Christmas Cake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “I’d like to help you if you’ll tell me what’s wrong,” he said.

  He was clearly concerned for her. She could see it in his eyes. “It’s just that I . . . I’m not . . . ready!” she told him.

  “Babies don’t wait for you to be ready.” He reached across the space between them to take her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve delivered hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of babies. You’ll be perfectly fine and so will your baby.”

  “That’s very . . . comforting,” she said, giving a sigh of relief. “And it’s very kind of you to be concerned.”

  “Nonsense,” he dismissed her tearful gratitude with a wave of his hand. “Is this your first baby?”

  “Yes.”

  He reached up to ring for the porter. “You still have time to prepare. Did you eat anything besides toast for breakfast this morning?”

  “Yes, I did,” she told him, beginning to feel more comfortable at answering his questions.

  “What did you eat?”

  “I . . . I had strawberry jelly on my toast. And I had cream and sugar in my coffee.”

  He shook his head. “That won’t do, my dear. You’ll need . . .” He stopped and gave a little wave as the porter appeared at the entrance to the club car. “Ah! Here’s Alvin now.” He turned to the porter. “My niece needs something good to eat, Alvin. What would you recommend that’s light, but packed full of nourishing goodness?”

  The porter looked surprised. “Doc! I didn’t know that she was your niece!”

  “Well, she is. Introduce yourself to Alvin, my dear.”

  She smiled and it was a genuine smile. “I’m Rose,” she said, giving him the first name that popped into her head. “It’s nice to meet you, Alvin.”

  * * *

  Lisa gave an audible gasp. “Do you think Essie was writing about our Rose?”

  “No.” Delores answered quickly. “Rose McDermott has lived in Lake Eden all her life. She dated Hal in high school and married him right after they graduated. They worked for the former owners of the café, and when they retired, Rose and Hal bought it. I know for a fact that Rose has never been anywhere near New York.”

  Lisa looked a bit downcast. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry I thought that it could be her.”

  “That’s all right,” Hannah reassured her. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  Michelle turned to smile at her friend. “I was thinking the very same thing.” Then she turned to Hannah. “Please read more, Hannah. This is getting really exciting.”

  * * *

  “Nice to meet you too, Miss Rose,” Alvin said with a smile. “My apologies. I didn’t know you were the Doc’s niece.”

  “You couldn’t have treated me any better if you’d known,” she told him.

  “So what would you recommend, Alvin?” the doctor asked him.

  “The best thing would be oatmeal, but it weighs heavy on your insides. And it’s warm in here, so I wouldn’t say oatmeal. How about scrambled eggs with cheese?”

  “What kind of cheese, Alvin?” the doctor asked him.

  “Cream cheese. None of that artificial cheese that isn’t cheese at all. And I might mix the cream cheese with a little sharp cheddar or shredded parmesan for flavor. And I’d serve those scrambled eggs with biscuits and plenty of butter.”

  She smiled at Alvin. “Just hearing you describe it is making me hungry.”

  Alvin looked pleased as he turned to the doctor. “How about it, Doc? Do you want me to go make it?”

  “Yes. And while you’re at it, make one plate for me, too. I didn’t think I’d be hungry this soon, but my niece is right. I’d like to try those scrambled eggs of yours.”

  He waited until the porter had left and then he turned to her again. “Is Rose your real name?” he asked her.

  There was no need to lie, so she shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

  “Will you tell me your real name?”

  “No, it would put you in danger.”

  He gave a slight nod. “So you’re running away from something or someone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your husband?”

  “No! Never!” She was horrified at the thought and it showed clearly on her face. “I love my . . .” She stopped speaking and tears filled her eyes. “I loved my husband.”

  He was silent for a moment, obviously thinking about what she’d told him.

  “Your husband is dead?” he asked, drawing the obvious conclusion.

  “Yes,” she said . . . and then she glanced down at the newspaper he’d handed back to her. “They killed him!”

  “Who killed him?”

  “I can’t tell you. That would put you in danger, too.”

  “And you’re running away from the people who killed your husband.”

  It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway. “Yes, I promised him that I’d keep our baby safe.”

  “The people who killed your husband would hurt you if they found you?”

  “They’d kill me,” she corrected him. “And they’d kill our baby, too. I promised my husband that I’d go somewhere I’d never gone before and hide until he came for me. But now he can’t . . .” She stopped to swallow past the lump of sorrow in her throat and blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes. “He can’t come for me now.”

  “Alvin told me that you were traveling to California.”

  “I bought a ticket to California.”

  He caught her meaning immediately. “But you’re not going to California?”

  “No, but it’s where they’ll expect me to go.”

  He smiled at her. “So you’re throwing them off your trail. That’s very clever.”

  “It was my husband’s idea.” She stopped to dab at her face with a tissue. “I think he knew all along that they would kill him. But . . . but he . . . he stayed behind to give me a chance to get away.”

  “I can see why you loved him,” he said.

  They were both silent for a long moment and then he extended his hand to her. “Shake hands with your uncle Jim. I’m the town doctor in Lakeview, Minnesota. I have a clinic in my house there, and I think that you should come home and stay with me.”

