Cream Puff Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Hannah thought about that for a second, and then she nodded. Lisa’s husband was a smart man. “What’s next? Shaving another five miles off the speed limit in town?”

  “Herb and I talked about that, but he doesn’t think it’ll happen. Mayor Bascomb would have to order new speed signs, and they’re expensive.”

  “So when is the stoplight going in?” Hannah asked the important question.

  “Herb doesn’t know, but he’s hoping never. He thinks it’s a dirty trick to play on everybody in Lake Eden. Of course he can’t tell Mayor Bascomb that.”

  Hannah noticed the small smile that flitted across Lisa’s face. “You and Herb have a plan to quash the mayor’s spying stoplight?”

  “Maybe,” Lisa said, and then she clamped her lips shut.

  Hannah knew she wouldn’t get any more information from Lisa. Her partner could be stubborn. “Well, good luck to you, and let me know if there’s any way I can help.”

  “I will.” The phone on the kitchen wall rang, and Lisa hurried over to answer it. She spoke for a few moments, and then she turned to Hannah. “It’s Mrs. Janowski and she wants to know if we can make some birthday cookies to serve at Calvin’s party. She reserved the banquet room at The Corner Tavern and they’re having it there. She said she planned to bake a cake, but Calvin wants cookies instead.”

  “Ask her what kind of cookies Calvin likes,” Hannah instructed. She listened while Lisa asked, and she was surprised to see a frown cross her partner’s face.

  Lisa covered the mouthpiece and turned to face Hannah. “She says anything that resembles a cheeseburger will be a big hit with Calvin. Cheeseburgers are his favorite food. That’s one of the reasons they’re having the party at The Corner Tavern. She’s ordering platters of cheeseburgers and fries served with chocolate milkshakes.”

  “Oh, great!” Hannah said, and her meaning was clearly at odds with her choice of words. Cookies shaped like cheeseburgers? She was about to tell Lisa to suggest something else when she remembered Ellen Wagner, her college roommate from North Dakota. Ellen had gone home on semester break and come back with pictures of her niece’s birthday party, along with a sample of the cookies her sister had served. Hannah had greatly admired the cookies, sweet little bites of goodness fashioned from store-bought ingredients that closely resembled miniature cheeseburgers.

  “What shall I tell Mrs. Janowski?” Lisa prompted.

  “Tell her yes, we can do it.”

  Lisa looked clearly astounded. “We can make cookies that look like cheeseburgers?”

  “You betcha!” Hannah said, using her former roommate’s pet phrase. She’d made a copy of the photo and stuck it in the recipe file she’d brought back to Lake Eden from college. As far as she knew, the photo was still there, and even if it wasn’t, she could probably re-create the cookies if she worked at it. “When is Calvin’s party?”

  Lisa repeated the question, and she didn’t look happy as she turned back to Hannah. “After school on Friday. That’s only four days away.”

  Hannah groaned. “Okay. It’s really short notice, but tell her we’ll do it.”

  “Hannah says it’s really short notice, but we can do it,” Lisa repeated, but then she gave Hannah a wink and went on. “It’ll take some experimenting to get them just right and we may have to work overtime. That means we’ll have to charge you double our standard decorated cookie price. Will that be all right?”

  Hannah’s mouth dropped open. She hadn’t told Lisa to say that!

  “Okay, we’re all set then. We’ll deliver ten dozen cheeseburger cookies to The Corner Tavern on Friday before three for your party. And thank you very much for the order.”

  “You’ll have to charge her double?” Hannah asked when Lisa had hung up the phone.

  “That’s right. It’s something we’ve never made before, and she ought to pay for that. Besides, she agreed so fast she practically made my eyes swim. It didn’t bother her a bit, Hannah.”

  “But don’t you think that’s taking advantage of people?”

  “No. It’s a special order, and we’ll have to work hard on it. People have to pay for special orders. It’s only right. We charge too little anyway. Our cookies are the best. We use only the finest ingredients, and everybody knows you have to pay for quality.”

