Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Hannah tried not to let her emotions show. Judith was totally self-centered. Her only concern was for her home, not for the hundreds of Lake Eden workers who would have lost their jobs. “I assume that Max called in Del’s loan and that’s why you felt you had to…to act.”

  “That’s exactly right. I warned Del to be careful about hidden clauses when he signed the loan papers, but he’s never been proficient at reading legal documents. Max took advantage of his naivete.”

  “He didn’t have a lawyer read over the loan papers?”

  “There wasn’t time. Max told him that the deal was off if he didn’t sign right away. Del was desperate and that made him vulnerable. Max counted on that. The man had no scruples!”

  Hannah took a deep breath. From what she’d learned about Max, she could agree with Judith completely on that point. “You’re right, Judith. And you’re not the first person that Max tried to ruin. Was he really going to foreclose on your home?”

  “Yes, and I couldn’t let that happen. Del built this house for me. It was a condition of our marriage. I had the architect follow the blueprints for my father’s house. This is an exact replica and I couldn’t bear to lose it. Surely you can appreciate that.”

  “Your home means that much to you?”

  “It’s my life!” Judith looked fiercely protective. “How could I stand by and do nothing while Max Turner was threatening to take my life away?”

  Hannah bit back the urge to remind Judith that she had taken Max’s life away in a much more tangible and permanent fashion. “Is that the reason you called Benton home?”

  “Of course it is. But Benton doesn’t love this house the way I do. He actually told me that I had to accept it, that his father had signed those loan papers voluntarily and there was no recourse we could take.”

  “So you decided to kill Max and get the loan papers back?”

  “What other choice did I have? I couldn’t stand by and let Max Turner evict me from my lovely home!”

  “No, I guess not.” Hannah saw that Judith’s hand was trembling slightly and she asked another question to calm her down. “Wasn’t Max suspicious when you called and said you wanted to see him?”

  Judith gave a cold little laugh. “Max wasn’t bright enough to be suspicious. I told him I’d sold some family heirlooms and that I was prepared to pay off Del’s debt. When I arrived at his office, I demanded to see the loan papers before I gave him the money.”

  “So he took you into the old dairy and got them out of the safe?”

  “Yes, but I had to show him the money first. You should have seen the greed on his face. It was appalling!”

  Hannah was confused. “Then you had enough money to pay off the loan?”

  “Of course not. I simply let him glimpse a sheaf of thousand dollar bills. Max was too stupid to realize that only the top five were authentic. And after he handed me the loan papers, I took a great deal of pleasure in ridding the world of Maxwell Turner!”

  Judith’s eyes turned hard and Hannah knew she should do something to appease her anger. “There are a lot of people who’d thank you, Judith. If the other people that Max tried to ruin knew what I know, they’d probably erect a statue of you in Lake Eden park.”

  “But they don’t know.” Judith wasn’t so easily taken in. “And they won’t know.”

  “Of course they won’t. Nobody will ever figure it out. But why did you kill Ron?”

  “He saw me with Max.” Judith sounded sad. “I didn’t want to do it, Hannah. It was nothing personal and I do feel a great deal of remorse about ending his life. It’s important that you believe that.”

  “Then Ron’s only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

  Judith sighed. “That’s right. I do wish that he hadn’t come into the dairy, but once he saw me, I had to act. When Max’s body was discovered, he would have mentioned seeing me there. It wasn’t pleasant, Hannah. I liked Ron. He didn’t deserve to die.”

  “Do I deserve to die?” Hannah held her breath, waiting for Judith’s answer. Perhaps, if Judith felt guilty enough, she might reconsider.

  “No. I like you, Hannah. Your candor is refreshing. And that’s precisely why this whole situation is so difficult. At least it’ll be over quickly. I wouldn’t want you to suffer. I have everything all planned out.”

  “Really?” Hannah attempted to sound interested, but talking about her impending death was frightening. “What have you planned? You won’t want to slip up now, when you’re so close to getting away with the perfect murders.”