  She studied his face and saw that he was perfectly sincere. He was kind, he was caring, and he was the right age to be her grandfather. If he was right about when the baby would be born, it could be dangerous for her and for the baby to continue traveling. No one would find her in Minnesota, especially if he told everyone that she was his niece. Was this the right solution for her and for her baby?”

  “Uncle Jim,” she took his hand and smiled. “Meet your new niece.”

  * * *

  There was complete silence as Hannah closed the notebook and set it down on the table by the side of her chair. Delores, Michelle, Lisa, and Hannah simply stared at each other.

  “Oh, my!” Delores said at last. “I hope she’s going to be all right.”

  “Do you think the doctor is right about when she’ll have the baby?” Lisa asked.

  Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t been reading ahead. I wanted to, but I didn’t think it was fair to the rest of you.”

  “I don’t know how you can keep from reading ahead now,” Michelle told her. “It’s just too exciting to put down.”

  “Hannah has always shown great restraint,” Delores told them.

  “I know,” Michelle said, turning to look at Hannah. “If I was the one who had those notebooks, I would have locked myself in my room and read until the very end.”

  Hannah smiled. “Perhaps I’d do that, but Grandma Knudson said there isn’t an end. Essie said she couldn’t decide how to end her story and that’s the reason she stopped writing.”

  “No ending?” Lisa asked, looking at Hannah in dismay.

  Delores sighed. “Hannah’s right. Essie told us that she never finished her story.”

  “Oh!” Lisa sounded as if she wanted to cry. “I can’t believe there’s no ending.”

  “I have an
idea,” Hannah said. “Perhaps if we read through everything Essie has written so far, we can think of the perfect ending for her book.”

  “You mean . . . we could finish it?” Michelle asked, staring at her older sister in awe.

  “Yes. Or at least we could try. And if we tell Essie our ideas for ending it, she might decide to choose one of our ideas and actually finish her story.”

  “That’s a marvelous suggestion, dear!” Delores complimented her. “As a matter of fact, I think I already have an idea.”

  “I have one, too,” Lisa said.

  “You’re right,” Michelle nodded. “Essie may have pointed the way to the ending and all we have to do is recognize where she was going and why.”

  Hannah smiled at her youngest sister. “Let’s exchange the ideas we have so far over coffee and something else that might unleash our creativity.”

  “What would that be?” Lisa asked her.

  “Chocolate, of course. I made something else to test out the bakery’s stovetop burners and the walk-in cooler. I brought home a box of them and put them in Mother’s refrigerator.” She turned to Delores. “Since Lisa and Michelle can’t help with the champagne at the Christmas Ball, I thought we might have them pass plates of my creation around while you and Andrea serve the champagne. I think they’d go very well with champagne or white wine.”

  “That sounds lovely, dear,” Delores commented.

  “What did you make, Hannah?” Michelle asked her.

  “Truffles . . . of a sort. They’re not traditional, but they’re really easy to make and the recipe sounded wonderful. A college friend gave it to me right after Nutella first came out.”

  “The chocolate hazelnut spread?” Lisa asked her.

  “Yes, I’m calling them Chocolate Hazelnut Bon-Bons. They’re a little like the Rum Balls that I always make for Christmas.”

  “I’d love to try one!” Delores volunteered.

  Hannah, Michelle, and Lisa all turned to stare at the woman who’d eaten five cookies after polishing off a small dinner salad, a Double-double burger, a side of French tries, and half of Michelle’s onion rings at the Corner Tavern.

  “Maybe we should wait until tomorrow night,” Michelle suggested, trying hard to keep the teasing expression off her face. “You can’t possibly be hungry, can you, Mother?”

  “I may not be hungry, but I know my responsibilities,” Delores said quickly. “I’m obligated to taste one, or perhaps two, of Hannah’s new creation.” She stopped and gave a big sigh. “After all, this may be the last chance I get.”

  “What do you mean?” Hannah felt an immediate concern. Was her mother wearing herself out, planning the Christmas Ball? Was she genuinely ill? “Is there something wrong, Mother?”

  “Yes, there is something wrong.” Delores looked very serious. “You see, I tried on the outfit I planned to wear to the Christmas Ball when I came home this afternoon. It’s my size, but it’s a little too tight for me now. And that means I’m starting a diet at the end of the week. You girls have three more days to fatten me up before I can never eat anything good again!”

  “Never?” Lisa sounded horrified.

  “Well . . . perhaps never isn’t precisely the right word. But I can’t eat anything good again until I lose at least three pounds.”

  They were silent for a moment and then Lisa spoke up. “Maybe you don’t have to go on a diet.”

  Delores looked surprised. “What do you mean, Lisa?”

  “Is the outfit you were planning to wear to the ball your favorite outfit?”

  “Not really. It’s just that it’s the dressiest outfit that I have and I wanted to wear something dressy.”

  “Then I have a solution for you,” Lisa said. “You can eat all the truffles and bon-bons you want if you just go out and buy a new outfit.”

  CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BON-BONS

  No need to preheat oven—this is a no-bake recipe.

