Apple Turnover Murder, Key Lime Pie Murder, Cherry Cheesecake Murder, Lemon Meringue Pie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Hannah did all she could do not to gasp as Dean’s words sank in and she realized what he meant. She didn’t think he was seriously considering doing away with Winnie Henderson, but he was a callous person to even joke about it!

  “Try to buy her cooperation for three,” Dean went on. “It’s probably more money than she’s seen in her whole life. If you can manage that, there’ll be a little extra something in your paycheck this week.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.” Connor stood there waiting for further instructions.

  “Go do it now. You can eat your lunch later. And don’t be late for your scene.”

  “No, Mr. Lawrence.”

  Connor turned to go, but Dean grabbed his arm. “Did you get the Tattingers?”

  Hannah tried not to react as she recognized the name of the famous champagne. She’d tasted it once at an upscale party and actually priced it out at the mall. Since it sold for more than her car payment, she hadn’t purchased a bottle.

  “Yes, Mr. Lawrence, two bottles. They’re in your office.”

  “Refrigerated?”

  “Naturally, sir.”

  “Good man, Connor. Where did you have to go to find it?”

  “A little place called the Wine Cave at the Tri-County Mall.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “About forty minutes from here, sir.”

  “Very good. You’ve been a busy little beaver, Connor. Remind me to give you some time off when we finish up here. And if there’s any champagne left, I’ll recork it and save it for you.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.” Connor waited until his employer had gone back to his place at the table, and then he turned to leave.

  “Wait a second, Connor,” Hannah called him back.

  “Yes, Ma’am?”

  “It’s Hannah. You don’t have to Ma’am me. Since you’re working through lunch, would you like a cup of coffee to go?”

  “Yes, I would. Thank you very much.”

  Hannah filled the largest Styrofoam cup she had and clamped on a lid. “Here you go, the best cup of Swedish Plasma in the country.”

  “Thanks,” Connor said with a chuckle, but he quickly sobered. “I know you heard what Mr. Lawrence said to me and I just want you to know that I like Mrs. Henderson, and there’s no way I’m going to cheat her, even if it means disappointing Mr. Lawrence.”

  “You’re a nice man, Connor. And it can’t be easy to be nice when you work for Mr. Lawrence.”

  Connor smiled, but he didn’t say a word and Hannah gave him points for that. And then, just because Connor was a nice man who worked for a condescending unfeeling director who was the total opposite of nice, she stuck her foot in firmly where it didn’t belong. “If you have any trouble convincing Winnie to sign that release form, come and get me. I know her and maybe I can help.”

  “Mini cherry cheesecakes?” Lisa asked, repeating what Hannah had just told her.

  “That’s right. He said he needs something that can be passed around on a tray at the premiere. They’re doing all finger food.”

  “So we’ve got a while to come up with a recipe?”

  Hannah shook her head. “All we have is two days.”

  “But they won’t have the premiere until the movie’s all finished, and edited, and whatever else they do to it.”

  “True, but I stuck my big foot in it and that’s why we have a time crunch. I suggested that they use the mini cherry cheesecakes in the cocktail scene and then there’d be a tie-in with the premiere.”

  “That’s a great idea! So Mr. Lawrence must have liked it a lot if he’s going to do it.”

  “Oh, he loved it,” Hannah said, giving a wry grin. “He loved it so much he stole it.”

  “Stole it? What do you mean?”

  “By the time we were finished talking, he was saying that it was his idea.”

  “That figures,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “He isn’t the type to give anyone else credit. I knew he wasn’t a nice person five minutes after he sat down at the table.”

  “How did you know that?”

  “I was going around with the coffee carafe and I stopped at his table. I asked if he wanted a refill and he held out his cup. That’s all he did, he just held up his cup. He kept right on talking to Mr. Barton and let me give him a refill. And after I did, he just put his cup down in front of him. He didn’t even bother to look up or say thank you! Everyone else at the table did, but not him. He thinks he’s too big for his own britches!”

