Fudge Cupcake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  There was a smile on Hannah’s face as she dished up Moishe’s yogurt. Doctor Bob and Sue had come up with a solution that suited both human and feline. The moment that Hannah placed the dish on the coffee table, Moishe jumped up and stood there expectantly.

  “Hold on a second,” Hannah said, loosening the cap on the vitamin bottle. But the cat who’d hidden under the bed when threatened by the very same bottle just sat there and purred. Hannah squelched her desire to say I told you so to her cat and squirted a stream of vitamins over the top. A scant second later, Moishe was eagerly lapping it up.

  Hannah was just about to pick up the new purse her mother and Andrea had insisted she buy when there was a knock at the door. Andrea had called earlier to say that she was sending a car for Hannah and even though Hannah had told her it wasn’t necessary, her sister had insisted.

  A box from The Cookie Jar sat on the counter and Hannah picked it up. It was a special present for Bill, a pan of his favorite Apple Orchard Cookie Bars. Hannah figured the treat was appropriate since Ted Koester had confessed to killing Sheriff Grant and was behind bars awaiting his trial.

  Hannah opened the door with a smile on her face, but that smile quickly changed to an expression of surprise. Instead of the hired driver that Andrea had led her to expect, both Norman and Mike were standing there.

  “Hi, Hannah,” Norman said, giving her a grin and then turning to Mike.

  “We’re your drivers tonight.” Mike reached out to take her arm. “Andrea asked both of us to escort you.”

  “That’s nice,” Hannah said, making a mental note to have a long talk with her sister. If Andrea had hoped to promote jealousy between the two, it had backfired. Both Norman and Mike looked as happy as clams.

  Mike held the bakery box while Norman helped Hannah into her coat. Then Mike locked the door behind them and both men escorted her down the stairs.

  “Look! It’s snowing!” Hannah lifted her face to the night sky as a few gentle flakes started to fall. They swirled lazily under the old-fashioned streetlights the builder had installed in the condo complex and fell to the walkway, keeping their form for a moment or two and then melting.

  “Do you want to go back for your boots?” Norman asked. “There could be snow on the ground before the party’s over.”

  “Not really,” Hannah said, glancing down at her shoes. Even if she’d owned a pair of dress boots, they wouldn’t have looked good with her dress.

  “She doesn’t need boots,” Mike declared, motioning to Norman. “Excuse us for a second, Hannah. We have to work out some logistics.”

  Hannah stared after Mike in some confusion as he pulled Norman a few feet away and spoke to him in a low voice. But the night was too beautiful to spend staring at two men discussing something or other, and she watched the snowflakes instead.

  Even though there had been the predictable uproar at Ted Koester’s arrest, things had calmed down quite rapidly. Beatrice was cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the chop shop and stolen car ring, and one of her grown sons was coming back home to help her run the salvage yard. She’d told Hannah that she’d suspected something was wrong, but she’d never dreamed that her husband had killed Sheriff Grant.

  The jury was still out on Winthrop Harrington the Second. Norman was attempting to check several British databanks, but so far he’d learned nothing. Unfortunately, Winthrop was out of town and wouldn’t be attending Bill’s victory party. Hannah figured that she’d meet him eventually and then she’d make up her own mind.

  Now that Barbara Donnelly had returned to work, Shawna Lee Quinn was back in the typing pool. That distance wasn’t far enough to suit Andrea and she’d told Hannah that she planned to deal with that problem just as soon as little Billy was born and she was back on her feet.

  “Your chair awaits you,” Norman said, and Hannah whirled around to find both men standing behind her with crossed and clasped hands.

  “You’re going to carry me?” Hannah asked, not quite believing it.

  “That’s right.” Mike moved forward and so did Norman. “Sit down, Hannah. And put your arms around our shoulders. We’ll carry you to the car.”

