by Joanne Fluke
Place the softened cream cheese and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them together at MEDIUM speed until they are blended.
Add the white sugar and the brown sugar to the mixing bowl. Beat on MEDIUM speed until they are thoroughly combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.
Mix in the large egg and the vanilla extract. Beat until they are well incorporated.
Sprinkle in the baking powder and the salt. Mix it in at MEDIUM speed until the mixture is well blended.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing at MEDIUM speed after each addition.
Shut off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, remove the bowl from the mixer, and give your bar cookie dough a final stir by hand.
If you haven’t already chopped the salted cashews, do it now. Then measure out ¾ cup and add the nuts to your bowl. Mix them in thoroughly by hand with a spoon.
Mix in the milk chocolate chips.
Transfer your bar cookie dough into your prepared pan and spread it out with a rubber spatula or your impeccably clean hands. Pat the dough into the corners and cover the entire bottom of the pan. Press it down as evenly as you can.
Bake your Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown.
Let your bar cookies cool on the cold stovetop burner or on a wire rack until the pan is completely cool to the touch.
When your bar cookies are completely cool, frost them with Milk Chocolate Fudge Frosting, following the directions in the frosting recipe.
Let the frosted bar cookies cool completely. Then cover the pan with aluminum foil and either store them on the counter or refrigerate them until you’d like to serve them.
To serve, cut the bars into brownie-size pieces, place them on a pretty platter, and serve them with strong, hot coffee or cold glasses of milk.
Yield: Approximately 30 Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies, but this depends entirely on how large you cut the pieces.
The Milk Chocolate Fudge Frosting recipe follows:
MILK CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING (microwave recipe)
2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) salted butter
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used Nestle Milk
Chocolate Chips, the 11.5-ounce package)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (NOT
evaporated milk – I used Eagle Brand)
Place the butter in the bottom of a microwave-safe bowl. (I used a quart Pyrex measuring cup)
Place the milk chocolate chips on top of the butter.
Pour in the 14-ounce can of sweetened, condensed milk.
Heat on HIGH for 1 minute. Then remove from the microwave and stir with a heat-resistant rubber spatula.
Return the bowl to the microwave and heat for another minute.
Let the bowl sit in the microwave for 1 minute and then take it out (careful—it may be hot to the touch!) and set it on the counter. Attempt to stir it smooth with the heat-resistant spatula.
If you can stir the mixture smooth, you’re done. If you can’t stir it smooth, return the bowl to the microwave and heat on HIGH in 30-second increments followed by 1 minute standing time, until you can stir it smooth.
To frost your Chocolate Cashew Bar Cookies, simply pour the frosting over the top of your pan and use the heat-resistant rubber spatula to smooth the frosting into the corners.
Give the microwave-safe bowl to your favorite person to scrape clean. (If you’re alone when you’re baking these bar cookies, feel free to enjoy the frosting that’s clinging to the sides of the bowl all by yourself.)
Hannah’s 1st Note: You can also make this recipe on the stovetop if you prefer. Simply heat the ingredients in a saucepan over MEDIUM-LOW heat, stirring constantly until the chips are melted. Then pull it to a cold burner, let it cool for one minute, and proceed to frost your bar cookies.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: This frosting recipe is also enough for a 9-inch by 13-inch cake.
Chapter Seventeen
By the time she parked in her spot in back of The Cookie Jar again, Hannah’s head was swimming with information. Carol had been a font of second-hand gossip, telling Hannah details about P.K. that Hannah probably didn’t need to know. Although most of it seemed to be immaterial to her investigation, Hannah had taken the time to cull through the data and write down a few facts that might be useful.
Even though it was cold once she’d shut off her cookie truck, Hannah paged through her murder book and arranged what she’d learned. “Pinkie” was not P.K.’s girlfriend’s real name, but no one at KCOW had known her true identity. Carol had mentioned, however, that she thought that Pinkie had gone to high school with P.K. Hannah flipped to Pinkie’s name on her suspect list and wrote down that information. She knew that Pinkie and P.K. had broken off their engagement and no longer saw each other. Michelle had told her that, but Mike had once mentioned that anyone who’d had a close personal relationship with the murder victim was automatically a suspect until they’d been cleared.
Next, Hannah flipped to the page she’d set aside for Scotty. Her instincts told her that Scotty probably wasn’t the killer, but she still had to investigate him. Luckily, she knew where to start. Scotty had mentioned that P.K. had joined him at the bar in the Lake Eden Inn. Hannah planned to interview Dick, the co-owner and bartender, when they went out there for dinner with Norman tonight.
Then there was Betty Jackson. She’d told Hannah that she liked P.K., but Betty had been very quick to mention that she thought there had been bad blood between Scotty and P.K. If that turned out to be false, either Betty wasn’t as observant as Hannah thought she was, or Betty had deliberately attempted to steer suspicion away from the real culprit. The real culprit could even be Betty. It seemed unlikely, but Hannah wasn’t even close to having all the facts. Digging for more information might either substantiate or disprove that theory.