  “I won’t slip up,” Judith sounded very confident. “It’s simple, Hannah. I’m going to walk you outside, shoot you in the back of your truck, and drive it down to the lake on the back of our property. Once I release the brake and push your truck down the hill, it’ll sink without a trace.”

  Hannah shivered and picked up her teacup to take another sip. Hearing about the disposal of her very alive body in such a cold-blooded way made her mouth go dry. “That’s very clever. But how about your housekeeper? She knows I’m here and she’ll hear the shot.”

  “She’s gone. I dismissed her for the remainder of the day. We’re quite alone, Hannah, and Benton and Del won’t be home for hours. They have a late meeting at the plant.” Judith motioned with the gun barrel. “That’s enough talking. Put down your teacup, Hannah. This tea set is a priceless family heirloom. It’s been in my family for almost two hundred years. It was a gift from King George the Third, and my paternal grandmother brought it here from England. I’m really quite fond of it.”

  Hannah thought fast, still holding the teacup. “My mother’s a collector. This is Wedgwood, isn’t it?”

  “Of course.” Judith gave an amused laugh. “Even an amateur collector would recognize its value immediately. Do you know that I’ve been offered over a hundred thousand dollars for the set?”

  “You should have taken it,” Hannah blurted out, an idea beginning to form in her head. “It’s a fake.”

  “What?” Judith gasped, staring at her in disbelief.

  “Here, I’ll show you.” Hannah put down her teacup and lifted the lid of the pot to examine the mark that was stamped on the underside. “A lot of people don’t know it, but I made a study of Wedgwood for my mother. This tea set is very rare and Wedgwood put a double maker’s mark right here. Yours has only one maker’s mark and that proves it’s not authentic Wedgwood. See what I mean?”

  Hannah transferred the lid to her left hand and the gun barrel dropped an inch or so as Judith leaned over to look at the mark. This was it. Hannah knew she’d never have a better chance. She grabbed the teapot with her right hand and threw the steaming tea directly at Judith’s face. Judith reacted by jumping back and Hannah tackled her before she could catch her balance. The gun went flying out of Judith’s hand, and Hannah knocked her to the floor as hard as she could, grinding her down into the nap of the expensive Aubusson carpet.

  Judith flailed out with long manicured nails, but she was no match for Hannah’s adrenaline rush. It also helped that Hannah outweighed her by a good thirty pounds. In no time at all, she had flipped Judith over on her stomach, twisted her hands behind her back, and bound them firmly with the Hermès silk scarf that Judith had been wearing around her neck.

  Hannah’s hands were shaking as she picked up the gun and trained it on the back of Judith’s head. “One move and you’re dead. You got that, Judith?”

  There was no reply from the quaking socialite on the floor, but Hannah hadn’t expected one. She marched to the phone, intending to tell the secretary at the sheriff’s station to get Bill on the line, when the very brother-in-law that she was about to call rushed into the room.

  “I’ll take over now, Hannah.” Bill sounded proud of her, but Hannah was a bit too rattled to react. “You can give me the gun.”

  Hannah shook her head. She wasn’t about to take any chances with the woman who’d almost killed her. “Cuff her first, Bill. She’s tricky and that silk scarf mi
ght not hold.”

  “Okay.” Bill started to grin as he walked over to Judith and slipped on the cuffs. “She killed Max and Ron?”

  “That’s right. Read her her rights, Bill. I sure don’t want this case dismissed on a technicality.”

  For a moment Hannah thought she’d blown it, because Bill gave her one of those “Just who do you think you are?” looks. But he must have decided to cut her some slack because he proceeded to read Judith her rights.

  “How did you know I was here?” Hannah asked when Bill had finished with the legalities.

  “I got your message about the rental car folder and I drove out to DelRay to talk to Del. He said he hadn’t seen you and I figured that you must be here. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, but it looks like you handled it just fine. Maybe I can take a few lessons from you.”

  “Whatever,” Hannah said modestly. She wasn’t about to admit that she’d been saved by a combination of serendipity, fortuity, and blind dumb luck.

