Raspberry Danish Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “What smells so good?” Norman asked her.

  “Oatmeal Lemon Cookies. They’ll be cool in a couple of minutes, and then we can sample them.”

  “I’ve never tasted those before,” Norman said.

  Hannah laughed. “Neither have I. It’s a new recipe I just tried. I have no idea if they’re good or not.”

  “They smell good,” Norman commented. “I’ll be happy to help you test them.”

  “You’re always happy to test something, Norman.”

  “I know. I’m just a nice guy that way.”

  Hannah smiled as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from Norman. “I was going to call you at the clinic to invite you to dinner tonight, but now I can ask you in person.”

  “Thanks, Hannah. I’d love to come. Can I bring anything?”

  “Yes. Bring Cuddles. Moishe loves it when he can play with a friend, especially when the friend is Cuddles.”

  “My pleasure. And it’ll be a pleasure for Cuddles, too. What are we having for dinner?”

  “Jambalaya.”

  “You’ve never made that before, have you?”

  “No. This is the first time.”

  “Well, I’ll be happy to test that for you, too. Would you like me to pick up anything to go with the Jambalaya?”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment, and then she nodded. “I could use some ginger ale. I think I’m all out. Or anything else you want to drink. I know I have beer, but I doubt Mike will drink since he’s on-call. And since Mike is Lonnie’s boss, I’m almost certain that Lonnie won’t have anything with alcohol. I already have white wine for Michelle if she wants it, and of course I’ll make coffee.”

  “I’ll pick up some ginger ale. I have to run out to the mall, and there’s a new store out there called the Pop Shop. They bottle their own sodas, and if you buy a case, you can mix and match.”

  “I wonder if they have red cream soda. It was Grandma Ingrid’s favorite, and she always had it in her refrigerator.”

  “If they have it, I’ll put a few bottles in the case for you,” Norman promised.

  “Great! That would be like a trip down memory lane. Now, if I could only find lemon ice cream, I’d have everything that Grandma Ingrid loved.”

  “Including you, of course.”

  “Yes,” Hannah said, remembering how her grandmother used to hug her every time she visited.

  “What’s in your Jambalaya, Hannah?”

  “Chicken, shrimp, tomatoes, rice, garlic and onion, and seasonings. And that reminds me, I brought a big bag of frozen shrimp and I’m not going to use it all, so Moishe and Cuddles will have shrimp for a treat.”

  “Perfect. Those two always appreciate shrimp.”

  “I know. Shrimp and salmon are their favorites.” Hannah got up from her stool. “I’m going to remove the cookies from their sheets and put them on wire racks so they’ll cool faster.”

  “Good idea.” Norman watched while Hannah removed the cookies with a wide metal spatula and placed them on racks on the counter. “How long will it take for them to cool?”

  “Not long at all if I put one rack in the cooler.” Hannah carried a rack filled with cookies to the walk-in cooler and opened the door. She went in with the cookies and was back a few seconds later. “Can I top off your coffee, Norman?”

  Norman picked up his cup and held it out as Hannah approached with the coffee carafe. When she’d added fresh coffee to his mug, he smiled. “Thanks, Hannah. Are you sure those cookies aren’t cool enough?”

  Hannah laughed. “They’ve barely been in the cooler for a minute.”

  “I wouldn’t mind tasting a hot one.”

  “All right. I’ll go check.”

  Hannah went back to the cooler, and when she returned, she was carrying a paper plate full of cookies. “They’re still pretty warm, but that should be all right,” she said, setting the plate down between them. “Help yourself, Norman.”

  Norman didn’t need any further encouragement. He reached for a cookie and bit into it.

  Hannah reached for her own cookie and took a bite. “Mmmm,” she said.

  “Mmmm is right,” Norman agreed. “These are incredible, Hannah. The lemon flavor just explodes in your mouth, and I love the combination of oatmeal and lemon. They’re tart and sweet at the same time.”

  “I like that, too,” Hannah concurred.

  They sat in silence, munching the cookies, until each of them had eaten three. Then Hannah sighed. “Go ahead and ask me, Norman.”

  “You know why I came here today?”

  “I think so. It’s P.K.’s murder. You want to ask me if I’m going to investigate.”

  Norman reached across the stainless steel surface, took her hand, and shook it. “Congratulations! You’re a genius. And you’re right, of course. Are you?”

  “Yes.”

  “That brings up another question. It occurred to me the minute I heard exactly what happened to P.K. and Doc Knight confirmed that he was fatally drugged by the candy that was delivered to Ross’s office. You know what I’m trying to say, don’t you?”

  Hannah gave a reluctant nod. “Yes, I do.”

  “Is Mike investigating both murders? I know that sounds weird, but that candy could have been intended for Ross.”

  “Unfortunately, that’s true.”

  “And both you and Mike are investigating both murders? The one that could have happened and the one that did?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What can I do to help you, Hannah?”

  “Come over for dinner tonight.”

  Norman looked surprised. “I already told you I’ll come.”

