by Joanne Fluke
Michelle smiled, but then she quickly sobered. “What if they question me? If Mike asks, I’ll have to say I had a…a relationship with him!”
“Did anyone ever see you together in a situation that might suggest you were more than student and professor?”
“No. I was very careful about that. He was my faculty advisor at Macalester so nobody suspected anything when they saw us together on campus. Actually…” Michelle stopped and swallowed again and Hannah suspected she was choking back another sob. “Nothing ever happened at Macalester. It was only after he came here that…”
“I don’t need to know the timeline,” Hannah interrupted what was obviously a painful admission. “If Mike asks, just say that he was your faculty advisor.”
“Okay.” This time Michelle couldn’t hold back a little hiccup of a sob. “I wish I could go back in time and do everything over!”
Hannah reached out to give her another hug. “So do I,” she said.
CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW COOKIE BARS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Bottom Layer:
½ cup butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound)
1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate (I used Baker’s)
½ cup white (granulated) sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs lightly beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
Cream Cheese Layer:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened (you’ll use 6 ounces for this layer and the remaining 2 ounces for the frosting)
¼ cup softened butter (½ stick, 2 ounces, 1/8 pound)
¼ cup white (granulated) sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (that’s 1/8 cup)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 beaten egg (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)
½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
2 cups miniature marshmallows (I used Kraft’s Jet-Puffed)
Frosting:
¼ cup butter (½ stick, 2 ounces, 1/8 pound)
1-ounce square unsweetened chocolate (I used Baker’s)
reserved 2 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-pound box powdered sugar
Place butter and unsweetened chocolate in saucepan over low heat. Heat just until chocolate melts. (You can do this in the microwave if you prefer.) Stir in sugar.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and nuts. Add them to the chocolate mixture. Stir well.
Stir in the vanilla and the eggs.
Spread the batter into a greased and floured 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. (You can spray the inside with baking spray, if you’d rather.)
Make the cream cheese filling.
Start with the cream cheese. Cut off 2 ounces and reserve it for the frosting. (That’s one-quarter of the package.)
If your cream cheese isn’t soft enough to stir, heat it in a microwave-safe bowl for 10 to 20 seconds until you can stir it. If your next ingredient, the butter, is still cold, you can throw that in when you heat the cream cheese and do both together.
Combine the softened cream cheese with the butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla. Stir it until it’s smooth.
Add the beaten egg and stir until well combined.
Mix in the chopped nuts.
Spread the cream cheese layer over the chocolate layer. Use a rubber spatula to smooth it out.
Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Do this as evenly as you can.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. (Mine took 23 minutes.)
Take the pan out of the oven, sprinkle the top with the miniature marshmallows, and put it back in the oven to bake an additional 2 minutes.
While the marshmallows are baking, start your frosting. Your pan will come out of the oven before you’re through making the frosting, but that’s okay.
Melt the butter in a two-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. (You can also do this in a bowl in the microwave.)
Break (or cut with a knife) the unsweetened chocolate square into two parts and stir them into the butter.
Stir in the softened cream cheese and the milk.
Heat the mixture until it can be stirred smooth. (Again, you can do this in the microwave in 20-second increments, stopping to stir after each time period.)
Remove the saucepan from the heat (or the bowl from the microwave) and beat in the vanilla.
Beat in approximately a cup of the powdered sugar. When that’s incorporated, beat in another cup. When that’s incorporated, beat in the rest of the box. (Doing it this way keeps the powdered sugar in the bowl and not flying out like snow flurries all over your counter.) Stir the frosting until it’s smooth.
When the frosting is smooth, spread it over the hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars, swirling it into the marshmallows. It’ll be soft, but don’t worry. It’ll firm up as the bars cool.
Set the pan on a cold burner or a wire rack to cool. When you can handle it without using potholders, slip the pan into the refrigerator and let it chill for at least an hour. (This makes the bars less crumbly and easier to cut.)
To serve, cut the bars into 32 pieces. (That’s 8 rows and 4 rows crisscrossing them.)
Hannah’s Note: Chocolate Marshmallow Bars are very rich. (Mike’s the only person I’ve ever known to eat four in one sitting.) Make sure you have a full carafe of strong coffee right next to the plate with the bars. You should also have another pot all ready to go in the kitchen.
Yield: One recipe makes 32 incredibly chocolaty marsh-mallowy bars.
AGGRESSION COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
3 cups flour (pack it down when you measure it)
1 Tablespoon baking soda (that’s 3 teaspoons)
3 cups brown sugar (pack it down when you measure it)
4 eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
3 cups salted butter, softened (6 sticks, 24 ounces, 1 and ½ pounds)
6 cups oatmeal (I used Quaker Quick Oats)
½ cup white (granulated) sugar for dipping the dough balls
Put the flour in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the baking soda and mix until it’s well combined. Wash your spoon and put it away. You won’t be using it again today.
