Christmas Cupcake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  It took almost an hour to bake and cool the cookies she’d made, frost them, and place one of her walnut-filled, sugar-coated dates on top. The next time she baked them it would be faster, now that she knew exactly how to do it. The cookies were more work than most because there were three separate steps to completing them, but they would be a novelty for The Cookie Jar clientele.

  It was time for a coffee break, and Hannah had just poured herself a cup from the kitchen coffeepot when there was a knock at the back kitchen door. She began to smile as she recognized the knock, and went to let Norman in.

  “Hi, Hannah,” Norman greeted her. “Do you have time for coffee with me?”

  “Yes. I was about to sit down for a coffee break. Hang up your parka and I’ll get you a cup.”

  “What smells so good in here?” Norman asked, as she carried his coffee to the stainless steel work station.

  “I baked a lot of cookies this morning, but I hope you’re smelling my new Sugar Plum Cookies. Would you like to taste one?”

  “Do you have to even ask?”

  Hannah laughed. “I’ll get a plateful for us. I haven’t tasted them yet either.”

  Norman watched Hannah plate the cookies, and when she set them down at the work station, he said, “They look wonderful, Hannah! Very pretty and definitely appealing.”

  “Good. Let’s taste them and see if they taste as good as they look.” Hannah waited until Norman had bitten into a cookie and made a sound of approval. “What do you think?”

  “They’re great, Hannah! I’m about to taste the sugar plum.” Norman took another bite and looked surprised. “It’s good. No wonder the kids in the poem were dreaming about visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads!”

  “They didn’t have this kind of sugar plum, Norman.”

  “True, but if they had, they would have dreamed about it. It’s really sweet, Hannah. Almost too sweet, but maybe you’d better make a few dozen for me to give out at my dental clinic.”

  “Because they’re loaded with sugar?”

  Norman smiled. “You got it.” Then he reached across the table and patted her hand. “You did it, Hannah. You made a delicious Sugar Plum Cookie.”

  “Thank you, Norman. I like them, too. I think I’ll have Lisa bake some more and we’ll try them out on our customers at the coffee . . .” She stopped speaking as she heard a knock at the door. It was a knock she didn’t recognize and she got up to answer it.

  “Doc!” Hannah greeted him. “Come in. You look cold.”

  “I am. I left my parka at the hospital and all I had to wear this morning was this jacket.” He shrugged out of the jacket and hung it on one of the hooks by the door. “Do you have time for coffee? I have some news about John Doe.”

  “Come sit at the stool at the work station and I’ll pour you a cup. I want you to taste my Sugar Plum Cookies anyway and this saves me from having to drive out with a dozen.”

  “Hello, Norman,” Doc said, spotting him at the work station. “Did you try one of Hannah’s new cookies?”

  “I did. They’re great, Doc. Did I hear you say you had news about John Doe?”

  “Yes. I’ll just wait until Hannah joins . . .” Doc stopped as Hannah delivered his coffee and sat down across from him. “Thanks, Hannah. Do you want me to taste the cookies first? Or would you rather I tell you about Joe Smith right away?”

  “You found out his name?” Norman asked.

  Doc shook his head. “Not really. We had him listed as John Doe, but he saw it on his chart and asked if he could change the name. He said John Doe sounded too common. His nurse suggested Jake Doe, but he became very agitated and said he hated that name. Then he asked her if she could change it to Joe. He told my nurse that Joe just sounded more familiar to him. And then he gave a little laugh and said he guessed he’d have to change the last name, too, since Joe Doe was too ridiculous.”

  “So now he’s Joe Smith?” Hannah asked with a smile.

  “That’s right.”

  “I wonder if his name really is Joe,” Norman said, looking thoughtful. “If it is, it might seem more familiar than any other name.”

  Doc shrugged. “There’s no way to be sure unless he regains his memory. Joe could sound familiar if it were his father’s name, or a brother, or even a best friend.”

  Hannah gave a little nod. “You’re right, Doc. Please tell us how he’s doing. I’ve been worried about him.”

  “It’s rather complicated,” Doc began, taking a sip of his coffee. “Physically, he’s recovering nicely. He’s able to sit up in bed and he smiled at one of my nurses, but the memory loss concerns me. That’s why I’m going out there so early this morning, to check for possible TBI.”

  “Traumatic brain injury?” Norman asked him.

  “Yes. Very good, Norman. I wasn’t sure you and Hannah would know what that was.”

  “I didn’t know,” Hannah admitted.

  “Does your Joe Smith have any signs of TBI?” Norman asked.

  “That’s what I’m going to find out. I told my staff to hold off and let him sleep as late as he could. And then to feed him a nourishing breakfast and wait until I got there. ”

  Hannah glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s only six o’clock, Doc. Do you think he’s awake yet?”

  “He could be, but I doubt it.”

  “Did Joe Smith ask the nurse any questions, like where he was and why he was there?”

  “Yes. She told him exactly what I said to say, that he was suffering from malnutrition and he’d collapsed. The people who’d found him had called my paramedics and we’d taken him to the hospital to help him.”

