.

“He’s nervous,” Norman said, collecting Moishe from his perch on Hannah’s lap. “I’ll take him outside and walk him around a little. Just come and get me when they’re ready for him.”

At first Hannah thought Norman had something in his eye, because he winked at her several times. She was about to ask him what was wrong when she spotted the cause for Norman’s wink, her feline’s anxiety, and the little puncture marks Moishe’s claws had left on her denim clad legs. Delores was approaching, striding hurriedly up the center aisle, and not even the lure of Hollywood fame would keep her cat docile when he caught sight of the person at the top of his Least Favorite list.

“Hello, Mother,” she said, giving Norman the high sign to skedaddle, and then patting the pew beside her. “Have a seat.”

“Thank you, dear. I know I’m early, but I wanted to see Moishe’s scene. I missed out yesterday.”

Now this is a fine pickle, Hannah thought, using her father’s term to describe a dilemma. She had to think of some way to get her mother as far away from Moishe as possible.

“I’d love to have you watch,” Hannah said, clutching onto the first excuse that occurred to her, “but Tracey’s going to be disappointed.”

“What do you mean? Andrea told me that Tracey’s first scene isn’t being filmed until later tomorrow.”

“That’s true, but they’re working on her hair and makeup right now down at the Cut ’n Curl. And after that, she’s being fitted for her costumes. I just naturally assumed that you’d want to be there, especially since Bill’s in Miami and Andrea’s dealing with all these stage mother things alone.”

“You’re absolutely right! Thank you for telling me, dear.” Delores rose to her feet with a grateful smile. “Of course she’d never say anything, but with Bill gone and all, she’s bound to want someone with her…not to mention how much better Tracey would feel with Grandma there.”

Hannah watched her mother rush out and she gave a huge sigh of relief. She was free at last, but she’d have to pay the price. Once Andrea figured out what had brought Delores descending on them like a cloud of locusts, she’d owe her sister a whole batch of cookies and then some!

“Incredible!” Clark said, turning to Hannah with a smile. “Just look at that. He’s giving me his best profile.”

Hannah smiled and nodded. She wasn’t sure what else to do. It was true that Moishe was being amazingly cooperative, holding the poses that Dean called for, and not moving until he said that it was a wrap.

“Only one more to go,” Dean said, motioning to Erica, who was waiting in the front pew. “Hannah’s going to put him in your lap. When she’s out of the scene, pick him up in your arms and take him with you when you walk up to the coffin to view your father. Stand there for a minute looking sad, and then go back and sit down.”

Hannah placed Moishe on Erica’s lap and waited for the fireworks to start. Moishe didn’t like being held by people he didn’t know and she hoped the movie company had plenty of insurance. But when Erica picked Moishe up and cuddled him to her chest, something Hannah was sure would earn her a royal slashing with both front and back claws, her cat surprised her so much she gasped out loud.

Instead of lashing out, Moishe gave Erica his best kitty smile, the one where his eyes turned to slits and his cheeks rounded out. And then he let her lug him up to the casket, held in a position that Hannah knew couldn’t possibly be comfortable. When she lifted him up so that he could see inside, Moishe licked her cheek, just as if he knew he was supposed to comfort her. Was her cat an actor? Most assuredly! If Moishe hadn’t been dreaming dreams of stardom, he would have torn the expensive black silk suit Erica was wearing to shreds.

“I’ve got a lead, Hannah!” Lisa rushed up to her the moment Hannah came back into The Cookie Jar.

“That’s nice,” Hannah said, plunking Moishe down on one of the tables and tethering his leash to the leg. “A lead on what?”

“The mini cherry cheesecake appetizers. Dad didn’t recall them when I asked him last night, but this morning he remembered that Mom got the recipe from a neighbor, Mary Hutchinson. She lived across the street from us at the end of the block. But Mary and Marv moved to Iowa and I don’t have a forwarding address. Who do you think might…?” Lisa stopped speaking in midthought and began to smile. “Andrea!”

“Yes, Andrea might know. She’s sold a lot of houses in Lake Eden and I’m sure the seller has to leave a forwarding address.”

“And we can ask her, because she’s here right now!”

Lisa motioned toward the door and Hannah turned to see her sister opening it. Andrea looked about as far from happy as anyone could get and for a brief moment, Hannah was puzzled. Then she remembered sending their mother to the Cut ’n Curl to “advise” Andrea on Tracey’s makeup and costumes. It had taken less than an hour, but the chickens had come home to roost. Her stylish sister had a frown on her face that looked every bit as rugged as the topography of the Pyrenees. Andrea was loaded for bear and Hannah harbored the unfortunate suspicion that she was Ursa Major.

“Well…all right,” Andrea conceded, choosing another of the chocolate truffles Hannah had stashed in the walk-in cooler for precisely this type of emergency. “I guess I forgive you, but it was a dirty trick fobbing Mother off on me that way.”

“I know. It’s just that I don’t like pain and Moishe was grating the skin on my legs like lemon peel.”

“That sounds painful,” Lisa said, giving Hannah her next line.

“It was. And I figured maybe Mother would relieve you and you could come over and see Moishe act.”

“I just came from the church and Reverend Knudson told me you’d already left. How did Moishe do?”

“He’s a natural born actor, at least that’s what Dean called him.”

“I figured he would be. He’s always posing, even when nobody has a camera.”

Lisa looked at Hannah and wiggled her eyebrows. Hannah wiggled back in a silent signal that Andrea was calm enough to answer their question.

“We need some information, Andrea,” Hannah told her. “And you’re the only one who can help us.”

“I am?”