  Hannah couldn’t help it, she laughed. The old-fashioned phrase sounded strange coming from a woman who’d just turned twenty. “You sound like your grandma,” she said.

  “I know. I’ve always loved that saying. It makes me think of a smart-mouthed guy running around without pants.”

  “Lisa!” Hannah was slightly shocked. Her normally very proper and slightly naïve partner had loosened up a lot now that she was married.

  “Well, it does. Not that I’d like to see Mr. Lawrence that way!” A little color climbed up Lisa’s cheeks and Hannah knew she was about to change the subject to something less embarrassing. “So we need those mini cheesecakes by Wednesday?”

  “That’s right. Do you have any ideas?”

  Lisa looked thoughtful for a moment. “Let me work on it, Hannah. I’ve seen something like that, and I think my mother used to make them. I’ll look through her recipe file and if I don’t find it there, I’ll ask Dad if he remembers.”

  “Do you think he might?” Hannah asked, hoping that Jack Herman’s memory would come through for them. He’d taken part in an Alzheimer’s study and the “cocktail” of three new drugs he’d tested had helped tremendously.

  “Maybe,” Lisa said, shrugging slightly. “And maybe not. We’ll just have to wait and see. I hope he does, because it makes him so happy when he remembers something.”

  As Lisa refilled the carafe with hot water and stocked up on tea bags for the tea drinkers who wanted a second cup, Hannah thought about what she’d said. The comment was typical of her kind-hearted partner who saw life’s cookie jar half full instead of half empty. Of course Lisa wanted to track down the recipe, but that was less important than making her father happy.

  “Hannah?”

  Hannah turned from the kitchen counter, where she was restocking one of the serving jars, to see Norman standing just inside the swinging door.

  “Do you have a minute?” he asked.

  “That’s exactly what I’ve got, one minute. We’re out of cookies and Lisa’s waiting for these. Just let me carry them out to her and I’ll have a lot more than one minute.”

  “I’ll help,” Norman said, picking up two of the jars, one containing Molasses Crackles, and the other filled with Boggles. Hannah grabbed the jar with Lisa’s White Chocolate Supremes, and the one filled with Cinnamon Crisps, and off they went to the coffee shop.

  With both of them carrying, it took only three trips to deliver the cookies. When they came back to the kitchen for the final time, Hannah poured them both a cup of coffee from the kitchen pot, and they sat down on stools at the work island.

  “I don’t like Dean Lawrence,” Norman said out of the blue.

  “Neither do I. He’s the type of person that makes me appreciate exposure at the city gates.”

  Norman, who’d looked very serious up to that point, started to laugh. “He must have really gotten to you.”

  “He did.”

  “How?”

  Hannah ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “He’s arrogant, condescending, and callous. He thinks Winnie Henderson is dumb just because she lives on a farm, and he called the people who live in Lake Eden local yokels. He steals other people’s ideas, he has no respect for anyone, and to top it off, he thinks he’s irresistible to women!”

  “But other than that, you like him okay?”

  Hannah’s jaw dropped open and then she giggled, something she hadn’t done since seventh grade. Norman was being sarcastic and she’d fallen for it. �
��You got me, Norman.”

  “If only I did!” Norman sounded very serious and Hannah’s giggles stopped abruptly. “That’s one of the reasons I followed you into the kitchen. I need to talk to you in private.”

  Hannah’s early warning system activated. If Ross was right and Norman was jealous, that jealousy might prod him into another declaration. “You’re not going to ask me to marry you again, are you?”

  “Not today. My ego’s had all it can take for the month. This is something different.”

  Hannah discovered she’d been holding her breath without realizing it and she exhaled quickly. “What is it, Norman?”

  “Remember that letter you found in Lucy Richards’s desk? The one I said I’d let you read if I ever asked you to marry me?”

  Hannah started holding her breath again and this time it was deliberate. Of course she remembered the letter! It had come from the Seattle Police Department and it had just about killed her not to open it. After she’d handed it over, still tightly sealed, Norman had told her it held information about him that might just kill his mother if it were to be made public. And while this information might not put him out of business in Lake Eden, it would certainly change his patients’ opinion of him.