Go to your cupboard and find a large bowl, preferably one that’s unbreakable. Dump the flour and baking soda mixture in the bottom.
Measure the brown sugar and dump that in on top of the flour mixture. Do not stir.
Whip up 4 eggs in a glass with a fork until they’re frothy. Add them to your bowl.
Add all that softened butter. Just dump it in. Don’t stir.
Dump in the oatmeal, too. Don’t stir.
Think about something that really makes you mad. Now mash, knead, squeeze, pound, and pulverize all those ingredients in the bowl. Drum up every bit of aggression you can and take it out on your cookie dough. Don’t stop until everything is mashed, and squeezed, and rounded up into a big ball.
Hannah’s 1stNote: Karen says to use ungreased cookie sheets. I forgot and sprayed mine with Pam. Lisa says she used parchment paper. I think these cookies will turn out fine no matter what you do.
Put the ½ cup of white sugar in a small bowl.
Form the cookie dough into small balls about an inch in diameter. Roll the balls in the white sugar and place them on the cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-size sheet. They’ll flatten out as they bake.
Bake your cookies at 350 F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until they’re golden brown on top. Cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hannah’s 2ndNote: Michelle and I added golden raisins to half of this batch, and chocolate chips to the other
half. We thought the cookies were sweet enough without the added sugar on top, so we left that out. The dough balls flattened out by themselves as they baked. If you want to make several different types of oatmeal cookies, you can divide the dough into several parts and knead something different into each part.
Michelle’s Note: Mixing up these cookies is bound to relax you. I copied the recipe to use at Macalester for the times I study all night for a midterm and then find out that not one single thing I studied was on the test.
Yield: 12 dozen tasty cookies, depending on cookie size.
Hannah’s 3rdNote: You can cut this recipe in half, if you wish. You can also make it in an electric mixer if you’re not particularly mad at anyone.
Chapter Thirteen
The Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars were cooling in the refrigerator and Hannah was just removing the last pan of Aggression Cookies from the oven when the doorbell rang. As Michelle went to answer the door, Hannah glanced at the clock on her kitchen wall. Only two hours had passed since they’d walked in the door. Mike was a lot earlier than she’d expected.
But it wasn’t Mike. Hannah was in a position to see both cats sit up and stare at the doorway. Then Moishe’s hair began to bristle, and he arched his back like the illustration of a Halloween cat. He gave a low growl, deep in his throat, and then there was a thump as Moishe, closely followed by Cuddles, jumped to the floor and made a beeline for her bedroom.
“Hello, Mother!” Hannah called out before Delores even stepped inside the door.
“Hello, dear.” Delores followed Michelle to the kitchen. “How did you know it was me?”
“Just a lucky guess,” Hannah answered, avoiding the cruel truth. It wouldn’t be good for her mother’s ego to know that Moishe disliked her so much, he’d taken his best kitty friend with him and they’d gone to hide under her bed.
“I came to see how you were,” Delores explained, glancing pointedly at the coffee pot. “What smells so divine? Don’t tell me that despite everything you’ve gone through tonight, you girls have been baking!”
“We’ve been baking,” Hannah said.
“That’s right.” Michelle went straight to the coffee pot to pour her mother a cup. “It’s like this, Mother. Some people cry when they’re upset, and some people yell and throw things. Hannah and I bake.”
“Well, that’s certainly a lot more constructive.” Delores sat down at the kitchen table and waited for Michelle to deliver her coffee. “But you still haven’t answered my first question. What smells so divine?”
“I’m not sure. We made Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars first, and then we made Aggression Cookies. And right now, we’re mixing up a cake…” Hannah went to the refrigerator to take out the pan with the cookie bars. “Would you like a cookie bar, Mother?”
“Yes, thank you, dear. And I’ll try the cookies, too. Bud and I met for dinner, but we were running late and we didn’t want to take time for dessert.”
“You went out with Bud Hauge on a dinner date?” Hannah asked, wondering if Andrea was right and their mother was showing an interest in dating again.
“I certainly wouldn’t call it a dinner date, dear. We had patty melts at the cafe, and then we went over to the school for the talent show. Bud’s niece plays with Kenny Kowalski’s All-Girl Accordion Band.”
Michelle delivered two cookies to their mother, one with chocolate chips and the other with golden raisins.
“Thank you, dear.” Delores turned back to Hannah, who was cutting the cookie bars at the counter. “I just stopped by to see how you were faring in light of your…unfortunate discovery. I knew Norman wasn’t back yet, and I was concerned. I’m very glad to see that you’re coping so well.” Delores stopped and took another sip of coffee. “You knew him, didn’t you, dear?”