  Norman nodded. “And did that answer satisfy him?”

  “It seemed to until she asked the follow-up question that I left with the nurses.”

  “Which was . . . ?” Hannah asked.

  “His name. They told me that the patient paused for a moment and then he said he wasn’t sure. Then he closed his eyes and went back to sleep again.”

  “Because he didn’t want to answer any more of your nurse’s questions?” Hannah asked.

  “Perhaps. It could have been for a myriad of reasons.”

  “Simple paranoia?” Norman suggested. “He might have been afraid he could say something that would kick him back out on the streets again?”

  “That’s certainly possible,” Doc agreed.

  “Or maybe he’s running away from someone or something, and he’s afraid that if he gives his name, whoever it is will find him and do whatever he fears,” Hannah suggested.

  “That’s possible, too,” Doc told her. “I won’t know any of these things until I drive out there and examine him myself. When I called to check on him, he’d gone back to sleep and he hadn’t awakened again.”

  Hannah sighed deeply. “He probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in months. Or a good meal either. How long do you think he’s been out there, Doc?”

  “It’s hard to tell, Hannah. That’s a question that only he can answer . . . if he remembers enough to answer it, that is.”

  Norman frowned slightly. “You sound a little dubious about that, Doc.”

  “That’s because there’s no way of telling with TBI . . . if it truly is TBI.”

  “And how will you know that?” Hannah asked, even though she suspected that she already knew the answer to her question.

  “I can check to see if he suffered any apparent head injuries, and if he did, whether it’s recently healed. And there’s always the possibility that Joe Smith is simply too exhausted to answer our questions right now. When he regains strength, he may be able to tell us what we need to know.”

  “What are the chances of that happening?” Hannah asked.

  Doc shrugged. “I wouldn’t even hazard a guess. Amnesia is a tricky thing, Hannah. We’ll just have to wait. It could be when he wakes up today, and it could be we’ll never know. All I can say is I’m glad your mother, Carrie, and you found Joe when you did. Another day or two, and it might
have been too late to save him.”

  Hannah shuddered slightly. “I’m glad we found him, too. Really, Doc . . . I think he’s a very nice man. And I wish I knew his story.”

  “Perhaps we will, Hannah. At least we can help him now with the physical problems he has. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll recover from those.”

  Once Doc had tasted the Sugar Plum Cookies and given his seal of approval, Hannah filled one of her distinctive bags with the sweet treats and sent them to the hospital with him. She promised him that she’d check with him later, and then she sat down at the work station again. She gave a sigh that seemed to come from the very bottoms of her feet and faced Norman.

  “It’s a real mystery,” he said.

  “Yes. I just wish I knew what to do about Joe. I’d like to help him, but I really don’t know how.”

  Norman reached across the table to take her hand. “Let Doc and his staff deal with it for now. And when Doc says that you can see Joe, talk to him. You can draw him out, Hannah. You’re good at that. If he really doesn’t remember who he is and what happened to him, start jotting down everything he tells you that might be relevant to his background. He may give you clues about things that he does remember.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like, living near a lake and going fishing when he was young. Or going out to bring the cows in. He might even remember a teacher he had in school, or what he did for his first job. Just talk with him about anything and everything and see what he says in return.”

  Hannah gave a grateful smile. “Those are great ideas, Norman. What you’re really telling me is to simply visit with him, is that right?”

  “Exactly right. Tell him some things about you and see if he reciprocates. Then you can start putting the puzzle of his life together.”

  “Yes. I can do that, Norman. If he remembers me at all, he knows I’m not a threat. I gave him coffee, and cupcakes, and . . .”

  “What is it?” Norman asked when Hannah suddenly stopped speaking.

  “I just remembered something he said when he came into my kitchen yesterday morning.”

  “What was it?”

  “I gave him coffee, but I also gave him a German Chocolate Cupcake.”

  “That was really nice of you, Hannah. Was he grateful?”

  “He was very grateful. I apologized because I hadn’t frosted the cupcake yet, but he didn’t seem to mind. And then he told me that his mother used to bake German chocolate cake and she made one every year for his birthday.”

  “Go get a murder book, Hannah.”

  “But . . . why? Nobody’s been murdered.”

  “I know, but you always use them for important notes and I have the feeling that this is going to turn into a case.”

  “You mean . . . you think he’s going to die?”

  “No, I just know you like to use those notebooks. And your steno pads are easy to carry around.”

  Hannah thought about that for a second or two. “You’re right. I’ll start keeping my Joe Smith notes in there.” She got up, went to the drawer where she kept her blank steno pads, and brought one back with her. “Just give me a second and I’ll write down what Joe said about his mother.”

  Norman watched while Hannah jotted down what she remembered about her early morning conversation with Joe. “Got it?” he asked when she closed the book.

  “I’ve got it. I thought of something else while I was writing it down, Norman.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I think we should give Mike a heads-up about this. I know there’s no crime unless Joe’s TBI turns out to be deliberately caused, but Mike’s a detective and he knows how to investigate people’s backgrounds. That’s part of what he does for a living.”