  “Yes, but things are different here. Lake Eden’s a small town and people don’t have much money, and…I’d feel really bad if they didn’t get top value for their money.”

  “That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Lisa put her hands on her hips and stared hard at Hannah. With her small stature and her chef’s apron rolled up several times in the middle and held in place with the ties wrapped twice around her waist, she might have seemed ridiculous, but her determination made her a force to respect. “The people from Lake Eden go out to the mall and pay almost five dollars for one little cup of designer coffee and a cookie that tastes like cardboard. And don’t say they don’t, because I’ve seen them do it! If they can afford to do that, they can certainly afford to pay the same price for a cup of great coffee with free refills and a cookie that tastes even better than their grandmothers used to make!”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. “I suppose you’re right, but…”

  “You really ought to let me start pricing things around here,” Lisa interrupted her. “We’re a business, not a charity. I know you think it’s your duty to treat the whole world, but it’s not. And if you keep devaluing your talent by undercharging, you’re going to go broke!”

  Hannah just stared at the partner who had turned into a dynamo. It seemed as if Lisa had been thinking about this for a while. But as she watched, Lisa appeared to have second thoughts, because she put her hands over her face and sighed.

  “I’m sorry, Hannah,” she said, and her voice quavered slightly. “It’s just that I get so mad when I see people taking advantage of your good nature.”

  Hannah thought about that for a minute. Lisa really did have a point. Several other people in her life had pointed out that she hadn’t raised her prices in three years, when every other business in town had done so several times. She’d never claimed to be a businesswoman. She simply enjoyed baking for people and seeing how happy they were when they munched on one of her cookies. Perhaps it was time to let a real businesswoman take over the nuts and bolts of the business. She could still enjoy baking and watching people taste her creations, but she wouldn’t have to agonize over pricing and making a profit.

  “It’s a done deal,” Hannah said, smiling at Lisa.

  “What’s a done deal?”

  “You take care of the business stuff from now on. I’ll come up with new recipes and figure out what to bake every day.”

  Lisa looked a bit dumbfounded at this news. “But…are you sure you want me to handle the pricing and everything?”

  “Better you than me. I’m not very good at it, and I know it. But before you leave the kitchen for the rarefied air of high finance, do me a favor, will you?”

  “Sure. What is it?”

  “Bake a Chocolate Chip Mega Cookie for Sue Plotnik. She’s been depressed lately, and Phil wants us to cheer her up. And that reminds me, do we have any extra Oatmeal Raisin Crisps we can package up for Janice Cox at Kiddie Korner? I need to go see her today.” Hannah stopped speaking and began to frown. “Let me rethink that. Maybe I shouldn’t give so many cookies away.”

  “Wrong. You should give extra cookies away. Everybody knows we don’t sell day-old, and giving them away goes under the promotion category. I’ll check with Stan to make sure I’m right, but if I keep track of fair price for day-old cookies, we can deduct it from our taxes.”

  “I’ve never done that before!”

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t do it now. I’ll bet you never even thought to mention it to Stan.”

  Hannah gave a little shrug. “You’re right. I don’t think I mentioned it. I just assumed that…”

  “Never assume,” Lisa interrupted h
er. “Assumption is the mother of a compound word I’m not going to say. Just let me keep track and see if we can use the deduction.”

  “Okay,” Hannah said, giving her partner a smile. It was going to be a lot more fun letting someone else handle the finances.

  “Why do you have to see Janice? Andrea’s not thinking about putting Bethie in preschool this early, is she?”

  “No, Grandma McCann is still living in, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she stayed for a couple more years.”

  Lisa got out one of the stainless steel mixing bowls and began to round up ingredients for Sue’s cookie. “Herb ran into her at the Red Owl the other day, and she said she really likes living in town, especially now that it’s winter. She told him that wintering on a farm is hard when your family’s grown up and moved away, and you’re all alone out in the country.”

