Cherry Cheesecake Murder (4 page)

Lisa nodded and grabbed the steno pad Hannah kept handy for notes about supplies. “I’d better write down flaked coconut. We’re almost out.”

“Good idea. And while you’re at it, make a note to order Jujubees and Milk Duds.”

“Are we going to the movies?” Lisa quipped, looking up with a smile.

“No, the movies are coming to us. Just as soon as we carry in these canisters, we’ll take a coffee break and I’ll tell you all about it.”

COCALATTAS

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

1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, ½ pound)

¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons coconut extract*

½ teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs

1 cup finely chopped coconut (from approximately 2 cups coconut flakes)

2¼ cups flour (don’t sift—pack it down in your measuring cup)

1 cup chocolate chips (6 oz. package—I use Ghirardelli’s)

*
It’s not absolutely positively necessary that you use coconut extract, but the cookies will be much more delicious if you do. If you can’t find it, or you’re making these in the middle of a blizzard and you can’t get to the store, just use vanilla.

Melt the butter. (Nuke it for one and a half minutes on HIGH in a microwave-safe container, or melt it in a pan on the stove over low heat.) Mix in the white sugar and the brown sugar. Add the baking soda, coconut extract, and salt. Add the eggs and stir it all up.

Chop the coconut flakes in a food processor. (Most people like the coconut chopped because then it doesn’t stick between their teeth, but you don’t have to go out and buy a food processor to make these cookies. Just find the finest, smallest flakes you can in the store, spread them out on a cutting board and chop them up a little finer with a knife.) Measure the coconut AFTER it’s chopped. Pack it down when you measure it, add it to your bowl, and stir thoroughly.

Add half of the flour and the chocolate chips. Stir well to incorporate. Finish by mixing in the rest of the flour.

Let the dough “rest” for ten minutes on the counter, uncovered. Drop by teaspoons onto UNGREASED cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a standard sized sheet. If the dough is too sticky to handle, chill it slightly and try again. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Let cool for three minutes, then remove cookies from the baking sheet and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Approximately 6 dozen depending on cookie size.

Lisa’s Note: Herb’s great-grandmother’s recipe calls for chipped chocolate, so I used chocolate chips. Hannah says that if chocolate chips had been available when Herb’s great-grandmother was alive, she probably would have used them.

Hannah’s Note: These are Herb’s new favorite cookies. He says they taste like a crunchy Mounds bar. The Pineapple Right Side Up Cookie Bars that I made especially for him are still his favorite bar cookie.

Hannah was just finishing her last sip of coffee when the phone rang. They’d put the receiver back in the cradle and Lisa had promised to answer it. In less than a minute, her partner was back, grinning from ear to ear.

“That was Mayor Bascomb,” Lisa announced. “He’s going to stop by in a couple of minutes. He said he’s got breaking news that’ll rock Lake Eden to its foundation. Do you think it’s about the movie?”

“It must be. We don’t live in earthquake country.”

Lisa groaned. “I wish I’d thought to say that. Of course I couldn’t have said it, since he’s theoretically Herb’s boss and he might have taken it wrong. I’d better set out some PBJs for him. You know how crazy he is about peanut butter.”

In less than five minutes there was a tap on the door and Mayor Bascomb came in. He wiped his boots on the rug inside the door and sniffed the air appreciatively. “Do I smell peanut butter?”

“Right here, Mayor Bascomb.” Lisa pointed him toward the plate of cookies that sat in the center of the work island and the mayor pulled up a stool.

“No sugar for me today,” he instructed Hannah as she headed for the table with his mug of coffee. “Steffie says I put on a couple of inches around the middle and I’m trying to cut down.”

Hannah didn’t say anything as the mayor reached for a cookie. She watched it disappear in two gulps, followed by a second and then a third. If that was cutting down, she wanted to go on Mayor Bascomb’s diet!

“So what’s this breaking news?” Hannah asked, hoping that she could look appropriately surprised when the mayor told them what they already knew.