  “You remember the letter, don’t you, Hannah?” Norman prompted.

  “Yes. Yes, I do,” Hannah managed to say, and a tingle of apprehension ran through her. Was Norman going to tell her his secret at long last?

  “Well I didn’t let you read the letter before I proposed. And I need to know if that’s why you turned me down.”

  “No,” Hannah said, quite honestly. “The letter had nothing to do with my decision. I just chose not to choose right then. I explained all that down at the café.”

  “Okay, I just had to check. It was really bothering me. I figured if that letter was the only thing standing between fried egg sandwiches at my bachelor kitchen table and happily ever after with you, I’d bite the bullet and publish the darned thing in the Lake Eden Journal.”

  Hannah’s eyes widened. “But you said it would just about kill your mother!”

  “I didn’t mean it literally. It would embarrass her a lot, but I’m pretty sure she’d get over it eventually.”

  “You’d take a chance like that?”

  “Yes, if you’d marry me.”

  Hannah was silent for a long moment. She knew Norman adored his mother, but he must love her even more. She was tempted, sorely tempted to say yes, but she couldn’t.

  “Hannah? Should I take that letter to Rod at the paper? I really will do it, you know.”

  “I know. And that’s very sweet, but I can’t marry you.” Hannah saw Norman’s face fall and she softened her response, “…at least not yet.”

  Chapter

  Twelve

  “Ouch!” Hannah yelped, staring down at her pet in surprise. Moishe’s ears were back and his fur was beginning to bristle. She might have followed her earlier ouch with something a bit more colorful, but it was Tuesday, Moishe was filming his second scene in Crisis in Cherrywood, and she was sitting in a pew at Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church. Even though Moishe’s claws were needle sharp and her thighs stung from the punctures, swearing would not have been appropriate.

  “He’s nervous,” Norman said, collecting Moishe from his perch on Hannah’s lap. “I’ll take him outside and walk him around a little. Just come and get me when they’re ready for him.”

  At first Hannah thought Norman had something in his eye, because he winked at her several times. She was about to ask him what was wrong when she spotted the cause for Norman’s wink, her feline’s anxiety, and the little puncture marks Moishe’s claws had left on her denim clad legs. Delores was approaching, striding hurriedly up the center aisle, and not even the lure of Hollywood fame would keep her cat docile when he caught sight of the person at the top of his Least Favorite list.

  “Hello, Mother,” she said, giving Norman the high sign to skedaddle, and then patting the pew beside her. “Have a seat.”

  “Thank you, dear. I know I’m early, but I wanted to see Moishe’s scene. I missed out yesterday.”

  Now this is a fine pickle, Hannah thought, using her father’s term to describe a dilemma. She had to think of some way to get her mother as far away from Moishe as possible.

  “I’d love to have you watch,” Hannah said, clutching onto the first excuse that occurred to her, “but Tracey’s going to be disappointed.”

  “What do you mean? Andrea told me that Tracey’s first scene isn’t being filmed until later tomorrow.”

  “That’s true, but they’re working on her hair and makeup right now down at the Cut ’n Curl. And after that, she’s being fitted for her costumes. I just naturally assumed that you’d want to be there, especially since Bill’s in Miami and Andrea’s dealing with all these stage mother things alone.”

  “You’re absolutely right! Thank you for telling me, dear.” Delores rose to her feet with a grateful smile. “Of course she’d never say anything, but with Bill gone and all, she’s bound to want someone with her…not to mention how much better Tracey would feel with Grandma there.”

  Hannah watched her mother rush out and she gave a huge sigh of relief. She was free at last, but she’d have to pay the price. Once Andrea figured out what had brought Delores descending on them like a cloud of locusts, she’d owe her sister a whole batch of cookies and then some!

  “Incredible!” Clark said, turning to Hannah with a smile. “Just look at that. He’s giving me his best profile.”