  “I can understand that! My grandparents lived on Grandma McCann’s road, and sometimes it took almost a week to get it plowed. They were stuck there, come whatever, and if there’s a really bad winter storm, the phone lines go down.”

  “Then you’d be stuck in a house all alone with no way to get out and no phone you could use to call for help. That’s really scary!”

  “You bet it is, but that’s not the worst of it.”

  “Really? What’s worse than that?”

  “No cable and no satellite dish. The cable company doesn’t run out that far, and her farm is down in a low spot, so a dish won’t work without building an expensive tower. Andrea told me that Grandma McCann just loves the movies on the romance channel, and the only place she can get the romance channel is at Andrea and Bill’s house.”

  CHOCOLATE CHIP MEGA COOKIES

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

  2 cups white (granulated) sugar

  1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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

  1 teaspoon molasses

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 cup chopped walnuts (or any other nut you prefer—nuts are optional)

  2 cups chocolate chips (a 12-ounce package)

  2 ½ cups flour (not sifted—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  Hannah’s 1st Note: You can mix these cookies by hand or use an electric mixer on slow speed.

  Place the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and vanilla extract, and stir until the resulting mixture is light and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

  Mix in the teaspoon of molasses. (To measure molasses or any other sticky liquid, spray your measuring spoon or cup with Pam or another nonstick spray before you measure.) Stir until the mixture in your bowl is a uniform color.

  Add the salt and the baking soda, and mix until they’re thoroughly incorporated.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: You have alternatives if your family doesn’t like or can’t eat the chopped nuts. You can use a cup of finely shredded coconut in place of the nuts, or a cup of rolled oats, or a cup of crushed breakfast cereal (measure after crushing), or even a cup of chopped dried fruit like raisins or apricots.

  Add the nuts or their alternative and stir them in. Then add half of the chocolate chips and half of the flour. (You don’t have to be exact—the object is to add the flour and the chocolate chips in two parts so they won’t glob up when you stir them in.) Stir until the chips and flour are thoroughly incorporated.

  Add the rest of the chips and the rest of the flour. Mix thoroughly. Let the dough rest while you prepare the pans.

  You will use two and only two pans for this recipe. (They’re called “mega” cookies for a reason!) Use two 9-inch or 10-inch pie pans—glass, metal, or disposable, it really doesn’t matter. If you must, you can use three 8-inch pie pans, but the cookies will be much thinner and you’ll have to reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.

  Line your pie pans with a big square of aluminum foil, pressing the foil down to conform to the bottom and sides of the pie pan and leaving the four corners sticking up. (You’ll use them later to remove the cookies from the pie plates.)

  Once the pie pans are lined on the inside, spray the foil with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

  Divide your cookie dough in half (or thirds if you used three 8-inch pie pans.) Form each half into a large ball. Place the balls in the center of your pie pans and smush them down with your impeccably clean hands. Continue to flatten the dough balls until they’re spread all the way out to the sides of the pan, and the tops are fairly smooth.

  Bake the “mega” cookies at 350 degrees F. for 40 minutes (35 minutes if you made three cookies instead of two.) Test for doneness by using a time-honored method devised by Hannah’s Grandma Swensen. Press the back of a spoon down on the center of the cookie. If it sinks in and comes out gooey and squishy, the cookies need more baking. Try them again after 5 minutes. If it leaves only a slight indentation, your cookies are done.

  Remove your cookies from the oven and cool them in their pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then grasp two diagonal corners, lift the cookies out of their pans and continue to cool them on the wire racks until they reach room temperature.

  When the cookies are thoroughly cool, carefully peel off the foil. They’re wonderful just as they are, but you can add to the enjoyment by decorating them if you wish.

  Lisa uses a pastry bag to make little stars around the edge of her cookies, and then she personalizes them with a name written across the center. If you’re like me and you prefer not to use a pastry bag, you can buy little tubes of frosting in the grocery store and write a message and a name with them in your choice of frosting color.

