Coconut Layer Cake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “That sounds wonderful. Will you let me come and sit in your butterfly garden when the flowers begin to bloom?”

  “Of course!” A smile spread over Norman’s face. “You’re one of the reasons I planted a butterfly garden.”

  “I am?” Hannah was surprised.

  “Yes! You said that if there really was a type of reincarnation, you wanted to come back as a butterfly.”

  “Did I tell you why?”

  “You said butterflies were beautiful creatures and everyone who caught sight of them smiled.”

  “I don’t remember saying that!”

  “Well, you did. It was on our first date when I took you to the Woodley mansion for their annual party.”

  “Oh, dear! Did I have too much to drink?”

  “No, we’d just arrived and the maid was hanging up our coats. You glanced in the mirror, gave a big sigh, and said you should have brought a curry comb to use on your hair. And right after that, you mentioned the butterflies.”

  “Okay. Now I remember.” Hannah gave a big sigh. She remembered being very dissatisfied with her appearance, despite the lovely new outfit she’d bought at Claire’s shop, Beau Monde Fashions. Even though both Claire and Lisa had told her that she looked wonderful when she’d tried on the dress, Hannah hadn’t really believed them.

  “You looked so beautiful that night,” Norman said, almost as if he’d been reading her mind. “And you were wonderful about introducing me to everyone we met. I was really sorry when you had to leave the party with Andrea.”

  “Thanks, Norman,” Hannah told him, and she meant it. But she couldn’t help giving a little shiver as she remembered how she and Andrea had found the body in the old Cozy Cow Dairy building.

  “You’re shivering!” Norman said, slipping his arm around her shoulders again. “Let’s go in and I’ll light a fire in the den.”

  “Good idea!” Hannah said, smiling at him. “I’d love to sit in front of a fire and hold the cats in my lap. I know Moishe probably had a great time here with Cuddles, but I missed him a lot.”

  “Just like I missed Cuddles when you took care of her for me,” Norman said, unlocking the front door and carrying her suitcase inside. “I’ll take you upstairs and you can get into your robe and slippers. Just say hello to the cats and then follow me.”

  As Norman opened the door, Hannah assumed her usual position. If Moishe had heard them inside, he’d want to do his usual leap into her arms. She braced herself, feet slightly apart to maintain her balance, and prepared herself for the twenty-three pound onslaught. But there was no sound from running feet as the cats raced to the front door. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened.

  Hannah felt a moment’s panic. “Where are they?” she asked Norman.

  “They’re probably upstairs, sleeping. I left the television set on to mask any sounds from outside. They get upset when they hear the coyotes howling in the distance.”

  “Of course they do!” Hannah shivered again as she followed Norman up the carpeted staircase to the second floor. Even though she knew the cats were safely inside the house, she had visions of Moishe and Cuddles fleeing from the nocturnal predators. She knew that the coyotes had to eat to survive in the wild, but she would do everything in her power to make sure that feline wasn’t on their menu.

  “Here they are, Hannah,” Norman announced, pointing to the king-size bed where Moishe and Cuddles were stretched out on feather pillows. “Wake up, Moishe. Your Mommy’s here.”

  Moishe’s ears flicked once, twice, and then he raised his head. He looked at Norman in what Hannah thought was surprise, and then he caught sight of her.

  “Rrrooow!” he yowled, springing to his feet and racing to the foot of the bed. He stood there for a moment, just staring at her, and then he gave another yowl.

  Hannah knew that familiar, welcoming yowl. It was the same cry Moishe gave every night when she came home from The Cookie Jar. She braced herself just in time as Moishe launched himself, went airborne, and landed in her arms.

  “Sorry,” Norman apologized. “I should have picked him up before he jumped.”

  Hannah laughed. “Impossible,” she stated. “Once he yowls like that, it’s too late.” Since she needed both arms to hold him, Hannah leaned down and rubbed his head with her face. “Hello, Moishe. I missed you.”

  “Rrrrowww!”

  “I think he’s telling you he missed you, too,” Norman interpreted as he reached out to pick up Cuddles. “Cuddles is glad to see you, too, but she’s not quite so vocal about it.”