“That’s right. Do you remember who sold the Hutchinson house, kitty-corner from Lisa’s old house?”

“I sold it. It was my first sale as a real estate professional.”

“Wonderful!” Lisa gave a relieved smile. “Do you happen to know where the Hutchinsons moved?”

“Someplace in Iowa. Do you need the street address?”

“Yes,” Hannah said. “Mary has a recipe for mini cherry cheesecakes and we need it for the cocktail scene in the movie.”

“Okay. Just hold on a second and I’ll get it for you.”

To Hannah’s surprise, Andrea took out her cell phone and punched in some numbers. While she was waiting, she took out her pen and her leather-bound notebook and turned to a blank page.

“I’m connected. Hold on,” she said to Lisa and Hannah, and then she punched in more information on the phone keypad. There was another wait and then Andrea started to write on the paper. When she was finished, she punched another couple of numbers and switched off the phone, dropped it back in her purse, and handed the page to Lisa. “Here you go. I got the phone number, too.”

“How?” Hannah asked, staring at her sister in amazement. “You didn’t say a word.”

“That’s because I wasn’t talking to a person. I didn’t feel like running back out to the car to get my laptop, so I used my cell phone to connect to the state real estate board’s central computer. That’s where all the information is stored.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course. You really ought to keep up with things, Hannah. Technology’s great and you’re still stuck in the Dark Ages!”

“Right,” Hannah said, looking around her and realizing that her sister had a point. All but one table was filled with afternoon coffee drinkers and at least three out of five people were talking on a cell phone. She counted four laptop computers, and only one person was making notes with a pen.

“At least get a computer. Everybody’s got a computer. They make life a lot easier.”

“Maybe,” Hannah said. “I can see where you need one, but I’m still not sure about me. I’ll make you a promise, though.”

“Okay. What?”

“The day that Mother gets a computer, I’ll get one too.”

“Oh, sure. Like that’s going to happen!” Andrea gave a short, little laugh, and then she turned to Lisa. “Go and call Mary now.”

“But it’s time for me to go around with the coffee carafe.”

“I’ll do it for you,” Andrea volunteered. “Go ahead and make the call. And tell Mary hi from me.”

Hannah tried not to show how surprised she was as Andrea got up to don an apron. Her sister had never been this eager to wait on tables before. “You don’t have to, you know. I can…”

“No, I want to,” Andrea insisted, picking up the coffee carafe and bending close so that only Hannah would hear. “I want to find out if that trick you’re always talking about really works.”

For a moment, Hannah was puzzled, but then she figured it out. “You’re talking about the invisible caterer trick? The one where people keep right on talking, even if it’s really private, just as if you’re not right there filling up their coffee cups?”

“Yes. Then I’ll have some really juicy movie gossip to tell Bill when he calls tonight.”

Hannah was amused as Andrea went off to refill coffee cups and gather gossip. She got herself another cup of coffee and sat behind the counter trying to relax. She’d been nervous all day, even though Moishe had been on his best behavior and his scenes had gone off perfectly. It wasn’t her cat she was worried about. It was Mike and Norman. And Ross. She thought about Ross, wondering what effect a romance with him would have on the existing triangle she shared with Mike and Norman. Would one more person turn it into a square? Or perhaps a box? It was certainly true that she’d boxed herself in by dating three men!

That brought up another image and Hannah frowned slightly. She’d seen the legendary French mime, Marcel Marceau, perform his routine of a person inside a glass box. Now that her triangle had changed into a box, was she the person inside, trapped there until she chose the right man for her husband?

Lisa emerged from the kitchen less than ten minutes later. She was waving a piece of paper and wearing the broadest smile Hannah had ever seen.

“You got it?” Hannah guessed, already knowing the answer.

“You bet I got it!” Lisa announced sliding into her chair. “These are just perfect, and they’re hardly any work at all. They’re made in cupcake papers and they use store-bought vanilla wafers and cherry pie filling!”

Hannah took the paper and glanced down at the title, Jane’s Mini Cherry Cheesecakes. “Who’s Jane? I thought you got this recipe from Mary Hutchinson.”

“I did, but she got it from her cousin, Jane. What do you think of it?”

Hannah read through one of the easiest and cleverest recipes she’d ever seen. Twenty-four muffin tins were lined with cupcake papers and a vanilla wafer was placed in the bottom. The cheesecake batter was mixed, spooned in on top of the vanilla wafer, and then they were baked. When the mini cheesecakes were cool, they were topped off with three cherries from the can of pie filling and chilled for at least four hours before serving. “That’s certainly easy. But are they good?”

“Mary says they’re wonderful and everybody always asks her to bring them to parties. The really neat thing is the cherry pie filling.”

“Why’s that?” Hannah asked, feeling a bit like the straight man in a two-man comedy routine.

“You need three cherries for each little cheesecake and there are exactly seventy-two cherries in a can of pie filling. That means it always comes out even.”

“Really?”

“That’s what Mary says and she’s been making them for a long time. I want to try them now, Hannah. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine, but how about the cherry pie filling? We don’t have any.”

“I already called Florence and she said she’d let me in the back door of the Red Owl. She’s doing inventory.”

Hannah nodded and Lisa was off in a flash, fairly racing for the kitchen door. When her young partner got enthusiastic about something, she didn’t let anything stand in her way. Hannah knew Herb had figured that out early in his relationship with Lisa. When Lisa had made up her mind she wanted to date him, Herb had found himself asking her out. And when Lisa had decided she wanted to marry him, Herb had found himself proposing. Hannah had a feeling their whole marriage would be that way. And she was just as certain that Herb wouldn’t mind one bit.