“I just got a call from a guy named Barton. He heads up some movie company in Minneapolis. They want to shoot part of a movie right here on Main Street.”

“That’s wonderful!” Hannah said, hoping she sounded surprised enough not to raise suspicion. “But won’t it interfere with business?”

“Yes, and the movie company is prepared to pay for that. I want every business owner to check revenues for the second week in March. That’s when they’re coming. I had to do some fancy talking, but they’re going to pay us last year’s gross profits for the week plus ten percent for the inconvenience.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Mayor,” Hannah complimented him, hiding a grin as he cited the exact figure Michelle had said the Indy Prod usually paid.

“Well, I’d better go,” the mayor stood up and pushed back his stool. “I’ve got to talk to all the other business owners and give them the good news.”

Lisa rushed to put the rest of the PBJ Cookies in a takeout bag for the mayor while Hannah walked him to the back door. Then Hannah collected the mugs they’d used and put them in the dishwasher while Lisa wiped down the work counter.

“He must have forgotten something,” Hannah said, reacting to a loud knock at the door. “I’ll get it.”

Hannah pulled open the door to find her niece, Tracey, holding an empty baby carrier in one hand while her mother brought up the rear. Andrea was juggling the baby, Bethany, in one arm and speaking on her cell phone.

“I said I understand,” Andrea’s voice quavered a bit and it was clear that she was upset, “but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

Hannah watched as her sister clicked off the phone with one perfectly manicured nail and stepped into the warmth of the kitchen. She gave a long sigh that Hannah might very well have labeled as theatrical if she hadn’t heard the quaver in her sister’s voice, and handed the baby to Hannah.

“You take her,” she said, passing the baby over like a football. “Coffee! I need coffee!”

“I’ll get it,” Lisa responded, heading for the kitchen pot.

“She’s stressed,” Tracey explained, setting the baby carrier on the work island. Hannah’s oldest niece could have posed for a cover photo on a children’s fashion magazine with her baby blue winter coat, dainty white boots, and white cap with a pom-pom on top. The only thing that stopped her from being absolutely adorable was the frown that furrowed her forehead. “Just put Beth in her carrier, Aunt Hannah. I’ll rock her if she wakes up.”

Hannah put the baby in the carrier without incident. Her pretty new niece was sleeping so soundly, not even her mother’s frantic call for coffee had awakened her.

Tracey sat down on a stool and pushed the mug of coffee that Lisa brought in front of her mother. “Have some coffee. And eat one of those cookies. They’re chocolate and the endorphins will help. Right, Aunt Hannah?”

“Absolutely,” Hannah said. She would have been amused at the way her oldest niece had picked up on one of her favorite culinary remedies, but this situation sounded serious.

“Do it, Mom.” Tracey nudged her mother. “And then tell Aunt Hannah.”

“Tell me what?” Hannah prompted, once Andrea had taken a big sip of her coffee to chase down a bite of a Lisa’s great-grandmother’s-by-marriage creation.

“Bill’s leaving us!”

“What?”

“What part of leaving us don’t you understand?” Andrea retorted. And then she promptly burst into tears. It was obvious that it wasn’t for the first time that morning, because her eyelids were swollen and the tissue she pulled from her pocket was damp and bedraggled.

Hannah turned to Tracey who, at almost six years of age, seemed to be the most rational person in the small family group. “What’s going on, Tracey?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Tracey snagged a cookie from the plate and took a quick bite. “Daddy’s going to a conference in Miami, and Mommy’s all upset because she can’t go. It’s not like they’re getting a divorce, or anything like that.”

“Well, that’s a relief!” Lisa said, giving Tracey a little hug as she passed out napkins and placed a box of tissues in front of Andrea. “What kind of conference is it?”

“It’s about fitness in law enforcement,” Andrea answered the question. She still sounded stressed, but at least she’d stopped crying. “The only problem is, she’s going too!”

“She who?” Hannah asked. She was almost certain there was a better and clearer way to ask the question, but she didn’t want to bother with that now.

“They’ll pay for her, but they won’t pay for me!”

“Her who?” Hannah asked again, changing the pronoun, but not the intent.