  ½ cup Nutella

  ¼ cup salted butter (½ stick, 2 ounces) softened

  ¼ cup finely chopped hazelnuts (measure AFTER chopping)

  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar (do not sift)

  1 small box food picks or long toothpicks

  2 cups (12 ounces by weight package) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Nestlé)

  1 rounded Tablespoon salted butter, softened

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you can’t find food picks in your grocery store, you can buy them in a party store or a restaurant supply store. They look like toothpicks, but they have a colored cellophane decorations on one end and you’ve probably seen them used on cheese platters or with platters of little appetizers.

  Prepare your pan by lining a cookie sheet with wax paper.

  Use a wooden spoon or fork to mix the Nutella with the ¼ cup softened butter in a medium-size bowl.

  Sprinkle the ¼ cup finely chopped hazelnuts on top and mix them in thoroughly.

  Add the vanilla extract and mix that in.

  Add the powdered sugar in half-cup increments, mixing well after each addition.

  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour so that the mixture will firm up. (Longer than one hour is fine, too.)

  Using impeccably clean hands, roll pop-in-your-mouth-size balls from the Nutella, butter, and hazelnut mixture.

  Stick a food pick into each ball and place the completed balls on your prepared cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: The food picks will make it easier for you to dip the balls in melted chocolate chips once they’ve firmed up.

  Place the cookie sheet with your Chocolate Hazelnut Bon-bons in the freezer for at least 1 hour. (Overnight is even better.)

  When your chocolate hazelnut balls are frozen, prepare to melt your chocolate coating. Leave your candy balls in the freezer until your chocolate coating has melted and you are ready to dip them.

  Place your 2 cups of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the rounded Tablespoon of butter on top. (I used a 1-quart Pyrex measuring cup to do this.)

  Heat the chocolate chips and butter on HIGH for 1 minute. Let them sit in the microwave for an additional minute and then stir to see if the chocolate chips are melted. If they’re not, continue to heat in 30-second increments followed by 30 seconds of standing time until you can stir them smooth.

  Take the cookie sheet with the candy balls out of the freezer and set it on the counter. Using the food picks as handles, dip the balls, one by one, in the melted chocolate and then return them to the cookie sheet. Work quickly so that the balls do not soften.

  Place the cookie sheet with the Chocolate Hazelnut Bon-Bons in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

  When you’re ready to serve, remove the balls from the refrigerator, arrange them on a pretty plate or platter, and leave the food picks in place so that your guests can use them as a handle when they eat them.

  Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you plan to serve these at a party, you can either leave the food picks in place or pull them out and use cake decorator frosting with a star tip to cover the hole with a pretty frosting rosette. Then, if you like, you can place the candy, rosette up, in fluted paper candy cups.

  Yield: Approximately 3 dozen Chocolate Hazelnut Bon-Bons depending on the size of the candy balls.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “These are incredible, dear!” Delores declared, after tasting her first Chocolate Hazelnut BonBon. “And they would be divine with champagne.”

  Hannah smiled. Her mother’s approval meant a lot to her. “Do you think we should put them on trays and pass them?”

  “Yes! That would be perfect, dear. What are you planning to wear to the event?”

  “I’m . . . not sure.”

  “Do you have a cocktail dress or a ball gown?”

  Hannah shook her head. “No, I’ve never attended anything like the Christmas Ball before.”

  “Well, that settles it the
n!” Delores smiled at all three of them. “I’m buying a gown for Andrea and I’ll buy something dressy for all three of you. What’s your favorite color, Lisa?”

  “My favorite color?” Lisa asked, looking surprised.

  “Yes, dear. If your closet looks anything like Michelle’s, you’ll need something to wear to a dressy event.”

  “But . . .” Lisa began to look distressed. “Really, Mrs. Swensen, you don’t have to . . .”

  “Nonsense! All three of you girls have pitched in to help me with this project. The least I can do is find something nice for you to wear. We’ll meet at The Cookie Jar after school tomorrow and walk over to Claire’s dress shop. I’m sure she’ll have something appropriate for all three of you.”

  “How about you, Mother?” Hannah asked. “Are you going to buy something for yourself?”

  “Perhaps.” Delores looked down at the plate of bon-bons and sighed. “I may have to look for something new if you keep on feeding me delicious treats like this.”

  * * *

  Hannah reached for the last dress that Claire had chosen for her. It was a beautiful shade of blue and she’d saved the best for last. If it fit, she’d tell her mother that it was fine. She absolutely hated to try on clothing, probably because it forced her to examine her image in the mirror and chide herself for eating that last French fry or piece of cake.

  “Please fit,” she whispered as she slipped the dress over her head and reached back to pull up the zipper. And . . . miracles of miracle . . . the dress did fit! It fell, whispering down over her hips like gossamer silk, minimizing her slightly too wide hips and slightly too large derrière. The bodice was snug, but not too snug, the sleeves were exactly the right length, and even more important than all those plusses, her image in the mirror made her feel beautiful.

  “This is it!” she said to herself, since no one else was there. “A perfect dress for a perfect Christmas Ball.”