Cherry Cheesecake Murder (16 page)

The front door to The Cookie Jar opened and a handsome young man walked in. He was wearing casual clothes, but they fit him perfectly and Hannah had the feeling that they were expensive. She assumed that he was someone from the movie crew she hadn’t met and gave him a smile of welcome.

“Hi, Hannah!” the man greeted her. And then he read the blank expression on her face and laughed. “You don’t recognize me?”

Hannah’s mind churned as fast as a master butter-maker’s tub gone berserk. It was no use. She had no idea who the young man was. She was about to shake her head and admit it when he pointed to the discrete gold stud in one earlobe.

“P. K.?” Hannah guessed, remembering the night engineer from KCOW Television who’d let them watch outtakes from the Hartland Flour Bakeoff.

“It’s me. When they made me a feature reporter, I ditched the ponytail and the beard.”

“You kept the earring,” Hannah commented.

“Yes, but I had to tone it down a little. The diamond was too flashy for the camera. This one’s brushed gold.”

Hannah got P. K. settled with a couple of cookies and a mug of coffee and then she sat down across the table from him. “So…what brings you here?”

“Burke Anson. KCOW sent me out to interview him for my segment of Night News at Ten. I do the entertainment news.”

“Good for you! But I thought you wanted to direct.”

“I do. And I’ll get there eventually, now that I’m moving up the ladder. Burke said I could catch him here between scenes. He wants to do the interview at The Cookie Jar if that’s all right with you.”

“Here?” Hannah was surprised. “Why not on the set?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he thought it would be too distracting. He said to meet him here and since I’m the one asking and not the other way around, he gets to call the shots.”

“Right.” Hannah wondered why she didn’t get to call the shots, especially since Burke wanted to use The Cookie Jar for a backdrop without even asking her.

“We’ll only use a small corner of the coffee shop, and I’ll make sure to mention where we are,” P. K. said, practically reading her mind. “It’ll be good advertising for your business. And Dee-Dee will do it, too. You know how she gives teasers before the commercials?”

“You mean when she announces what’s coming up next?”

“Exactly.” P. K. cleared his throat and went into a credible imitation of Dee-Dee Hughes, co-anchor of Night News. Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Burke Anson at The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, right after these words from our sponsors.”

Hannah laughed. P. K. had mastered Dee-Dee’s voice perfectly. “Do you need me to move tables or anything?”

“No, my cameraman and I can take care of that when Burke gets here. What’s your take on him anyway?”

“Burke?” Hannah asked, stalling for time. She wasn’t about to give P. K. any candid comments he could use on his segment.

“Yeah, Burke. What do you think of him?”

“I really don’t know him that well,” Hannah said diplomatically and also truthfully. “He’s certainly a handsome man.”

“That’s what my girlfriend says.”

“And I heard that he was a good actor.”

“I heard that, too. But I also heard that he’s not exactly buddy-buddy with Dean Lawrence.”

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” Hannah said, also truthfully.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Hannah insisted, shaking her head.

“And you’d tell me if you’d heard?” Hannah shook her head again and P. K. laughed. “I didn’t think so. You’re a reporter’s nightmare, Hannah. You don’t gossip.”

“I try not to,” Hannah said. “I wouldn’t be in business long if I repeated everything I heard.”

As if on cue, Andrea came rushing over with her coffee carafe. “Guess what I just heard! Sophie, she’s the wardrobe mistress, told me that…”

“Tracey’s costumes were just beautiful,” Hannah interrupted what she feared was about to be a juicy tidbit. “I know. She told me this morning. Here’s an old friend you probably won’t recognize, Andrea. It’s…”

Now it was Andrea’s turn to interrupt, “P. K! It’s really good to see you again.”

“How did you recognize him when I didn’t?” Hannah wanted to know.

“The KCOW logo on his company pin. I noticed it that night we watched the outtakes of the Hartland Flour Bakeoff. P. K.’s pin has a purple O and everybody else’s O is blue.”

“You’re right,” P. K. sounded pleased. “They gave us pins for Christmas two years ago and somebody goofed on this one. They wanted to send it back and get another one for me, but I said I wanted it because it was different.”