  Feeling just a bit like a damsel in distress and enjoying it immensely, Hannah took a seat on their crossed arms and steadied herself. And then her two escorts began to walk, carrying her down the path toward the waiting car in the first powdery snow of the winter.

  “Lovely,” Hannah breathed, not sure of the etiquette in such a situation, but loving every moment of it.

  Apple Orchard Bars

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.,

  rack in the middle position.

  ½ cup melted butter (1 stick)

  ½ cup white sugar

  1 cup brown sugar firmly packed

  ½ teaspoon baking soda

  ½ teaspoon salt

  ½ teaspoon baking powder

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  2 beaten eggs (you can beat them up with a fork)

  ½ cup rolled oats (uncooked oatmeal)

  1 cup peeled chopped apple (I used 2 medium Gala apples)

  2 cups flaked coconut

  1 ½ cups flour (not sifted)

  Melt butter, add the sugars, and stir. Add baking soda, salt, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and beaten eggs. Mix well. Then add the oats, chopped apple and 1 ½ cups flaked coconut. (Reserve ½ cup for on top.) Add the flour and mix it all thoroughly.

  Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. Spoon the dough in and smooth it with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the ½ cup coconut you reserved evenly on top.

  Bake at 375 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes, or until slightly browned on top.

  Let cool and cut into bars like brownies.

  (Bill likes these with hot chocolate—he says it brings out the taste of the apples.)

  (Tracey’s still trying to convince Andrea that they’re health food and she should have them for breakfast.)

  Baking Conversion Chart

  These conversions are approximate, but they’ll work just fine for Hannah Swensen’s recipes.

  Note: Hannah’s rectangular sheet cake pan, 9 inches by 13 inches, is approximately 23 centimeters by 32.5 centimeters.

  The holidays are the icing on the cake for bakery owner Hannah Swensen. Surrounded by her loved ones, she has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas—until murder is added to the mix….

  When it comes to holidays, Minnesotans rise to the occasion—and the little town of Lake Eden is baking up a storm with Hannah leading the way. The annual Christmas Buffet is the final test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook.

  While Hannah is baking the day’s goodies at The Cookie Jar, the evening’s plans begin to jell. Start with the best Lake Eden culinary creations, add two of Hannah’s “sometime” boyfriends, a pinch of her ready-to-pop pregnant sister, and a dash of her mother and new significant other, an actual British lord, and what do you get? A recipe for disaster, but the juiciest ingredient is yet to come….

  The recently divorced Martin Dubinski arrives at the buffet with his new Vegas showgirl wife—all wrapped up in glitter and fur. His ex-wife, however, seems as cool as chilled eggnog. And when Hannah’s mother’s antique Christmas cake knife disappears, its discovery in the décolletage of the new—and now late—Mrs. Dubinski puts the festivities on ice.

  With everyone stranded at the community center by a blizzard, Hannah puts her investigative skills to the test, using the ingredients at hand: half the town of Lake Eden—and a killer. Now, as the snowdrifts get higher, it’s up to Hannah to dig out all the clues—and make sure that this white Christmas doesn’t bring any more deadly tidings….

  Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of

  SUGAR COOKIE MURDER

  now available in paperback!

  H

  annah groaned as Edna’s words sank in. “Mother’s cake knife is missing?”

  “That’s what I said.” />
  “And you looked on the dessert table?”

  “That’s what I said, too!”

  “All right. Don’t panic. It’s got to be here somewhere.”

  “Where? I looked everywhere!”

  “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly,” Hannah advised, taking a moment to do exactly that. “When is the last time you saw it?”

  Edna did exactly what Hannah said, inhaling and exhaling slowly. It was proof of how upset she was, since Edna rarely took anyone’s advice about anything. “It was on the dessert table when I carried out the second crock of meatballs. I remember thinking how pretty it looked under the lights.”

  Hannah glanced at the elaborately carved wooden container on the kitchen counter. “Maybe someone put it back in the chest?”

