by Joanne Fluke
“Was there much blood?” Delores gave another little shiver and raised her coffee cup to her lips.
“No, Mother. She was facedown in the water, and the wound was washed clean.”
“Do you think she…suffered before she died?”
Hannah gave a little shrug. “I hope not, but I really don’t know. Only Doc Knight would be able to tell that.”
“I wonder how he could tell.”
“I think it would be pretty simple. If she didn’t die instantly or bleed out, she probably drowned. If she bled out, he could tell by the amount of blood left in her body. If she drowned, there would be water in her lungs.”
“That’s enough, dear. Let’s not talk about it anymore.” Delores took another sip of her coffee. “Will you let me know when you find out?”
“What makes you think I’m going to find out?”
Delores looked shocked. “Well, you’re going to investigate, aren’t you? You simply have to, Hannah!”
“Why do I have to, Mother?”
“Because we all have to work to catch Ronni’s killer before my launch party!”
I should have known it had something to do with you, Hannah thought, but she remained silent. Verbalizing that sentiment would only hurt her mother’s feelings. The book launch party, the very first for Delores, was an important event in her mother’s life. “Okay, Mother,” Hannah said instead. “I’ll do my best to catch Ronni’s killer. But I don’t really understand how it could possibly hurt your party if the case is still open.”
“Use your head, dear. Everybody will be talking about Ronni’s murder and how the killer hasn’t been caught yet. And no one will pay the least bit of attention to my book!”
So it was competition for the limelight. Now Hannah understood. Everyone should be focused on Delores’s book and nothing else. She was about to say that people were coming because they liked Delores and wanted to read her book, but her mother had a point. Everyone would be speculating about Ronni if her killer hadn’t been apprehended.
“You see what I mean, don’t you, dear?”
“I do, but don’t worry, Mother. I’ll catch him long before then.”
“You’re certain you can?”
“Absolutely.” Hannah crossed her fingers and hoped her words would be prophetic. She now had triple incentives to solve the case. She wanted to prove that she could do it alone in her own way, she wanted to catch the person who’d dumped her beautiful cream puffs on the floor of the gazebo, and her mother was depending on her to do it. “Nothing’s going to spoil your party, Mother. You have my word on that.”
Delores gave a relieved smile. “Thank you, dear. I certainly feel better now. You’re very good at investigating. I’ve said so to everyone I know. Is there anything Carrie and I can do to help?”
“Yes. You can help a lot if you’re willing to make some phone calls for me.”
“Of course we are! Just tell us what to do. But before you do, give me another one of those cookies. I’m not sure if it’s the cookie or the frosting, but they’re addictive.”
Hannah got up, plucked a cookie off the counter, and carried it to her mother. She couldn’t remember the last time Delores had eaten three cookies in one sitting, and that meant Terry’s Carrot Cake Cookies were an unqualified hit. Then she cleared her throat, trying to think of a polite way of saying it. “You’ve probably heard that Ronni was flirting with various men around town.”
“Much more than flirting, the way I hear it, dear. Say involved. It’s a much better word. And do stop trying to spare my sensibilities. I know what Ronni was.”
“You do?” Hannah still wasn’t sure her mother actually knew what was going on.
“Of course I do! I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. And here’s one you don’t know, dear. Did you know that Mayor Bascomb is putting in that indoor swimming pool and hot tub that Stephanie always wanted?”
“No. I had no idea. That must be terribly expensive.”
“Oh, it is.” Delores took another sip of her coffee in preparation for delivering her punch line. “But it’s not as expensive as divorce.”
“I didn’t know that!”
“I know, dear. I have my ear to the pulse of Lake Eden. Now what, exactly, do you want Carrie and me to troll for.”
Hannah laughed. She couldn’t help it. Her father had been an avid fisherman and Delores was using fishing terms again. “I want you to troll for trouble. Find out who Ronni was flirting…”
“Involved,” Delores interrupted her.
“Right. Find out who Ronni was involved with and how it affects or affected their lives. I don’t need dates, or times of…assignations, or anything like that. I just need to know who might have wanted to…”
“Put a period to Ronni’s existence,” Delores interrupted to finish the sentence for her in Regency romance phrasing.
“Anybody who might have wanted her dead for any reason. If you hear something that’s not about…uh…”
“Sex, dear. Say sex. It’s the word you want. Let’s not equivocate here.”
“Okay, Mother. If you hear something that’s not about sex, that might be important, too.”
“What’s not about sex?”
“Mother!”
“I’m sorry, dear, but you’re beating around the bush. Say what you mean. And before we go any further, I have to tell you something I heard from a very good source.”
“What’s that, Mother?”
“Mike. I heard that he was involved with Ronni. He’s a bounder, dear. He’s always going to have a roving eye. I know he’s handsome, and I know he’s appealing, but he’s never going to be true to you. Norman will. He’s a much better bet for a husband.”