  The next few minutes seemed to fly by in a rush. Backup arrived to take Judith into custody, Bill took Hannah’s statement in the Woodleys’ massive kitchen, and Judith’s sitting room was roped off with yellow crime-scene tape. Hannah warned Bill to tell the deputies to be careful with the tea set; it actually was a priceless antique. Then Bill walked her out into the crisp night air she’d never thought she’d enjoy again.

  The night was incredibly peaceful. Gentle snowflakes were falling and it seemed a fitting end to a day that had been filled with confusion, frustration, fear, and finally a sense of a job well done. Hannah was about to climb into her Suburban when she remembered what she’d seen on the counter in the Woodleys’ kitchen. “I forgot something, Bill. I’ll be right back.”

  Hannah raced back into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. There it was: her white bakery bag with the red plastic handles and “The Cookie Jar” printed on the side in gold letters. She snatched it up and ran back outside again.

  “These are for you.” Hannah was breathless as she handed the bag to Bill. “They’re my best cookies, Pecan Chews.”

  Bill looked both surprised and pleased. “Thanks, Hannah. Why did you leave them inside?”

  “I used them as an excuse to see Judith.” Hannah laughed and the echo of her own laughter sounded wonderful to her ears. “I gave them to her as a hostess gift, but I don’t think she’s going to be doing much entertaining where she’s going to end up.”

  Epilogue

  It wasn’t bad as family parties went and Hannah was pleasantly surprised. Norman had gone out to the sheriff’s department open house and he’d offered to help Bill move Mike Kingston into his new apartment. Naturally, Bill had asked him to come back to the house for pizza with them and now they were all sitting around Andrea and Bill’s dining room table, munching pizza, the salad Delores had brought, and Hannah’s contribution, two pans of her Lovely Lemon Bar Cookies. She’d told everyone she thought it was appropriate to bring bars because Judith Woodley was behind them at last.

  Something else had happened that made this night into a celebration. Sheriff Grant had promoted Bill to detective and he’d decided that Bill should be Mike’s partner. Mike was still Bill’s supervisor, but they would be working together on cases. Of course Sheriff Grant didn’t know anything about Hannah’s part in solving the double-homicide, and neither did Mike. Hannah had told Bill that she wanted all of the credit to go to him.

  There was another thing to celebrate and it concerned Andrea’s career. Bill had decided that since Tracey loved preschool so much, it would be a shame to take her away from the friends she’d made. And since Tracey would be spending her days at Kiddie Korner, Andrea could keep right on selling real estate.

  “Time for bed, Tracey.” Andrea sounded relaxed and happy as she turned to her daughter. “You’ve got school tomorrow.”

  “Okay, Mommy. I can take the detective bear that Mike gave me, can’t I?”

  “Sure, you can,” Bill answered her.

  “But it’s a collectible,” Delores objected. “What if one of Tracey’s friends gets it dirty?”

  Mike shrugged. “Then it’ll get dirty. Let her take it, Andrea. It’s not much of a present for Tracey if she can’t play with it.”

  “You’re right.” Andrea smiled at him and then she turned to Tracey. “You can take it, honey. It’s okay.”

  Hannah watched the exchange and it made her feel good. Perhaps Andrea was becoming a little less materialistic. She certainly was becoming more maternal. Tracey had called her “Mommy,” and Andrea hadn’t objected to the label.

  After Tracey had kissed everyone good night and left to go upstairs with Andrea, Delores motioned to Hannah. “Could you help me dress another salad, dear? We’re running out.”

  “Sure.” Hannah followed Delores into the kitchen, but the moment they were out of earshot, she took her mother’s arm. “Spill it, Mother.”

  “Spill what, dear?”

  “The reason you wanted to get me alone. We weren’t running out of salad. The bowl was half full.”

  “You always were the smart one.” Delores laughed. “I just wanted to know how you felt with two men competing for you.”

  Hannah reared back on her heels and gave her mother a look that would wither baby grapes on the vine. “Are you crazy, Mother? Norman isn’t interested in me that way. We’re friends, but that’s as far as it goes. And Mike Kingston certainly isn’t. He’s just being polite to his new partner’s sister-in-law.”