  “Hello, Cuddles,” Hannah greeted her, sitting down on the edge of the bed with Moishe. She scratched him in his favorite spot behind his ears and reached out to give Norman’s cat a pet. “I can see you took good care of Moishe while I was gone.”

  Cuddles began to purr, almost as if she’d understood Hannah’s praise. All three of them watched as Norman went to the walk-in closet, flicked on the light, and came back with a suitcase stand.

  “Here you go, Hannah,” he said, lifting her suitcase onto the stand. “I’ll leave you here and go start that fire in the den. Just take your time and come down when you’re ready.”

  “But . . . this is your room,” Hannah said, pointing out that obvious fact. “I thought you said the guest room was ready.”

  “It is. It’s ready for me. I’m sleeping there tonight.”

  “But you don’t have to give up your room for me,” Hannah told him. “I can sleep in the guest room.”

  “No, you can’t, not until I try out the new mattress. I know the mattress on my bed is good, but I’m not sure about the new one. You need a good night’s sleep tonight because tomorrow is going to be a very long day for you.”

  “Because we’re working on the murder case?” Hannah asked.

  “That’s one reason, and it’s a big one, but there are a couple more tasks that’ll take up your time.”

  “What other tasks?”

  “Lonnie and Michelle are going to pull everything out of your bedroom at the condo. They’ll pack it up in moving boxes and once you take out anything you think you’ll need, I’ll store them in my garage until the workmen are finished.”

  “But aren’t you still enlarging the old garage and converting it into apartments?”

  “Yes, it’s a work in progress. I love it here, but it’s a little lonely all by myself. My nearest neighbor is miles away.”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. She knew she’d be lonely if she had a big house in the country and she lived alone. She’d felt lonely in her condo, even though she’d been surrounded by neighbors, when last month’s blizzard had hit.

  “It does make sense, Norman,” she concluded aloud. “The old garage is at least a half-block from your door, and you won’t be bothered by noise that far away. And since you’re building it to be self-contained, there’s no reason for your tenants to disrupt your lifestyle.”

  “Exactly!” Norman smiled at her. “It’s a little cold in here, so let me start the fireplace for you. It vents into the room, so it should be nice and toasty by the time you’re ready to go to bed.”

  Norman picked up a remote and handed it to her. “You’d better learn how to do this. You might get too warm and want to turn it down, or off.”

  “You got a remote!” Hannah said with a smile. “I used one of these in Lynne’s house.” She stood up and walked to the fireplace. “I’ll open the glass doors.”

  “No need. They’re fireproof glass.”

  “Are you sure? Lynne had to open her glass doors before she started the fireplace.”

  “That’s California. In Minnesota, we have a choice, and I chose the fireproof glass. It has the added bonus of keeping Cuddles out of the fireplace in case she gets curious about the gas logs.”

  “Where do I point the remote?” Hannah asked him.

  “See that squirrel?”

  Norman pointed to a statue of a squirrel holding a nut that sat at the base of the fireplace. “Just aim it at th
e squirrel.”

  Hannah aimed the remote at the squirrel and pressed the On button. The remote clicked, the gas gave a slight hiss, and the gas logs started to glow. A second or two later, the flames licked up between the logs and a smile spread over Hannah’s face. “It’s wonderful, Norman.”

  “I know. I stash the remote in the bedside table so I can turn on the fireplace during the night if it gets really cold, or turn it down to low or off if I’m too warm.”

  Hannah looked down at the remote and saw that there were three buttons, one was marked On, the second one was marked Low, and the third one was marked Off. “What does low look like?” she asked.

  “Try it and see.”

  Hannah aimed at the squirrel and pressed Low. The flames died down almost immediately and the gas logs glowed with radiant heat. It was the sort of glow one might expect from a large log that was almost consumed, and it was a beautiful sight.

  “All set?” Norman asked, getting up and heading for the doorway. “I’ll start a fire in the den.”

  “With a remote?” Hannah asked.

