Plum Pudding Murder (15 page)

“Larry told you all this?”

“No, Courtney did. She’s friendly and all. It’s just that she’s serious about business. I can’t really blame her. It’s her husband’s money and all, and he probably worked hard for it.”

“But you and the rest of the elves wish she’d loosen up a little?”

Krista gave a little shrug. “I guess. But when we’re talking about something that doesn’t have anything to do with business or money, she’s a lot of fun.”

The door opened and the two boys came in, their arms laden with cookie boxes. “Where do you want these, Krista?” one of them asked.

“Just stack them on the counter for now,” Krista answered, moving to the end of the counter to make room. “Are there more?”

“One more load.” The boys headed back out and Krista began to put the cookies away in the display case. She was almost through when the door opened again and a family of six came in. Another group of four followed, and Hannah knew that her time for a private conversation with Krista was over.

“I’ll see you later.” Hannah gave a wave as she got up and headed for the door. She was going to stop in at the Crazy Elf Toy Shop to see if she agreed with Krista’s assessment of Courtney.

When Hannah stepped outside, she was prepared to face the arctic winter again. But to her surprise, the wind had died down and it was appreciably warmer. Part of that warmth could not be credited to the cessation of wind chill. While she’d been talking with Krista, the boys had lit the stationary gas heaters that were placed along the walkways, and it was really quite comfortable as long as one kept to the designated path.

Twilight was approaching and the sky was a lovely shade of delft blue that reminded Hannah of walks home from grade school in winters past. Lavender blue shadows crept across the patches of white snow, and the warm yellow light that spilled out through the windows of the Crazy Elf Toy Shop cast golden rectangles that were turned into trapezoids by the uneven icy surface.

Hannah pushed open the door expecting to hear a cacophony of electronic toy voices, but all she heard were traditional Christmas carols played at an unexpectedly low volume.

“Hello there,” a non-recorded, obviously human voice greeted her from the front counter and Hannah looked up at the woman standing there. She was wearing a green velvet full-shirted jumper over a white lace blouse with puffy sleeves. There was a green velvet Santa hat on her head and she was the sole occupant of the toy shop. She was wearing a similar outfit to the one that Andrea had described. The only difference was that today it was green velvet and last night it had been red velvet.

“Courtney?” Hannah asked, almost sure that this must be Larry’s fiancée.

“Yes. And you’re…”

“Hannah Swensen. I bake the…”

“Cookies for the Crazy Elf Cookie Shop!” Courtney broke in to finish the sentence. “I’m glad to meet you, Hannah. Your cookies are delicious. Larry told me about the plum pudding and I’m looking forward to trying that, too.”

“Thank you.” Hannah walked over and picked up one of the crocheted animals that Andrea had bought for Bethie and Tracey. For one nanosecond she considered buying it as a toy for Moishe, but she figured it would last all of thirty seconds before the yarn was unraveled and the stuffing was in fluffy little pieces on her living room rug.

“These are really cute,” she said, holding it up so that Courtney could see,

“They’re darling. A local woman makes them for us.”

“Twenty dollars is a lot for a stuffed animal.” Hannah felt a bit like a traitor to the Murphy family as she made her comment, but she wanted to find out what Courtney would say.

“I know, but you always pay more for handmade. These aren’t produced in a big factory somewhere overseas and sewn together by workers who make less than a dollar a day.”

“That’s true. Are these made by Jessica Murphy?”

“That’s right!” Courtney smiled. “She’s simply wonderful at it. Larry contracted with her to produce them for us.”

“The markup is a hundred percent, isn’t it?”

“A hundred percent?” Courtney looked astonished. “Good heavens, no! It’s only twenty percent. Larry buys them for sixteen dollars apiece and we sell them for twenty. Wherever did you get the idea that the markup was a hundred percent?”

Hannah was embarrassed. She shouldn’t have brought up the subject. “Jessica’s brother-in-law told me she gets ten dollars apiece.”