  “I don’t think so.” Delores didn’t seem at all swayed by that argument. “Norman told Carrie that you’re the first girl he’s felt comfortable with in years.”

  “That’s nice, but it doesn’t spell romance. Norman’s just as comfortable around Andrea. As a matter of fact, I think he’s even more comfortable around her. They were huddled together in the living room for a long time, discussing what color Andrea should choose for her new carpet.”

  “But Andrea’s married,” Delores pointed out, “and you’re not.”

  Hannah couldn’t resist teasing her mother. “That’s true. Do you think that Norman would feel even more comfortable around me if I got married?”

  “That’s not what I mean and you know it!” Delores sounded as outraged as she could, given the fact she had to keep her voice down.

  “Sorry, Mother. It’s just that you’re always trying to push me into marriage. I’ve told you before, I’m perfectly happy being single.”

  “That’ll change when you meet the right man.” Delores seemed very certain. “I think you’ve already met him and you just haven’t realized it yet. Norman’s a very good catch.”

  “You make him sound like a trout.”

  “It fits, dear.” Delores looked highly amused. “Norman’s swallowed the bait. Now all you have to do is reel him in.”

  Hannah laughed at the mental picture that popped into her head, and Delores joined in. When they stopped laughing, Hannah gently admonished her. “If you stop trying to set me up with every man in town, we’ll get along much better. You’ve already got a grandchild and she’s perfect. And your son-in-law just solved a double homicide and got promoted to detective. Let’s just have a good time tonight and celebrate all the good things that have happened.”

  “You’re right, Hannah,” Delores agreed. “But I still think both of those men are competing for you.”

  There was no stopping Delores, and Hannah was almost ready to give up the fight, but not before she fired a parting shot. “If they’re competing for me, why hasn’t either one of them asked me out?”

  “Oh, they will.” Delores sounded very confident. “Before the night’s over, you’ll have two dates.”

  “You think so?”

  “Want to bet?”

  “I don’t know. What’s in it for me when I win?”

  “If you win,” Delores corrected her.

  “All right, if I win.”

  “I’ll buy you a new outfit. Claire has a stunning green
silk suit that’ll look just lovely on you.”

  Hannah had seen the green silk in Claire’s window and Delores was right: It was stunning. “You’ll never win this bet, Mother, but just for form’s sake, what do you want if you win?”

  “I want you to stop wearing those awful old tennis shoes. They’re disgusting!”

  “But I love them.” Hannah glanced down at her old Nikes, the most comfortable shoes she owned.

  “You’ve loved them for the past five years and it’s time to give them a decent burial.” Delores gave her a challenging smile. “What are you so worried about? You just told me that I couldn’t win.”

  Hannah thought about it. The probability that both Norman and Mike would ask her for a date before the night was over was too astronomical for her to calculate without using numbers with strange names like googol and googolplex. “Okay, Mother. You’ve got a bet.”

  “Good.” Delores beamed at her. “Let’s put that salad together before someone comes in to ask what we’re talking about.”

  When the salad was ready, Hannah carried it out to the table. Delores started bending Mike’s ear about collectible toys, and Norman and Andrea got into a discussion about textured walls and the sponge method of applying paint. That left Hannah with Bill and she knew she’d never have a better opportunity to talk to him about Coach Watson.

  “Will you show me where you keep the recycle bin?” Hannah picked up her diet Coke can.

  “You know where it is. It’s that yellow box in the kitchen, under the sink.”

  Hannah glanced around. No one was paying any attention to them, so she grabbed Bill’s arm and leaned close. “I need to talk to you alone.”

  “Oh,” Bill whispered. “Sorry, Hannah. Let’s duck into the living room.”

  Once they were out of earshot, Hannah turned to him. “I need a favor, but it’s tricky.”

  “Okay. What is it?”

  “This isn’t official, Bill. And you can’t let anyone know that I told you.”