Hannah just blinked. Delores had never been so frank with her before, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“I realize that I’m overstepping my bounds here,” her mother went on. “I do it all the time, and I can’t seem to stop, especially with you. I used to be able to control it much better when I had a love life of my own, but now that Winthrop’s gone, there’s no one to diffuse my concern. And…I think I may have a control issue.”
Hannah’s mind went on red alert. A control issue? Overstepping her bounds? That wasn’t her mother’s usual terminology. Either she was seeking professional psychiatric help, or…“Are you listening to Doctor Love on KCOW talk radio?”
“Yes, dear. But how did you know…”
“Did you ever call in?”
“No, of course not. I’m not the type to do something like that.”
Hannah relaxed slightly. Delores would never take the chance that someone might recognize her voice on the air. “Did you read, Love Is Right Around the Corner?”
“Pop psychology,” Delores dismissed Doctor Love’s newest book, the one she plugged on every show.
“But you read it.”
“Well, yes. But how did you…?”
“Control issue,” Hannah said, before her mother could finish the question. “That’s Doctor Love’s favorite diagnosis. She also likes to talk about overstepping bounds and diffusing concern.”
“But Doctor Love is right. I do have a control issue, especially when I try to run your life. If I’m not careful, you’re going to hate me for it.”
Hannah shook her head and said what was in her heart. “I couldn’t hate you, Mother. I love you too much.”
“Oh!”
Delores looked as if she was about to break into tears, and Hannah knew that would embarrass them both. As a family, they’d always kept their emotions under control and private. “Okay, let’s get back to business, here,” Hannah changed the subject quickly. “You’re going to help me catch Ronni’s killer…right?”
“Right.” Her voice quavered a bit, but Delores took a deep breath and managed to pull herself together. “You said you want Carrie and me to find out who Ronni was involved with and how it affects or affected their lives.”
“Exactly right.”
“We’l
l do that, dear. Anything else?”
“Just be alert for anyone who hated Ronni enough to kill her. You uncover the motive. I’ll check it out and see if there’s an alibi.”
“We’re all set, dear.” Delores got up and walked around the stainless steel island to give her eldest daughter a hug. “I’m proud of you, Hannah. And I love you very much. I know I don’t tell you that enough.”
“Thank you, Mother. Was that Doctor Love?”
“Yes. Most of the time she’s full of hot air, but that’s some of her very best advice.”
TERRY’S CARROT CAKE COOKIES
DO NOT preheat oven yet—this cookie dough has to chill for at least 2 hours before baking.
1 cup butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound) at room temperature
2 cups white (granulated) sugar
3 eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
20-ounce can crushed pineapple (very well drained)
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts (measure after chopping)
3½ cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1 cup coconut (chopped a little finer than it comes out of the bag)
3 cups finely grated carrots
Terry’s tips for her recipe:
1. When she drains her crushed pineapple, Terry uses a wire mesh sieve and presses the pineapple against the mesh to remove as much liquid as possible.
2. When she’s in a hurry and doesn’t want to grate her own carrots, Terry buys shredded carrots and then chops them up a bit finer in her food processor with the steel blade, or with a chef’s knife on a cutting board.
3. Terry says she uses a medium cookie scoop (approximately 2 Tablespoons) and puts 12 cookies to a sheet. She always uses parchment paper instead of a bare cookie sheet. She rinses her cookie scoop after every 4 or 5 cookies so the dough won’t stick to the scoop.
Hannah’s Note: These are a lot easier to mix if you use an electric mixer. You can also do them by hand, but it does take some muscle.
Beat the butter, sugar, and eggs together until all three ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is smooth, fluffy, and light yellow in color.
Make sure your applesauce is well drained. You don’t really want to add liquid here. (I pat off any excess liquid with a paper towel before I add it to my bowl.) Add the applesauce to your bowl and mix in thoroughly.
Mix in the vanilla extract.
Blend in the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix it well, until the dough is smooth and is a uniform color.
Mix in the pineapple, golden raisins, and walnuts.
Blend in the flour, about a rounded cupful at a time. You don’t have to be exact—the point is to add the flour in three parts so that you don’t try to mix it all in at once. If you add the whole 31/2 cups at once and then try to beat it, it’ll spill out all over your counter and floor! (The next time you come into The Cookie Jar, you can ask me how I know this.)
Remove the bowl from your mixer. You’ll have to do this next part by hand. Coconut and shredded carrots tend to bunch up inside your beaters and will cause a real mess. (You can ask me how I know this, too!)
Stir in the coconut. When it’s incorporated, stir in the shredded carrots. Mix well to make sure everything is blended.
When the dough is all mixed, it will be thick and rather sticky, much like very thick cake batter. That’s why you have to chill it. It would be impossible to work with without “hardening” it in the refrigerator.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. (Overnight is fine, too.)