  “Yes, and coming for dinner will help me investigate.”

  “How?”

  “I want you to tell Mike and me anything you know about P.K.’s personal life. And then I want you to tell us what you know about Ross’s background that I don’t know.”

  “You probably know more than I do, Hannah.”

  “Not necessarily. We really didn’t discuss his family or his past. When I was in college and we were all living in the same apartment building, he told me that his mother died giving birth to him and he lived with his grandmother until his father got married again. Ross’s fiancée, Linda, showed me his mother’s photo. It was sitting on a table in their living room.”

  Hannah stopped and sighed. “That photo was one of the things Ross didn’t take with him when he left. It’s still sitting on the dresser in the bedroom.”

  “What else do you know about his background?”

  “After Ross moved back here to go to work for KCOW, he said that when he grew up, his family lived next to Senator Worthington’s family.”

  “That could be important, Hannah.”

  “I don’t know if it is, or not. Mike knows that Ross knew Senator Worthington. They talked about it.”

  “Do you know why Ross’s family didn’t come to your wedding?”

  “No. Ross said he asked them and they couldn’t make it, but I was so busy with the Food Channel Contest and all, I didn’t think to ask why. And looking back on it now, I realize that I have no idea how many relatives Ross has or where they live.”

  Norman patted her shoulder. “That’s all right, Hannah. Everything happened very fast.”

  “Yes,” Hannah said, and then something very surprising happened to her, something that had never happened before. Two tears rolled down her cheeks and she had to swallow hard before she could speak again. “Engaged couples usually ask questions of each other like, Where do you want to live after we’re married? And, Do you want children? We never did that. There just wasn’t time. I know I loved him and I think he loved me. But . . . I’m beginning to think that I really didn’t know Ross very well at all!”

  OATMEAL LEMON COOKIES

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

  The Cookie Dough:

  2 cups brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when

&n
bsp; you measure it)

  1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound) salted butter,

  softened

  1 large egg

  ¼ cup whole milk

  ¼ cup sour cream

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon lemon zest (the finely grated yellow part

  of the lemon peel)

  2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the

  cup when you measure it)

  1 and ½ cups quick-cooking oatmeal (I used Quaker

  1-minute)

  1 teaspoon lemon extract (if you don’t have it, use

  vanilla extract)

  The Topping:

  ¼ cup lemon juice

  ¼ cup white (granulated) sugar

  Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper.

  Place HALF of the brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.

  Add the 2 sticks of salted, softened butter.

  Sprinkle the other half of the brown sugar on top of the softened butter.

  Beat on MEDIUM speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.

  Continue to beat and add the egg to your mixing bowl. Beat the brown sugar, butter, and egg mixture until it is lighter in color and thoroughly blended.

  With the mixer running on MEDIUM speed, add the milk and the sour cream. Mix thoroughly.

  Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then add the lemon zest and beat until they are well combined.

  Add one cup of the flour and mix it in thoroughly on LOW speed. Then add the second cup of the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the remaining half cup of flour and mix it in. The dough should be fairly stiff.

  Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.

  Sprinkle in the quick-cooking oatmeal, turn the mixer back on LOW speed, and mix in the oatmeal.

  With the mixer still running on LOW speed, mix in the lemon or vanilla extract.

  Take the bowl out of the mixer, scrape it down again with the rubber spatula, and give your cookie dough a final stir with a wooden spoon.

  Drop by rounded spoonful onto your prepared cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard size sheet.

  Moisten the palm of your hand and press the cookies down slightly. You can also do this with a metal spatula dipped in water to keep the dough from sticking to the spatula.

  Bake at 350 degrees F., for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they are a nice, golden brown. (Mine took 14 minutes.)

  While the first pan of cookies is baking, mix up the topping.

  Heat the lemon juice just a bit in the microwave. (The sugar will dissolve more easily if the juice is warm.) Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Place the topping next to your wire cooling racks, along with a pastry brush.

  When the cookies come out of the oven, remove them to a wire rack with a piece of foil placed under the rack to catch the drips when you brush on the topping. If you’ve used parchment paper, just pull the paper with the cookies on it from the cookie sheet onto the wire rack. Leave the cookies on the parchment paper and there’s no need for a piece of foil under the rack.

  Brush the Lemon Topping onto the hot cookies. The faster you do this, the quicker the topping will dry into a glaze.

  Yield: Approximately 5 dozen sweet and tart cookies, depending on cookie size.

  Chapter Nine

  After Norman left, Hannah composed herself, and then she returned Cyril Murphy’s call. Mike had told her that when the crime scene investigators released Ross’s car, he would call Cyril and one of his mechanics would go to pick it up and assess the damage.

  “Hi, Cyril,” Hannah said when the owner of Cyril’s Garage and Shamrock Limousine Service came on the line. “It’s Hannah. My sister Michelle told me you’d called?”

  “Hello, Hannah,” Cyril responded, and Hannah began to smile. Even though Cyril had never lived in Ireland, his parents had immigrated from the Emerald Isle and there was still a slight trace of an Irish brogue in Cyril’s voice.