Hannah stared at the tiny logo pin and shook her head in disbelief. It was so small, she hadn’t even seen it. Andrea had not only seen the pin, she’d also noticed that the color on one of the letters was incorrect. Her sister had amazing powers of observation when it came to clothing and fashion.

“So what are you doing now, P. K.?” Andrea sat down in the chair next to Hannah’s.

“I’m the entertainment reporter on Night News at Ten.”

“I see,” Andrea said, flashing Hannah a grateful look. “I haven’t watched the news for a while. I’ll have to tune in.”

“So how do you like having a movie filmed practically in your backyard?”

Andrea laughed. “It’s not even close to my backyard, but it’s in our mother’s store. They’re using Granny’s Attic for a set.”

“Really?” P. K. pulled out a notebook and made a note. “I heard that they were casting some locals. Did anyone you know get a part?”

“We know everyone who got a part!” Hannah couldn’t resist saying. “This is Lake Eden. It’s not that big.”

P. K. looked a little sheepish. “True. How about the big parts? Do you know the little girl who was cast?”

Andrea looked at Hannah, and Hannah looked right back. There was a breathless moment where Hannah waited for Andrea to say something, and Andrea waited for Hannah to say something. The silence stretched out for several heartbeats and then they both burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“My daughter!” Andrea said.

“My niece,” Hannah replied.

And then both of them started to talk at once, telling P. K. about how he should interview Tracey, and how she was bound to be famous when Crisis in Cherrywood hit the theaters.

“Not at all,” Burke replied, looking straight into the camera as he responded to P. K.’s question about their exhausting shooting schedule and whether it was taking a toll on the quality of the production. “Our director, Mr. Dean Lawrence, won’t let us get by with anything less than our best performance.”

Hannah hid a grin. Burke was flattering the Bad Boy director outrageously. So much for the rumor that Burke and Dean didn’t get along! She listened to P. K.’s next question, something about their full-dress rehearsals, but before she could hear Burke’s answer, Andrea summoned her from the kitchen doorway.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked when she saw her sister’s expression. Andrea looked panic-stricken.

“P. K. wants to interview me next. I said yes, but now I wish I hadn’t. What am I going to say?”

“He’ll ask you a question. All you have to do is answer it.”

“But what if I don’t know the answer?”

“You’re panicking for no reason and it’s time to buck up. Come on, Andrea. Don’t forget you’re a real estate agent.”

“You’re right,” Andrea said, and she squared her shoulders. “I’m a real estate professional and what I don’t know, I can make up. They taught us how to do that in real estate college.”

“You mean to call something a gourmet kitchen if it’s got a spice rack on the wall? And to say a house is cozy if it’s small and cramped?”

Andrea’s mouth dropped open and then she started to laugh. She laughed so hard, tears rolled down her cheeks. “You really shouldn’t say that, Hannah. You’re making fun of my chosen profession.”

“Well…maybe I am. Just a little. But I’ll bet you’re not nervous anymore.”

“Of course I’m nervous. I’m so nervous, I could…” Andrea stopped speaking and gave her older sister a wide-eyed look. “You’re right. I’m not nervous anymore! How did you do that?”

“You can’t be nervous and amused at the same time. They’re both powerful emotions and one overrides the other. If your sense of humor kicks in, you lose your case of nerves…at least according to the professor who taught the psychology class I took in college.”

“Fascinating,” Andrea said, giving Hannah a probing look. “What else did he say? Are there any other emotions that cancel each other out?”

“There’s another pair that I remember. He said you can’t be angry and amorous at the same time.”

“Amorous?”

“You know,” Hannah said, and then she made little kissing noises.

“Oh, that amorous,” Andrea said, beginning to grin. “Thanks for telling me, but I think I already knew that. It must have been instinctive.”

“You’re probably right,” Hannah said with a laugh. Her psychology professor had insisted that particular phenomenon was the secret of any happy marriage.

“All the same, maybe I’d better put it to the test,” Andrea said with an impish smile. “Bill can try it out on me, right after he gets home from Miami with Ronni Ward.”

“So what do you think?” Lisa asked, presenting Hannah with the tray of Mini Cherry Cheesecakes. “Will Mr. Lawrence like them?”