The final suspect Hannah had added was the unnamed suspect with an unknown motive. That suspect always had a separate page on her suspect list. In some of her investigations, the name was actually filled in and so was the motive, but not usually this early in an investigation. That could be the case in P.K.’s murder. There was no way she could know that yet.
Hannah closed her murder book, stuck it back in her purse, and got out of her cookie truck. A few moments later, she was stepping inside the kitchen at The Cookie Jar.
“Hannah! You’re back!” Michelle greeted her with a big smile. “Norman went down to the clinic to check on his mail and he’s coming back at five-thirty to pick us up for dinner. Is that okay with you?”
“It’s fine,” Hannah responded, hanging her parka on a hook by the door. “Something smells good. What are you baking?”
“Chocolate Butterscotch Crunch Cookies.”
“Is that a new recipe?”
“Yes. It’s a variation of your Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies and your Chocolate Sugar Cookies. I made a couple of batches of bar cookies, and I wanted to do something in a regular cookie. You had some corn flakes in the pantry, and I found some butterscotch chips, so I decided to try these.”
“They smell great!”
“This is the second batch I made. The first batch is on the bakers rack if you’d like to taste one.”
“Yes. Thanks!” Hannah hurried to the bakers rack and plucked a warm cookie from one of the shelves. She took a small bite, just to taste, and then she took another much larger bite because the first had been so delicious.
“Sit down, Hannah. You look tired.” Michelle motioned toward the work station. “I’ll pour us both a cup of coffee and we can decide what to bake next.”
“Please get more of these cookies, first,” Hannah said, taking another bite as she turned and headed for her favorite stool. When she reached it, she sat down, finished her cookie, and accepted the coffee and plate of cookies that Michelle brought to her.
“Do you think the customers will like them?” Michelle asked.
“They’ll l
ove them. Try one and you’ll see.”
Michelle smiled as she sat down on the stool across from Hannah. “Norman told me about all the money in those accounts that Ross left for you. It’s a lot of money, Hannah!”
“I know,” Hannah said, but her mind added a second sentence. Just wait until you tell her about the safe deposit box!
“Did Mike get any idea of where Ross is from the bank records?”
“He didn’t really tell me if he did or he didn’t and I didn’t want to ask in front of Doug. Doug did tell us that Ross requested the money he withdrew that day in bills no larger than twenties and fifties.”
“Is that important?”
“I don’t think so. Most people who are going on a trip take money with them, and they usually take denominations that are easy to spend.”
“That makes sense.”
“I asked Doug if Ross had purchased any traveler’s checks.”
“Smart!” Michelle was clearly impressed. “Did he?”
“No. Mike followed up by asking if Ross had changed any money into foreign currency, and Doug told him no to that, too.”
“No clues there, right?”
“I don’t think so.” Hannah took a sip of her coffee and picked up another cookie. It was time to tell Michelle about the contents of Ross’s safe deposit box.
“What?” Michelle asked, noticing that Hannah’s expression had changed.
“Something else really unusual happened. I found out that Ross had a safe deposit box, and since it was one of those self-service ones and he left me the keys, Mike went with me to open it.”
Hannah described how amazed she’d been to see the stacks of bills and how they’d discovered the key that had slid under one of the stacks. When she was through, Michelle just shook her head.
“This gets stranger and stranger,” Michelle said. “Were you able to identify the key?”
“It looks like a padlock key, and we think it’s the key to a storage unit because it says Superior Storage on one side. Mike says he’s going to check it out, but he’s pretty busy with P.K.’s murder right now. And that’s one of the reasons I insisted on keeping the key.”
“Can I see it?”
“Yes.” Hannah drew the key from her pocket and handed it to Michelle.
“You’re right, Hannah. It’s a key to a storage unit and the number’s stamped on the back. Superior Storage is a really big chain of storage units and they’re all over the place.”
“How do you know that?”
“There’s a storage facility marked Superior Storage in St. Paul. I walk by it every day on my way to the campus. One of my college roommates wanted to put some things in storage so she went to the office and rented a unit. She said the lady told her that they had facilities all over Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.”
“I wonder if Ross’s storage unit is in the St. Paul building.”
“I can find out right now,” Michelle said, reaching for her cell phone.
Hannah listened as her sister made the call. It only took a moment to discover that Ross didn’t have a storage unit in the St. Paul building.
“Sorry,” Michelle said after she’d ended the call. “The lady told me his name isn’t on unit three-twelve.”
“Oh, well. That really would have been too good to be true. Thanks for trying.”
“I can get a list online and call some of the other buildings,” Michelle offered.
“That’s a good idea, but do it tomorrow. That storage unit isn’t going anywhere.” Hannah got up to get more coffee for both of them. When she’d topped off their cups with hot coffee, she said, “I have something else to tell you. I didn’t spend all that time at the bank.”