  Norman thought about that for a moment. “You’re right, Hannah. We probably should alert Mike. Why don’t you call him and ask him to join us for coffee and some of your new cookies.”

  “All right,” Hannah agreed, “if you’re sure it’s all right with you.”

  “Of course it’s all right with me. Mike and I are friends. Call him, Hannah. Maybe, between the three of us, we can figure out some way to help Joe Smith.”

  SUGAR PLUM COOKIES

  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you plan to make these cookies in the morning, get out 4 sticks of butter on the night before, unwrap them, and put them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. That way the butter will be soft enough to use in the morning.

  Cookie Ingredients:

  2 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar (don’t sift unless it’s got big lumps and pack it down when you measure it)

  2 cups softened, salted butter (4 sticks, 16 ounces, 1 pound)

  1 cup white (granulated) sugar

  2 large eggs

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon cream of tartar

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly grated is best, of course)

  1 teaspoon salt

  4 and ¼ cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  Directions:

  Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick baking spray or lining them with parchment paper.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: These cookies are easy to mix up if you use an electric mixer like the one Lisa and I have at The Cookie Jar. You can mix them by hand, but it will take more time and more muscle.

  Measure out the powdered sugar and put it in the bowl of an electric mixer.

  Arrange the 4 sticks of softened butter on top of the powdered sugar.

  Sprinkle the cup of white (granulated) sugar on top of the butter.

  Turn the mixer on to LOW speed and mix the sugars and butter together. Continue mixing on LOW speed until everything is thoroughly combined and the mixture is a uniform color.

  Mix in the eggs at LOW speed, one at a time, mixing after each egg is added.

  With the mixer still running at LOW speed, mix in the vanilla extract.

  Add the baking soda and mix it in thoroughly.

  Again, at LOW speed, mix in the cream of tartar. Mix thoroughly.

  Hannah’s 3rd Note: In case you’re wondering, the addition of cream of tartar makes your cookies smoother (at least that’s what Great-Grandma Elsa told me when I asked.)

  Add the ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and salt. Mix them in thoroughly.

  Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing after each addition. You can add the quarter cup of flour with the last full cup.

  Hannah’s 4th Note: Whatever you do, don’t try to add all the flour at once. If you do that, when you start the mixer it will fly out of the bowl and all over your kitchen counter and floor. (And please don’t ask me how I know this.)

  Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and take the mixing bowl out of the mixer.

  Give your cookie dough a final stir by hand with a mixing spoon.

  Hannah’s 5th Note: This recipe makes from 8 to 10 dozen cookies. If you don’t want to make that many Sugar Plum Cookies, round your cookie dough into a ball and cut it in half. Place one half in a freezer bag and stick it in the refrigerator to bake in a week or so, or in the freezer to bake in a month or so. You can use the saved half of the cookie dough to bake more Sugar Plum Cookies or you can roll cookie dough balls and make Grandma Knudson’s Cinful Sugar Cookies. The recipe for Cinful Sugar Cookies is given on page 116.

  Use your impeccably clean hands to roll the first half of the cookie dough into balls that are approximately one inch in diameter.

  Place the dough balls on the cookie sheets you’ve prepared, 12 cookies on each standard-sized cookie sheet.

  Flatten the dough balls with the back of a metal spatula or the palm of your impeccably clean hand.

  Hannah’s 6th Note: The flatter your cookie dough balls are, the bigger and crispier your cookies will be. Since you will be frosting these
cookies, I’d suggest that you DO NOT completely flatten the balls or they might break when you frost them.

  Bake at 325 degrees F. for 10 to 15 minutes. (The cookies should have a tinge of gold on the top.)

  When your cookies have baked, take them out of the oven and set them on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack.

  Cool your Sugar Plum Cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove them from the cookie sheet and put them on a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

  Sugar Plum Ingredients:

  4 dozen pitted dates

  2 dozen walnut halves

  ½ cup white (granulated) sugar

  Directions:

  Open the dates. They should be almost cut in half so that you can spread the 2 halves apart.

  Break or cut the walnut halves into 2 equal parts lengthwise.

  Place the walnut quarter inside the date and close it up again.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: Dates are very sticky. The two halves of the date will stick together with the walnut quarter inside.

  Pour the half-cup of white sugar into a shallow bowl.

  Roll the date in the white sugar, coating it completely. Then take it out and place it on a piece of wax paper on the kitchen counter.

  Repeat until all the dates have been sugared and are on the wax paper.

  Frosting Ingredients:

  ½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) softened, salted butter

  8-ounce package softened cream cheese (the brick kind, NOT whipped)

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

  Mix the softened butter with the softened cream cheese and the vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you heated the cream cheese or the butter to soften it, make sure it’s cooled down to room temperature before you mix them together.

  Add the confectioners sugar in half-cup increments until the frosting is of proper spreading consistency. (You’ll use all, or almost all, of the sugar.)

  With a frosting knife (or rubber spatula if you prefer), drop a dollop of frosting in the center of a cookie.