“They look fantastic, and I think that’s more important than how they taste.”

“Hannah!” Lisa looked positively shocked. “How can you say such a thing?”

“I was thinking about Dean Lawrence, not us. We care how things taste more than how they look.”

“Oh, now I understand. And you’re right about him. He’s a very shallow person. Everything is me, me, me.”

“How so?” Hannah asked, agreeing with her young partner completely but wanting Lisa to enumerate her reasons.

“First of all, he just assumes that he’s irresistible to women.”

“You noticed?”

“I couldn’t help but notice. I told you about refilling his coffee and how he kept right on talking and didn’t even say thank you.”

“I remember.”

“Well, that was better than what happened just a couple of minutes ago when I went around with the coffee carafe again.”

“What happened?”

“He made a pass and I won’t go into detail. Let’s just say he doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself. I wasn’t expecting it and it startled me so much, I almost poured hot coffee down his collar.”

“Maybe you should have.”

Lisa giggled. “Maybe you’re right. If he ever does it again, I’ll figure out a way to let him know it’s not appreciated. But there’s another thing about him I noticed.”

“What’s that?”

“He believes that appearance is more important than substance. That’s the earmark of a charlatan…or a magician. It’s all an illusion. And it’s all accomplished by misdirected attention. Smoke and mirrors. You know what I mean, right?”

Hannah stared at her partner with new respect. “That sounds right to me. But how do you know that?”

“Herb’s an amateur magician. He says he’s not good enough to take his act public yet, but he’s done a few tricks for me, and I think he’s simply fantastic. He started practicing in high school, but he never showed anyone until he married me.”

It was a new fact about Herb she’d never known, and Hannah added it to the complicated mix that made up her high school classmate. “I had no idea. He really ought to perform at the community center on Halloween.”

“I think so, too. He almost did it last year, but he said he wasn’t quite ready. Maybe this year.”

“Maybe,” Hannah said, taking the lesson she’d just learned to heart. Living in a small town was deceptive. Just when you thought you knew everything about everybody, something came along to knock that theory to smithereens.

JANE’S MINI CHERRY CHEESECAKES

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

2 eight-ounce packages softened cream cheese (room temperature)*

¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

24 vanilla wafer cookies

24 cupcake liners (48 if you’re like me and you like to use double papers)

1 can cherry pie filling, chilled (21 ounces net weight)

*
Use brick cream cheese, the kind that comes in a rectangular package. Don’t use whipped cream cheese unless you want to experiment—whipped cream cheese, or low-fat, or Neufchatel might work, but I don’t know that for sure.

Line two muffin pans (the kind of pan that makes 12 muffins each) with paper cupcake liners. Put one vanilla wafer cookie in the bottom of each cupcake paper, flat side down.

Chill the unopened can of cherry pie filling in the refrigerator while you make the mini cheesecakes.

You can do all of this by hand, but it’s easier with an electric mixer on slow to medium speed:

Mix the softened cream cheese with the white sugar until it’s thoroughly blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Then mix in the lemon juice and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy.

Spoon the cheesecake batter into the muffin tins, dividing it as equally as you can. When you’re through, each cupcake paper should be between half and two-thirds full. (They’re going to look skimpy, but they’ll be fine once they’re baked and you put on the cherry topping.)

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top has set and has a satin finish. (The center may sink a bit, but that’s okay—the topping will cover that.)

Cool the mini cheesecakes in the pans on wire racks.

When the cheesecakes are cool, open the can of cherry pie filling and place three cherries on top of every mini cheesecake. Divide the cherry juice equally among the 24 mini cheesecakes.

Refrigerate in the muffin tins for at least 4 hours before serving. (Overnight is even better.) Then take them out of the tins, carefully remove the cupcake papers, and place them on a silver platter for an elegant dessert at a finger food party.

Hannah’s Note: I made these with Comstock Dark Cherry Pie Filling and came up 4 cherries short. Lisa’s can of regular cherry pie filling had 72 cherries, 3 for each of her Mini Cherry Cheesecakes.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you prefer, you can use fresh fruits glazed with melted jelly instead of the canned cherry pie filling. You can also use any other pie filling you like.