  “Nope. I checked that right off. That box is as empty as Redeemer Lutheran on the Sunday after Jordan High’s homecoming game.”

  Hannah bit back a laugh at Edna’s description. It was true that most people celebrated a bit too much on homecoming weekend and not that many had the urge to get up early on Sunday morning and make it to church.

  “I’m sure you’re right, but…I just have to check for myself.” Hannah walked over to the box and raised the lid. It was empty, just as Edna had said. “Sorry, Edna.”

  “That’s all right. I checked it twice myself.”

  Both women leaned up against the counter to think about the seemingly insurmountable problem at hand. They were so quiet Hannah could hear the kitchen clock ticking as the minute hand moved up a notch.

  “Do you think someone could have used it for something else?” Hannah finally asked, after another notch had clicked off. “I mean, picture this…someone in the buffet line needs another knife for the turkey, or whatever. They’re about to go back to the kitchen to get one when they notice Mother’s knife on the dessert table. So they take it and use it and…”

  “And they leave it on the entrée table!” Edna interrupted, somehow managing to look doubtful and hopeful at the same time.

  “Exactly right. It could have happened that way.”

  “That means we’d better check the other buffet tables. I don’t want your mother to know it’s missing until we know for sure. Will you do it…um…you know…”

  “Surreptitiously?” Hannah supplied the word she thought Edna was trying to say.

  “That’s exactly what I mean. I’m so upset, I couldn’t think of the polite word for sneaky.”

  A cake knife the size and commanding presence of her mother’s antique silver heirloom couldn’t hide for long on any of the other tables. Just to be sure, Hannah lifted platters and checked under bowls and centerpieces, but she really hadn’t expected to find it, and she wasn’t surprised when it didn’t turn up.

  “You didn’t find it,” Edna said, reading Hannah’s expression when she returned to the kitchen.

  “I’m afraid I didn’t.”

  “Your mother’s going to kill me. You know that, don’t you? We’ve just got to find it before she realizes that it’s missing.” Edna sat down on a kitchen stool, thought for a moment, and raised her head to look at Hannah. “Do you think someone stole it?”

  “In Lake Eden?”

  “You’re right. Nobody here would do something like that.”

  “Chances are it’s just misplaced, and that means it has to be around here somewhere. Why don’t you take a look to see if anything on the tables need replenishing? I’ll stay in here and go through every cupboard and drawer in this kitchen.”

  “Good idea,” Edna said, taking the top from a huge Tupperware container shaped like a dress box. “While I was out there looking for the cake knife, I noticed that some of your Christmas cookies were gone. Can’t say as I blame the folks that took ’em early. Your cookies are prettier than the ones they show in the magazines.”

  “The pretty part is Lisa’s doing. She decorated them. All I did was bake them.”

  “They’re tasty, too. Sweet and crunchy, with the taste of butter in every bite.”

  “You ate one?” Hannah was surprised. When Edna managed a potluck dinner, she waited to eat until they’d carried the food back into the kitchen. And unlike Hannah, who sometimes couldn’t resist sampling something yummy, Edna wasn’t the type of person to eat dessert first.

  “It was a Santa with one leg broken off. If I’d put it on the platter that way, sure and shootin’ some child would have had nightmares about it.” Edna headed for the door, but she turned back for a final comment. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, but I’m going to keep my fingers crossed.”

  Once Edna had left to restock the cookie platter, Hannah searched systematically, determined to go through every cupboard and drawer. Edna buzzed in and out, putting out more food where it was needed. Then she began to get out the rest of the desserts and prepare them for presentation.

  Hannah met Edna’s eyes several times while the older woman was cutting cakes and pies in even slices and arranging platters of cookies and cookie bars. Each time Edna’s eyebrows elevated in a question, Hannah shook her head. The missing cake knife was still missing, and Hannah’s hope that she’d find it stuck away in a drawer or mixed in with other serving implements was dwindling faster than an ice cube in a mug of steaming hot coffee.