  Hannah smiled and nodded. She wasn’t sure what else to do. It was true that Moishe was being amazingly cooperative, holding the poses that Dean called for, and not moving until he said that it was a wrap.

  “Only one more to go,” Dean said, motioning to Erica, who was waiting in the front pew. “Hannah’s going to put him in your lap. When she’s out of the scene, pick him up in your arms and take him with you when you walk up to the coffin to view your father. Stand there for a minute looking sad, and then go back and sit down.”

  Hannah placed Moishe on Erica’s lap and waited for the fireworks to start. Moishe didn’t like being held by people he didn’t know and she hoped the movie company had plenty of insurance. But when Erica picked Moishe up and cuddled him to her chest, something Hannah was sure would earn her a royal slashing with both front and back claws, her cat surprised her so much she gasped out loud.

  Instead of lashing out, Moishe gave Erica his best kitty smile, the one where his eyes turned to slits and his cheeks rounded out. And then he let her lug him up to the casket, held in a position that Hannah knew couldn’t possibly be comfortable. When she lifted him up so that he could see inside, Moishe licked her cheek, just as if he knew he was supposed to comfort her. Was her cat an actor? Most assuredly! If Moishe hadn’t been dreaming dreams of stardom, he would have torn the expensive black silk suit Erica was wearing to shreds.

  “I’ve got a lead, Hannah!” Lisa rushed up to her the moment Hannah came back into The Cookie Jar.

  “That’s nice,” Hannah said, plunking Moishe down on one of the tables and tethering his leash to the leg. “A lead on what?”

  “The mini cherry cheesecake appetizers. Dad didn’t recall them when I asked him last night, but this morning he remembered that Mom got the recipe from a neighbor, Mary Hutchinson. She lived across the street from us at the end of the block. But Mary and Marv moved to Iowa and I don’t have a forwarding address. Who do you think might…?” Lisa stopped speaking in midthought and began to smile. “Andrea!”

  “Yes, Andrea might know. She’s sold a lot of houses in Lake Eden and I’m sure the seller has to leave a forwarding address.”

  “And we can ask her, because she’s here right now!”

  Lisa motioned toward the door and Hannah turned to see her sister opening it. Andrea looked about as far from happy as anyone could get and for a brief moment, Hannah was puzzled. Then she remembered sending their mother to the Cut ’n Curl to “advise�
�� Andrea on Tracey’s makeup and costumes. It had taken less than an hour, but the chickens had come home to roost. Her stylish sister had a frown on her face that looked every bit as rugged as the topography of the Pyrenees. Andrea was loaded for bear and Hannah harbored the unfortunate suspicion that she was Ursa Major.

  “Well…all right,” Andrea conceded, choosing another of the chocolate truffles Hannah had stashed in the walk-in cooler for precisely this type of emergency. “I guess I forgive you, but it was a dirty trick fobbing Mother off on me that way.”

  “I know. It’s just that I don’t like pain and Moishe was grating the skin on my legs like lemon peel.”

  “That sounds painful,” Lisa said, giving Hannah her next line.

  “It was. And I figured maybe Mother would relieve you and you could come over and see Moishe act.”

  “I just came from the church and Reverend Knudson told me you’d already left. How did Moishe do?”

  “He’s a natural born actor, at least that’s what Dean called him.”

  “I figured he would be. He’s always posing, even when nobody has a camera.”

  Lisa looked at Hannah and wiggled her eyebrows. Hannah wiggled back in a silent signal that Andrea was calm enough to answer their question.

  “We need some information, Andrea,” Hannah told her. “And you’re the only one who can help us.”

  “I am?”

  “That’s right. Do you remember who sold the Hutchinson house, kitty-corner from Lisa’s old house?”

  “I sold it. It was my first sale as a real estate professional.”

  “Wonderful!” Lisa gave a relieved smile. “Do you happen to know where the Hutchinsons moved?”

  “Someplace in Iowa. Do you need the street address?”

  “Yes,” Hannah said. “Mary has a recipe for mini cherry cheesecakes and we need it for the cocktail scene in the movie.”