“Well, he’s wrong. I know Larry pays sixteen for each one. He gives me all the paperwork for the toy shop and I file it right here in back of the counter.” Courtney looked disturbed for a moment and then her expression cleared. “Maybe Jessica’s brother-in-law misunderstood what she told him. Or maybe she didn’t want him to know how much money she was making.”

“That’s possible,” Hannah said, and she was saved from further embarrassment when the bell on the door tinkled and Luanne walked in. There was a smile on her face and Hannah surmised that her conference with Larry had gone well.

“Hello, Luanne,” Courtney greeted her.

“Hi, Courtney.” Luanne came up to hand Courtney a large envelope with the paperwork. “Everything you gave me is in here, along with my work. I’m really sorry, but I couldn’t get the profit and loss statement to come out right, and the trial balance was a disaster.”

“That’s all right,” Courtney said, smiling at Luanne. She didn’t seem a bit surprised by Luanne’s confession and Hannah wondered about that. “I hope you didn’t work too long on it.”

“She worked all night,” Hannah said, knowing that Luanne would never mention it.

“Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Luanne. I never meant for you to spend over an hour or two on it.” Courtney opened the register and took out some bills. “I promised you forty dollars, but I’m going to give you fifty. And you can have that dollhouse for your daughter at our cost.”

“Oh, thank you! But you don’t have to pay me. Mr. Jaeger already did.”

“Larry paid you?”

“Yes. Since you weren’t here when we stopped in earlier, I went along with Hannah when she delivered her plum pudding and sample cookies to Mr. Jaeger. She mentioned that I was doing some work for you and he asked me about it. I said that I must have made a mistake because the trial balance wouldn’t come out right, and he offered to help me find my mistake.”

“Did Larry find it?” Courtney asked her.

“No. He said my work was correct as far as it went. And then he told me not to worry, that it wasn’t my fault because there was some information I didn’t have and that’s why the columns wouldn’t balance.” Luanne looked a bit uncomfortable. “I really didn’t understand a lot of what he said. I think that’s because I’ve only had one bookkeeping class. But I’m sure it would have made sense to somebody who’s a real accountant.”

“Did he ask you why I wanted you to go over the paperwork?”

“No. I thought you’d told him about it because he didn’t seem surprised at all. We talked for about five minutes and he told me to contact him after I graduated and maybe he’d have extra work for me. And then he told me to bring all the paperwork back to you and tell you that he’d already paid me.”

Courtney put the money back in the register and Hannah noticed that her hands were shaking. “I hope he paid you plenty.”

“Oh, he did. And that’s why I can pay retail for Susie’s dollhouse. I really appreciate this work you gave me, Courtney. And I’m sorry if I was out of line talking to Larry about it.”

“Relax. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Courtney told her. “Now I want you to take that dollhouse floor sample and put it under the tree for your daughter. We discount the floor samples anyway and you can consider it a little extra gift for trying so hard to balance the books for me.”

“Really?” Luanne looked as if she were about to argue and Hannah knew how she felt about taking anything she didn’t think she deserved.

“Go ahead,” Courtney told her. “You ought to have more than money for working so hard and so long.”

“I’ll help you carry it,” Hannah said, taking matters into her own hands before Luanne could think of some other reason to object. Somehow she had to teach that girl not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Perhaps Luanne was oblivious, but it was obvious to Hannah that Courtney had never expected Luanne to be able to balance the books. She’d just wanted a second opinion. And now that she had it and Larry knew she was checking up on him, there might be a fireworks show later tonight that had nothing to do with pyrotechnics.

FUDGE-MALLOW COOKIE BARS

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

¾ cup all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup softened butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)

2 eggs

2 one-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (I used Baker’s)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but pecans are fine, too)

10.5 ounce package miniature marshmallows (you’ll use 3/4 of a package—I used Kraft Jet Puffed)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Hannah’s Note: This is a lot easier with an electric mixer, but you can also make these cookie bars by hand.