  “It’s about the car. I had my top mechanic go over it, and there’s surprisingly little damage. Mike told me that he’d hit a deer and that usually does all sorts of damage.”

  “He just sideswiped it, Cyril.”

  “Oh, then that explains the dent in the fender that my guys popped out. There was a scrape on the side that we took care of with touch-up paint and that’s the extent of the body damage. Good thing there was a lot of snow in that ditch. The car had a soft landing, and it still runs just fine.”

  “That’s good, I guess,” Hannah said, shuddering slightly. She knew she would never want to drive it, and she was almost certain that Michelle wouldn’t either. Neither one of them could forget the fact that P.K. had died behind the wheel.

  “What do you want me to do with it, Hannah? I can have a couple of my mechanics drop it off in your extra space at the condo.”

  “I . . . I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cyril. If it sits right next to my cookie truck at the condo, it’s just going to make us sad every time we see it. Since Ross isn’t here to make a decision, I’m not sure what I should do with it.”

  “I understand. But it’s not Ross’s decision, Hannah. It’s yours.”

  Hannah was confused. “What do you mean? It’s Ross’s car.”

  “No, it’s not. The pink slip was in the glove box, and Ross signed it over to you.”

  Hannah pulled out the chair by the phone and sat down hard. “He did?”

  “Yes. He signed it and dated it.”

  “Dated it?”

  “Yes. I’ve got it right here on my desk. Do you want to know the date?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Cyril read the date to her and Hannah came close to gasping. It was the day that Ross had left Lake Eden. She drew a deep breath to steady herself, but that didn’t keep the deep wave of grief from washing over her. Ross had signed his car over to her and put the keys in Michelle’s dresser. Had he feared that he wasn’t coming back anytime soon? Or perhaps not at all?

  “Do you want to think about it and call me back, Hannah?” Cyril asked her.

  “Um . . . no. I know what I want to do with it, Cyril. Make it look as good as you can and sell it. And I’ll use the money to buy a nice used car from your lot for Michelle. Give her a couple of options and I’ll bring her out to choose what she wants tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ll do that this afternoon, Hannah. I’ve got someone in Long Prairie who’s looking for that exact make and model. I can send one of my mechanics over on his break to bring you the pink slip so you can sign it.”

  Hannah made another instant decision. “That’s fine, Cyril. I’ll send back some cookies for you. It’s really nice of you to do this.”

  “No problem. I’ll run the price past you before I make a deal with the buyer.”

  “Don’t bother,” Hannah said instantly. She knew that Cyril would never cheat her. “Just sell it and pick out some used cars you think Michelle would like. And thanks, Cyril. You’re making things easy for me.”

  “My pleasure, darlin’.”

  Hannah smiled. Cyril’s brogue was thick when he said the typically Irish phrase. “Bye, Cyril. And I won’t forget to send those cookies.”

  Hannah was smiling as she hung up the phone. Talking to Cyril always put her in a good mood and she decided to make something special for him. Perhaps she could bake an Irish Potato Cookie. He’d really like that. And somewhere, in her voluminous recipe collection at the condo, she thought she had a recipe. Since Michelle had scanned all the recipes and put them on her home computer, and she now had access to her files on the cloud, she’d be able to search for the recipe from here.

  * * *

  Six pans of Multiple Choice Bar Cookies, six pans of Lovely Lemon Bar Cookies, and six pans of Rocky Road Bar Cookies later, Hannah had climbed into her cookie truck and driven to Jordan High to pick up M
ichelle from her two play rehearsals. She pulled up to the curb and idled there while she used her cell phone to text her sister, and then she leaned back in the driver’s seat and shut her eyes for just a moment.

  “Hannah!”

  Hannah woke up to the sound of someone tapping her driver’s side window. She blinked several times, and then she smiled as she saw Michelle standing there.

  “Get in, Michelle,” she called out, unlocking the passenger door. And after her sister had slid into the seat, she said, “Sorry, Michelle. I must have dozed off for a moment.”

  “That’s not surprising. Neither one of us got much sleep last night. How’s the baking coming, Hannah?”

  “Good.” Hannah put the truck in gear and drove to the corner. “I took on another project, Michelle.”

  “Really? What project?”

  “Sally asked us to run a cookie booth at her Holiday Gift Convention. I talked to Lisa, Aunt Nancy, and Marge, and they said they could handle the baking for the coffee shop by themselves if I wanted to do it.”

  “How many cookies do you think Sally’s cookie booth will need?”

  “Sally thinks we’ll sell about the same number as we sell at the coffee shop.”

  Michelle looked surprised. “That’s a lot of cookies!”

  “I know. But we get to keep all the profits. Sally doesn’t want a thing. And she’s not charging us rent for the booth. She told me she wanted to provide it as an on-site service so that the attendees can come to our booth, buy cookies and coffee, and carry them to the tables and chairs that they’re going to set up in the center of the space.”