  Chapter Four

  Hannah was in the kitchen refilling the large cookie jars they kept behind the counter in the coffee shop to display the day’s wares. She’d just put the lid back on the Raisin Drops when Lisa pushed open the swinging door that separated the coffee shop from the kitchen. “Mike’s here,” she announced. “Do you want me to send him back here?”

  “Sure.” Hannah watched as Lisa crossed the floor and picked up two of the full cookie jars to take to the coffee shop. From day one, Lisa saw what needed to be done, and she did it without being asked. It was only one of the many characteristics that made her such a perfect partner.

  Once Lisa was gone, Hannah took off the food service gloves she wore to handle cookies and reached up to smooth her hair. She knew it wouldn’t do much good. She could feel her unruly curls popping back up again the moment she removed her hand.

  “Hi, Hannah.” Mike Kingston came in as if he owned the place, but Hannah didn’t mind. His self-confidence and assertiveness were two of the things she liked best about him. Of course she also liked his rugged good looks and the way he made her heart pound against her rib cage whenever he walked into the room. His towering height was impressive too. Hannah wasn’t petite and at over five feet, eight inches tall, she appreciated a man she could look up to, a man who made her feel dainty and feminine. This was a rare treat for the daughter Delores claimed was a throwback to her rotund paternal grandmother, not exactly petite either, but the best farmwife, cook, and baker that Hannah had ever known.

  “I heard you went out to Heavenly Bodies this morning,” Mike said by way of a greeting as he seated himself on a stool at the workstation.

  Hannah was so surprised she almost dropped the mug of coffee she’d just poured for him. How did Mike know that? She was about to ask him how he’d heard when she glanced at the clock. It was ten forty-five, and Andrea had most certainly called Bill at work the moment she’d gotten home from the gym. And since Mike had a meeting with Bill every morning to go over the night’s crime reports, what Hannah had come to think of as her secret exercise regime was no longer a secret at all.

  “I suppose everyone in town knows,” Hannah said, delivering Mike’s coffee and two of his favorite Twin Chocolate Delights on a napkin.


  “Maybe not everybody. Stan Kramer and his wife are on vacation, and I think Irma York’s off visiting her cousin in Brainerd.”

  “Thanks a lot.” Hannah tried not to show how amused she was. There were times when Mike was really pretty funny.

  “So what if people know you’re working out at Heavenly Bodies? That’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I’m proud of you for trying to get in shape.”

  Trying to get in shape. The phrase ricocheted around in Hannah’s mind like a marble in a blender. It was the word trying that bothered her the most. Trying meant that she wasn’t in shape. And it also insinuated that she might not succeed in her attempt to get there. That might not be far from the truth considering her track record for starting an exercise program and then dropping it after a couple of days, but voicing it constituted an insult from the man who’d once asked Hannah to marry him. She was about to object to Mike’s turn of phrase when he popped to his feet like a marionette that had been jerked upright by invisible strings.

  “I almost forgot. I’ve got something in the cruiser for you. Hold on just a second and I’ll get it.”

  Hannah held on. She held on to her coffee cup and she also held on to her temper. She really shouldn’t be angry with a man who’d brought her a present…unless, of course, the present was also something insulting, like a bathroom scale, or a diet book.

  In a very few moments, fewer than it would have taken Hannah to run through the coffee shop, get something out of a parked car, and retrace her steps to the kitchen, Mike was back.

  “Here,” he said, thrusting a huge, gift-wrapped package into her arms. “It’s for you and Moishe.”

  All traces of Hannah’s earlier pique dissipated. It didn’t matter what the present was. It was sufficient that Mike had thought enough of her pet to get something for Moishe. She supposed that was why Andrea got all dewy-eyed when a guest brought a “little something” for Tracey or Bethie. It was a case of Love me, love my kid. Or in Hannah’s situation, it was Love me, love my cat.