Melt your chocolate first so that it has time to cool. Unwrap the 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate and place them in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat them for 1 minute on HIGH. Let them sit in the microwave for another minute and then take them out and stir them to make sure they’re melted. (If they’re not, heat them again in 15 second intervals until they are.) Set the bowl with the chocolate on the counter to cool while you mix up the rest of the recipe.

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Beat them together on slow speed until they’re combined.

Add the softened butter and beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and beat well.

Check your chocolate to make sure it’s not so hot it’ll cook the eggs. If it’s cool enough, add it to your bowl. If it’s not, have a cup of coffee and wait until it is. Mix in the chocolate thoroughly.

Add the vanilla and the half cup of chopped nuts. Mix thoroughly.

Grease (or spray with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray) a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. Pour in the batter and smooth the top as evenly as you can with a rubber spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Take the pan from the oven and immediately pour the miniature marshmallows in a single layer over the top. This should take about ¾ of a 10.5-ounce bag. Work quickly to spread them out as evenly as you can.

Cover the pan with foil crimped down tightly over the sides, or with a spare cookie sheet for 20 minutes. You want the miniature marshmallows to melt on the bottom and attach themselves nicely to the hot chocolate fudge bars.

When 20 minutes have passed, melt 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes. Stir the chips smooth and spread the melted chocolate over the marshmallows as evenly as you can. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool.

When the bars are cool and the chocolate on top has hardened, cut them into brownie-sized pieces and serve. If you want to hasten the hardening of the chocolate, slip the pan into the refrigerator for thirty minutes or so, and then take it out to cut the bars.

Arrange the bars on a pretty platter and serve for a luscious treat. You can store any leftovers in a tightly-covered container, but Lisa and I bet there won’t be any!

Yield: Each pan makes approximately 24 bars.

Lisa says Herb loves these because they remind him of the chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies he used to eat as a child. He confessed he traded them with his friends, giving them the homemade cookies Marge made and put in the lunchbox for the “store boughten” marshmallow cookies. Lisa says that if you know Marge Beeseman, please don’t tell her that her son did this!

H annah heard Lisa’s delighted laugh as she took the last pan of Christmas Lace Cookies out of the oven. Herb must be back from his trip with Mayor Bascomb. She waited a minute until the cookies were set, and then she pulled the parchment paper and cookies from the pan and slipped them onto the baker’s rack. She filled a plate with cooled cookies and went out through the swinging restaurant-type door that separated their kitchen from the coffee shop to see who had arrived.

“Hello, dear.”

Delores was the first to greet her. Hannah gave her a smile that included all four of the guests seated at the table at the back of the shop. There was her mother, Herb, Mayor Bascomb, and a familiar-looking woman that Hannah couldn’t quite place.

“Look who’s here, dear,” Delores continued. “It’s Miss Whiting from class.”

Of course! Hannah recognized her now, but the out-of-context phenomenon had confused her at first. She’d seen Miss Whiting last night in a completely different setting. Then she’d been wearing a tailored suit of navy blue wool with a cream-colored silk blouse, and she’d been standing in front of the blackboard in her mother’s small business class. In today’s setting, the community college teacher seemed much younger, but perhaps that was because she was dressed in jeans and a fluffy pink sweater with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Hi, Miss Whiting,” Hannah greeted her. “Did you come to check on our homework?”

Miss Whiting laughed and shook her head. “I stopped in at Granny’s Attic to pick up a Christmas gift. I had no idea I’d run into one of my students. And then your mother brought me here to try a slice of your plum pudding.”

“How do you like it?”

“It’s excellent. Lisa mentioned that you’ll be selling it at the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot.”

Hannah turned to look at Lisa, who nodded. “Krista called while you were in the kitchen and she put in an order for five Minnesota Plum Puddings every day.”

“That’s great. I was hoping they’d like it.” Hannah set the plate down on the table. “Have one of our new Christmas Lace Cookies. We’re testing them today.”

Never one to refuse a free cookie, Mayor Bascomb reached for one. He took a bite and looked a bit surprised. “These are good and they’re much more substantial than they look.”