  “No, with several real logs, some tinder, and a long wooden match. I had to have one fireplace that was wood-burning.”

  “In case a blizzard hit and your gas went off?”

  “Exactly. I needed one room in the house that would be warm if the gas and the electricity went off. With the rustic furniture and the old-fashioned oak doors, it’s like a log cabin down there in the den.”

  Except for the giant flat-screen television, Hannah’s rational mind contradicted Norman. But Hannah didn’t point that out. Instead, she gave Norman a little wave, went to her suitcase, and rummaged around for her pajamas, robe, and slippers.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hannah woke up with a smile on her face. She felt safe, secure, and well rested. The cats were sleeping next to her, each on their own feather pillow, and Moishe was snoring softly.

  One glance at the window that overlooked the pine grove at the side of Norman’s property, and Hannah saw that it was still dark. The moon was a sliver, low in the sky, and soon it would be daybreak.

  Moving slowly and silently, Hannah got out of bed without waking the cats. She took a quick shower in Norman’s huge bathroom, dried herself on a fluffy towel, and dressed in her favorite jeans and a warm, fleece sweatshirt. Then she left the bedroom, tiptoed down the stairs, and less than fifteen minutes after she’d first opened her eyes, she was downstairs in Norman’s kitchen, assessing the contents of his refrigerator.

  He had eggs and whipping cream. That was a start. And there was a package of pepper jack cheese. There wasn’t any meat unless she counted a jar of herring and a ring of bologna, but there was a frozen, premade pie shell in the side-by-side freezer. Mentally, Hannah listed the ingredients she’d found. Eggs, cream, cheese, onion, and a pie shell. What could she make for breakfast with . . . “Quiche!” she said aloud. Perhaps there was something in Norman’s pantry that she could add to her ingredients list.

  Norman’s pantry was filled with staples. The moment she turned on the light, she spotted flour, sugar, and shelves filled with jarred, tinned, and canned goods. She passed by the fruit, jams, olives, pickles, mushrooms, and sardines and reached for a can of corned beef hash. It had potatoes and meat, the perfect filling for a hearty breakfast quiche.

  Flicking off the light, Hannah left the pantry and closed the door. She opened cupboard doors until she found a mixing bowl and then began to search for utensils. It took a while, but she managed to find a grater, a whisk, and a measuring cup. She couldn’t find a quiche dish, but since the frozen shell was a deep-dish piecrust that came in its own disposable tin, she didn’t really need one.

  Hannah felt a tingle of excitement as she turned on Norman’s oven and set the frozen piecrust on a drip pan. She’d never made a Corned Beef and Pepper Jack Quiche before. If it was good and both of them liked it, she’d write down the recipe and add it to her voluminous breakfast recipe file.

  It didn’t take long for the piecrust to thaw. Hannah began to prick it all over the bottom and the sides with the tines of a fork so that it wouldn’t bubble up as she baked it. She’d almost finished when the oven beeped to tell her that it had reached the temperature she wanted. Hannah gave it another minute or two, to make sure she wouldn’t lower the temperature too much when she opened and closed the oven door, and then she slipped the piecrust inside.

  There was a pitcher on top of Norman’s refrigerator and Hannah rinsed it out in the sink. Then she whipped up the eggs and the cream, and poured them into the pitcher. Once she’d stuck that in the refrigerator, she grated the cheese and opened the can of corned beef hash. Once the piecrust had come out of the oven, she let it cool enough so that it wouldn’t melt the cheese she’d grated, and began to assemble her quiche.

  Hannah put the grated cheese in the bottom of the piecrust. Then she spooned the corned beef hash in the same bowl she’d used to whisk the eggs and cream, and added a couple of squirts of hot sauce. She quickly chopped some onion and added that, followed by salt, black pepper, and a sprinkle of nutmeg. She mixed everything together, spread the mixture out in the piecrust on top of the cheese, and used the pitcher to fill the piecrust to the halfway mark. She would fill the piecrust the rest of the way once it was in the oven, and her quiche would be ready in less than an hour.