It was the question she’d been expecting ever since she’d first seen her mother at the door. Although Delores didn’t know for certain, she suspected that Bradford Ramsey had been the unnamed man Hannah had told her about, the man who’d broken her heart in college. Under any other circumstances, Hannah might have admitted it, but this was a murder investigation and she didn’t want to put her mother in the position of having to lie to the authorities if she was questioned.
“We all knew him, Mother,” Hannah said, settling for a partial truth. “Not only was he Michelle’s faculty advisor, he was a guest right here in my condo for Christmas Eve dinner. But of course you were here too, so you already knew that.”
“Yes. I just meant that…you seemed to be so upset when he bumped into you at Stewart Hall last winter when we were going to my small business class.”
“Of course I was upset. He scattered the contents of my purse all over the floor.”
“But you made some comment about how he wasn’t a nice man.”
“That’s perfectly true. I thought his apology wasn’t sincere. Anyone who was truly sorry would have gotten right down there on his knees and helped me pick up the contents of my purse, even though I said I didn’t need help.”
“Oh. Well…I suppose you’re right. He did seem more interested in getting to his class on time than he was about helping to right the damage he’d caused.”
“My point exactly. You remember what I said when you asked me about it, don’t you?”
“Yes. You said you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s right. I was trying to calm down, and talking about it would have just made me angry at him again.”
“Oh.” Delores gave her a searching look. “Then I totally misinterpreted the reason you didn’t want to discuss it?”
“Yes.” Hannah found she couldn’t quite meet her mother’s eyes, so she busied herself by placing several cookie bars on a plate and carrying them to the table.
“These look lovely,” Delores complimented her. “I’m glad you baked, dear.”
“So am I. Baking is wonderful therapy.” And then, because she just couldn’t resist, Hannah added, “You really ought to try it sometime.”
“Moi? Surely not, dear! Why would I even attempt to bake when you do it so well?”
Nicely said, Mother, Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. Instead she motioned toward the plate. “Please help yourself.”
Delores selected one of the cookie bars and took a bite. A moment later, her face was wreathed in a smile. “Delicious!” she pronounced. “These are just wonderful, dear.”
“I’m glad you like them. Will you excuse me for a couple of minutes? Michelle and I need to finish the Wacky Cake batter.”
“The what, dear?”
“Wacky Cake. It’s a one-pan cake. You mix it and bake it in the same pan. And it doesn’t have any eggs.”
“That’s unusual for a cake?” Delores guessed.
“Very unusual,” Hannah told her. “This is a cake that Suzy’s grandmother used to make during the Second World War when there was rationing and sometimes people couldn’t buy eggs.”
“I remember your grandparents talking about that.”
“There’s a note on the recipe,” Hannah told her, retrieving the folded piece of paper from the counter. It says, From the time of World War Two when eggs could be scarce unless you kept chickens, there weren’t fifteen different types of flour in the grocery store, and tap water was safe to drink.”
Delores gave a little laugh. “I guess that says it all.”
“I’ll finish the cake,” Michelle offered. “You can sit down and talk with Mother.”
Hannah’s eyes narrowed as she shot a look at her baby sister. The last thing she wanted to do right now was converse with her mother, and Michelle knew it. Delores would want to know the whole story of how she’d found Bradford dead on the stage, and she didn’t feel like talking about it.
“Thanks a lot, Michelle,” Hannah said, and Michelle winced slightly. It was clear she knew that Hannah meant just the opposite.
She was stuck and she knew it. Hannah poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it to the table. But before
she could sit down across from Delores, the doorbell rang. She’d been saved by the bell, the doorbell to be specific. Mike must be here to take her statement.
“That’s probably Mike,” she said to her mother. “He said he’d drop by to interview me.”
Delores looked pleased. “That’s perfect, dear. I was planning to ask you all about it. If Mike takes your statement right here at the table, you won’t have to tell your story twice.”
Hannah said nothing, although she was fairly certain Mike would insist on taking her statement in private. Even though he was no longer a complete slave to police procedure, she doubted he’d bend the rules just to satisfy her mother’s curiosity. She walked to the door and opened it, but it wasn’t Mike who was standing there on the landing.
“Hi, Hannah,” Andrea said, stepping into the condo. “I thought you might be upset, so I came over just as soon as I put Tracey to bed. Is that Mother’s car in your extra space?”
“Yes. Come on in. We’re in the kitchen, baking.”
“Mother’s baking?”
“Not Mother. Michelle and I are baking.”
“But…isn’t that a little inappropriate under the circumstances?”
“What’s inappropriate about baking? I do it every day.”