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Prepare your cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper (the best method for this cookie) or spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
Use two spoons to drop the dough onto the cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard-size cookie sheet. Each cookie should contain about 2 Tablespoons of dough.
Wet your fingers and shape the dough into rounds if needed. This won’t make them taste any different, but they’ll look more uniform.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet for a minute, and then remove them to wire racks to cool. When they’ve cooled, frost them with Terry’s Cream Cheese Frosting.
Yield: approximately 10 dozen yummy cookies
TERRY’S CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup, 1/4 pound) butter at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-pound box of confectioner’s (powdered) sugar (3 ½ to 4 cups)
Mix the cream cheese and butter together until they’re smooth and blended to a uniform color.
Mix in the vanilla.
Blend in confectioner’s sugar in one-cup increments until the resulting frosting is smooth and creamy.
Hannah’s Note: This frosting is a win-win proposition. If it turns out to be too thick to spread, mix in a few drops of milk or cream to thin it. If it turns out to be too thin, mix in a little more confectioner’s sugar to thicken it.
Chapter Thirteen
“Yes, I did find her. And yes, she was in the Jacuzzi.” Hannah poured more coffee for a table of women who’d come in for the express purpose of getting more information from her. “I really can’t tell you any details. The sheriff’s department is investigating her death, and they should be circulating an official press release very soon.”
“Hannah?” Lisa motioned her over to the counter.
Hannah made her apologies to the table of ladies and hurried to her partner’s side. “What is it?”
“More cookies. We only have a dozen left, and that’s with the new prices.”
“New prices?”
Lisa nodded. “You told me to handle the financial end of things, and that’s what I’m doing. We’re going to make a good profit today.”
“That’s the only thing I ever felt like thanking Ronni for,” Hannah said, frowning slightly.
“I feel exactly the same way. Anyway…do we have any more cookies left in the freezer?”
“I don’t think so, but I’ll go look. If we don’t, do you want me to bake some?”
“Yes, if you can think of something quick.”
“How about some Boggles?”
“They should work, since the dough doesn’t have to chill.” Lisa glanced at the clock. “It’s almost time for the lull between lunch cookies and afternoon cookies, but I don’t think it’ll be much of a break today. Everybody’s coming in to see you. They’ll wait if I promise them fresh cookies and your firsthand account of finding Ronni.”
“But I can’t give them very much information. About all I can tell them is that she was dead in the hot tub.”
“You don’t have to give them details of the crime scene. Just tell them about your reaction when you found her.”
“My reaction?”
“You know. Say something like this…I was all ready to climb into the water when I realized that there was something in the Jacuzzi. But nobody else was there except Andrea, and she was still exercising. I had a really strange feeling, the kind you get when you think something is wrong. My heart was pounding like a trip hammer, and…”
“Hold it,” Hannah interrupted her. “What’s a trip hammer?”
“I don’t know, but that’s what they always say. Anyway…My heart was pounding like a trip hammer, and my palms were damp, but I just had to move closer. One step and then another, and I stared down into the bubbling water to see what it was.”
“That’s good,” Hannah sai
d, giving her a smile. “What’s next?”
“Let’s see. You could say, I caught sight of it almost immediately. It was red and black, and that’s when I realized it could be…” Lisa stopped and frowned. “No, make that, and that’s when I realized it had to be one of the exercise outfits the female staff wore. But what was it doing in the Jacuzzi? Was one of the instructors using the hot tub as a washing machine? Had someone accidentally dropped it there as they passed by on their way home? Or had someone tossed it in there deliberately to play a prank on an instructor?”
“That’ll have them sitting on the edges of their chairs,” Hannah complimented her partner. “What next?”
“I still felt that prickling sensation. As a matter of fact, it was getting stronger. But I just had to find out what was going on, so I stepped right up to the rim of the tub and grabbed it to haul it out. Now this is when you pause for a minute to build up the suspense. And then you say, I came very close to screaming when my hand encountered something I wasn’t expecting, something that had once been living, and breathing, and teaching classes at Heavenly Bodies. And even though I didn’t really want to, I grabbed that someone, whoever she was, and rolled her over. One look at her still beautiful but lifeless face, and I realized it was my very own fitness instructor, Ronni Ward!”
Hannah just stared at Lisa for a long moment. And then she asked, “Have you been reading a lot of murder mysteries lately?”
“Well…actually, I have. Marge drops them off from the library. When Herb works late, I read. It keeps my mind off missing him.”
“Well, you ought to try writing one. You’re pretty good. I have only one suggestion to give you.”
“What’s that?”
“You tell that story for me. You’re much better at it than I am. Just say I’m in the kitchen baking, but I told you everything, and I said it was okay for you to repeat it.”