  There was a delicious aroma in the air and Hannah turned to see that Norman’s coffeepot was making coffee. A smile spread over her face as she realized that Norman must have set the timer before he went upstairs to bed. And that was when she also realized that she had made a quiche first thing in the morning without having a couple of wake-up cups of coffee!

  “Uh-oh!” she said out loud. “I hope I didn’t leave anything out!”

  “Leave anything out of what?”

  Hannah whirled around to see Norman in the doorway and she laughed. “The quiche I made for our breakfast. I assembled it without making coffee and that could be a clear and present danger.”

  It was Norman’s turn to laugh. “Did you crack the eggs?” he asked her.

  “Of course,” Hannah answered quickly, and then she glanced at the kitchen wastebasket to make sure that there were eggshells in it. When she saw an eggshell peeking out, she felt like giving a huge smile, but she managed to keep a neutral expression so that Norman wouldn’t notice how relieved she was.

  “I’ll get the coffee,” Norman said, going to the cupboard and taking out two mugs. He filled both of them from the carafe that had come with the machine and walked back to hand one to Hannah. “Here’s what you need, Hannah. I don’t want you to fall asleep standing here. I had a friend who did that when we were studying for an exam in dental school.”

  “He studied standing up?”

  “He said he had to, that it was the only way he could stay awake. He was afraid he’d fall asleep if he sat down in a chair because he’d be too comfortable, so he stood up in the middle of the room.”

  “And he fell asleep like that?”

  “Oh, yes. And if I hadn’t rushed across the room to catch him, he would have ended up on the floor.” Norman looked surprised as he noticed that her coffee mug was empty. “Good heavens! Did you drink all that coffee already?”

  Hannah glanced down at her mug. “I must have. There’s nothing left. The only thing left in the bottom of the cup is your imprint for Rhodes Dental Clinic.”

  “I’ll get you a refill. And then I’ll put on another pot of coffee. We’ve got plenty of time before we have to leave for The Cookie Jar.”

  “What time is it? I didn’t even look at the clock by the bed.”

  “Good for you! One of my patients in Seattle took part in a sleep study.”

  “The kind where they hook you up to all sorts of monitors for the whole night?”

  “That’s right. One of the technicians asked her if she had an alarm clock right next to the bed. And when she said she did, he told her to move it away to somewhere where she could still hear
the alarm, but she couldn’t see it.”

  Hannah was curious. “Why would that make a difference?”

  “He told her that people get into the habit of waking up to check the clock to see how much time they have left to sleep, and they wake up more frequently than people who can’t see what time it is.”

  “Interesting,” Hannah said, wondering if she should move her alarm clock. She thought about it as Norman poured more coffee and decided that the clock was fine where it was. She was usually so tired when she went to bed, she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night unless there was something wrong. And then, once she’d taken care of whatever it was, she climbed back in bed and went straight back to sleep again.

  Norman placed the filled coffee mug in front of Hannah and walked over to check the oven timer. “Only five more minutes,” he said. “How long does your quiche have to cool before we can eat it?”

  “Fifteen minutes. It needs time to set up before slicing.”

  “Okay.” Norman began to smile. “That means we have less than twenty minutes before Mike gets here.”

  Hannah was surprised. “You invited Mike for breakfast?”

  “No, but he always shows up when we’re about to put food on the table.”

  Hannah laughed. It was true. Mike seemed to sense whenever food was served. “Then I guess I’d better set three plates.”

  “I’ll do it,” Norman offered, walking to the cupboard and taking out three plates. “I think I have orange juice in the refrigerator.”

  “You do.”

  Norman began to grin. “So you scoped out my ’fridge?”

  “Yes, I was looking for breakfast ingredients.”

  “How about my pantry?”

  “I looked in there, too. That’s where I found the can of corned beef hash.”

  “And my cupboards?”

  Hannah sighed. “Yes, of course I checked out the cupboards. I had to find bowls, pans, and utensils. I couldn’t make breakfast for you unless I . . .” Hannah stopped in mid-sentence as something occurred to her. Does Norman think that you’re a snoop? Her rational mind posed the question.