“Where did you go?”
“I drove out to KCOW. I stopped by here, but everybody was in the coffee shop so I didn’t bother to tell anyone where I was going. I just picked up some cookie bars and dashed out there.”
“Tell me all about it,” Michelle said, leaning forward. “Did you find any new suspects?”
“Yes, and I learned a little more about Pinkie.”
“Her name?”
“No. Everybody at KCOW just called her Pinkie. Nobody I talked to knew her real name. But I did find out that P.K. and Pinkie went to high school together.”
“Oh, good! Then we can find out where. We’re going to the funeral and P.K.’s parents will be there. All we have to do is ask them where he went to high school.”
“Isn’t that a little . . .”
“Rude?” Michelle supplied the word.
“Not exactly rude, but perhaps a bit inappropriate considering that we’re not close family friends. If we get the chance to talk to them, we should offer our condolences, not ask them questions.”
“We don’t have to ask them questions.”
“We don’t? Then how are we going to find out?”
“Mother knows them, and she loves to help you investigate. We’ll get her to ask them.”
Hannah thought about that for no more than a split second. “That could work. Mother’s a genius in social situations. She’ll figure out a way to work it into her condolences.”
“Did you run into anybody else at KCOW?” Michelle asked.
“Yes. Betty Jackson works out there now.”
“Great! Betty’s one of the biggest gossips around. Who did she think did it?”
“She didn’t hazard a guess, but she did suggest that I talk to the guy who thought he’d be head cameraman until they promoted P.K. to the job. His name is Scotty, and he claims he wasn’t that angry at P.K.”
“But Betty thinks it could be a workplace rivalry that was taken to the extreme?”
“She backtracked a little when I asked her if she really thought that Scotty killed P.K., but it’s still possible. I just don’t know, Michelle. I talked to Scotty, and my gut feeling is that he had nothing to do with it.”
“Then you’re probably right.”
“But I can’t assume that my gut is correct. I have to investigate Scotty anyway.”
“I understand. Tell me about everyone else you saw at KCOW and how you feel about them.”
Hannah told Michelle about Carol, describing her in detail. When she was through, Michelle looked thoughtful.
“Did Scotty have an alibi for the time of P.K.’s death?” she asked.
“I didn’t ask him because it doesn’t matter. P.K. died because he ate the drugged candy. The candy was the murder weapon, and it was mailed and delivered days before P.K. ate any.”
“Right. And we don’t know when the killer sent it because the mailer was thrown away.”
“That’s true. And even if we knew when it was mailed, we wouldn’t know who mailed it. P.K.’s killer could have been hundreds of miles away at the time of his death.”
“Or he could have been right here in Lake Eden when P.K. died,” Michelle speculated.
“That’s true, too. This is the only murder case I’ve ever tried to solve where the time of death doesn’t relate in some way to the crime. And to make things even more complicated, the victim might not have been the intended victim.”
Michelle thought about that for a moment. “You’re right. We really can’t assume anything!”
Both sisters were silent for a long moment, and then Michelle spoke again. “Let’s say you really wanted someone dead. You wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble to lace that candy with tranquilizers if you hadn’t wanted them to die. After all, there are easier ways to kill someone. And then you went to the trouble to figure out a way to get the candy delivered to your intended victim without being implicated. At least we know that the killer was very determined to kill without being caught.”
“That’s true,” Hannah agreed. “You’re describing a person who was driven to commit murder.”
“And if you were so driven to kill that particular person in that particular way and you knew it might not happen immediately, wouldn’t you want to stick around to make sure everything eventuall
y happened the way you planned?”
Hannah stared at her youngest sister for a moment and then she smiled. “You’re absolutely right, Michelle. If I were the killer, I’d want to make sure that I was successful and I wouldn’t want to just read about it in the papers. I’d need to know how, and when. And then I’d want to find out how the investigation into the murder was developing, how close the detectives were coming to figuring out the truth.”
“Exactly. And don’t forget about you, Hannah. The killer’s going to want to know how your investigation is developing.”
Hannah gave a little shiver. “You’re right, of course. But what if the killer didn’t succeed? What if the wrong person died?”
Michelle considered that for a moment. “Then the killer would want to get as far away from Lake Eden as fast as he or she could.”
“Right. So we’re right back where we started. We still don’t know if the right person died or if the killer is still in Lake Eden.”
Michelle sighed deeply. “That’s true and I’m fresh out of theories. Investigating P.K.’s murder is terribly frustrating, isn’t it?”
“Yes. And we’re not even taking into account the fact that our emotions are involved.”
“I didn’t even think of that!” Michelle began to frown. “I guess that means we have to try to be dispassionate. If we think about it too much, our emotions will color everything. We’re both upset over what happened to P.K. and . . . I can’t decide if it’s better or worse if we discover that P.K. was the intended victim.”