  It took awhile, but at last Hannah knew she’d left no metaphorical stone unturned. She’d been so thorough, she would have sworn on a stack of Bibles that her mother’s cake knife was not in the Lake Eden Community Center kitchen. Hannah headed for a stool at one of the center work islands. She had to tell Delores the bad news before she discovered it for herself. There was no way Hannah would shirk that duty, but she did need time to think of a way to phrase the message that wouldn’t immediately result in the death of the messenger.

  Delivering bad news had never been one of her skills. Hannah tended to blurt things out, a bit like jerking a bandage from a wound rather than inching the tape off. She didn’t think she was quite as outspoken as Edna, but people weren’t that far wrong when they accused her of having no tact.

  The pantry door was open slightly and Hannah noticed that the light was on. She hadn’t bothered to check the pantry, because she’d assumed that no one had used it. Since it was a potluck dinner, everyone had brought in fully cooked dishes. Edna and her helpers had simply kept things warm or chilled, depending on the dish, until it was time to serve.

  Hannah’s mind spun, imagining a possible scenario. Someone who’d brought in a dessert suddenly realized they’d forgotten powdered sugar to sprinkle over the top. Rather than rush home to get it, the frantic cook stepped into the community center pantry hoping to borrow some. Had that person also picked up the antique cake knife, intending to use it to slice her dessert? It was certainly possible…perhaps unlikely, but still possible.

  Rising quickly, Hannah hurried to the pantry and opened the door. A quick scan of the neatly stocked shelves disproved the theory that had seemed plausible only moments ago. The cake knife was nowhere in sight. Hannah was about to turn off the light and step back out into the kitchen when she noticed that the dead bolt on the door to the parking lot wasn’t locked.

  Hannah opened the door and took a step outside. Through the blowing snow, she could see the icy hulks of parked cars. This was the delivery entrance and since it opened onto the parking lot, it would be a perfect escape route for a thief. If someone really had stolen her mother’s antique knife and ducked out to the parking lot through this door, they’d be long gone by now.

  A blast of cold wind carrying icy needles of snow made her shiver. Hannah was about to step back into the warmth of the pantry when she noticed something bulky on the ground between two of the parked cars. It looked furry, like some sort of animal, but it was too small for a bear, and too large for a dog.

  Curiosity trickled, gathered force, and grew into a mighty waterfall. There was no way Hannah could turn around and go back inside without finding out what kind of animal was in the parking lot. She headed out at a
trot, glad that she was wearing her all-purpose footwear, the moosehide moccasin boots that were so politically incorrect with people who’d never even seen a moose…or smelled one, for that matter.

  Hannah’s sweater was dusted with flakes of snow by the time she got close enough to see. She bent over to examine the large lump of fur, and reached out to steady herself on the nearest car. The animal she thought she’d seen had been made into an expensive fur coat that Martin’s new wife was wearing. The only other animal in sight was the reindeer sugar cookie that was broken near Brandi’s feet, along with the pieces of a Christmas tree cookie, and a bell decorated in red and green icing. Brandi must have taken several cookies from the dessert table and come out here to eat them. The big question was, did she also take the antique cake knife?

  Hoping that she’d just slipped and fallen, Hannah reached down to tap Brandi on the shoulder. “Brandi? Do you need help getting up?”

  There was no answer and Hannah began to frown. This didn’t look good. “Brandi?” she called out again, shaking her a little harder and wondering if she should go for help. The former dancer wasn’t moving, but she could be faking it. If Hannah left her alone and Brandi had the cake knife, she might make a run for it with the valuable antique.

  Hannah knew that it was dangerous to move someone who had undetermined injuries. Accident victims had died from the ministrations of well-meaning bystanders who had tried to move them without backboards and stabilizing collars. Hannah certainly wouldn’t risk moving Brandi, but she’d taken a first aid class in college and she knew there was a pulse point just under the jawbone on the side of a person’s neck.