Andrea turned to look at her oldest daughter. “Tracey? Why don’t you go…”

“Away,” Tracey interrupted, picking up the glass of orange juice Lisa had poured for her and using a napkin to grab two more cookies. “I’ll just go have my breakfast in the coffee shop so you can tell Aunt Lisa and Aunt Hannah what I’m too young to hear. I can always ask Bethany what you said later.”

Hannah burst out laughing and so did Lisa. A moment later, even Andrea ventured a small laugh.

“That’s better,” Tracey said, looking proud. “I’ve been trying to get you to laugh ever since Daddy told you he was going.”

Once the swinging door had closed behind Tracey, both Hannah and Lisa spoke up. “Who?” they both asked, within seconds of each other.

Andrea stared at them for a moment and then she gave a giggle that sounded more than a little hysterical to Hannah. “You two sound like a flock of owls.”

“Parliament,” Hannah corrected her. “A flock of owls is called a parliament, but that’s not really important. Who’s going to the fitness conference with Bill?”

“Ronni Ward, that’s who! Remember when Bill hired her to hold exercise classes for the deputies?”

“I remember.”

“Well, her official title is fitness instructor and that means she’s qualified to go along, all expenses paid by the department.”

Hannah reached out to pat her sister’s arm. She could understand why Andrea was upset. Escaping the frozen tundra for a tropical climate, all expenses paid, was a collective Lake Eden fantasy during the winter months.

“The conference is in a hotel that’s right on the beach,” Andrea continued. “And you know what that means!”

Hannah didn’t bother to respond since all three of them already knew that the beach meant bikinis and Ronni Ward was the three-time winner of the annual bikini contest. “But surely you don’t think that Bill…” Hannah stopped speaking as she read the look on her sister’s face. “Have some more chocolate. It’ll help.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Lisa said, pushing the plate of cookies closer to Andrea. “I’d feel the same way. But maybe Ronni will find a really handsome fitness instructor and they’ll…they’ll do exercises together, or something.”

Andrea gave Lisa a halfhearted smile and Hannah could tell she wasn’t convinced. She took another cookie, though, and ate it before she spoke again. “It’s just making me a little crazy that I can’t go, that’s all. It’s so boring in Lake Eden this time of the winter.”

Hannah exchanged glances with Lisa. “When is Bill leaving?”

“The second week in March. And you know as well as I do that nothing ever happens in Lake Eden in March.”

“Well, this year is an exception to the rule,” Hannah stated, sharing a smile with Lisa. And then she proceeded to tell Andrea why Ronni Ward was going to wish she’d stayed home in Lake Eden instead of flying off to Miami with Bill.

PEANUT BUTTER AND JAM COOKIES (PBJs)

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

1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, ½ pound)

2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed)

½ cup white (granulated) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter

2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

½ cup chopped salted peanuts (measure AFTER chopping)

3 cups flour (no need to sift)

approximately ½ cup fruit jam (your choice of fruit)

Microwave the butter in a microwave safe mixing bowl for approximately 90 seconds on HIGH to melt it. Mix in the brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir until they’re thoroughly blended.

Measure out the peanut butter. (I spray the inside of my measuring cup with Pam so it won’t stick.) Add it to the bowl and mix it in. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir it all up. Add the chopped salted peanuts and mix until they’re incorporated.

Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing it in until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

Form the dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to form into balls, chill it for an hour or so, and then try again.)

Make an indentation in the center of the dough ball with your thumb. Spoon in a bit of jam, making sure it doesn’t run over the sides of the cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops are just beginning to turn golden. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: approximately 7 dozen cookies, depending on cookie size.

Hannah’s Note: If you happen to run out of fruit jam and you have cookies left to fill, put a few chocolate chips in the indentation. You’ll have to call those cookies PBCs, but they’re wonderful!

Tracey likes her PBJs with strawberry jam, Andrea prefers apricot, Bill’s wild about blueberry, and Mother loves them with peach. I prefer to eat one of each, just to test them of course.