Red Velvet Cupcake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “How would she know that?”

  “Roger may have mentioned seeing you there.”

  “Why didn’t she just hand it to me on the Petersons’ front porch?”

  “She might have mailed it already.”

  Hannah was silent for a moment and then she shook her head. “Time for truth, Mike. You know and I know that none of this makes any sense. Agreed?”

  Mike didn’t look happy, but he nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Doctor Bev sends me a button from the blouse Barbara was wearing when she was almost killed, and then, right after she mails it, Doctor Bev is murdered. What does that tell you?”

  “What does it tell you?”

  “It tells me that Doctor Bev knew who tried to kill Barbara. And that person murdered Doctor Bev before she could tell anyone about it.”

  Mike was silent for a long moment. “You could be right,” he finally said.

  “I know I’m right. But that doesn’t get us any closer to identifying the killer, does it?”

  “Not really. Did you find out anything new, Hannah? I know you’ve been working on this.”

  “A few things, but I’m not sure where they fit. How about you?”

  “Same here. I’ve got a bunch of unrelated facts that don’t seem to form any sort of a pattern.”

  Hannah sighed and then she looked him straight in the eyes. “I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me.”

  “Deal,” Mike said. “But if you tell anyone we shared information, I’ll deny it.”

  “I’ll never tell. How about you?”

  “I won’t tell either.” Mike reached out to take her hand and squeeze it. “Our secret?”

  “Our secret,” Hannah agreed, squeezing back. “How about coffee, cookies, and clues in that order? I’ve got some Four Alarm Brownie Cookies you might like. They’ve got chopped jalapenos in them.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Mike said. “I’ll pour the coffee.”

  “And I’ll get the cookies.” Hannah headed to the baker’s rack to dish up the cookies. When she came back, Mike had already set their mugs of coffee on the stainless steel work island and he was taking his notebook out of his pocket.

  Hannah set the plate of cookies in front of him, but she kept the shorthand notebook she called her murder book in her hand. “So we’re really going to do this?”

  Mike opened his notebook and shoved it over to her. “Here you go. Get ready to read.”

  “And here’s mine,” Hannah said, opening hers to the first page and handing it over.

  THREE-WAY BROWNIE COOKIES

  1. Fruit And Nut Brownie Cookies

  2. Hot Stuff Brownie Cookies

  3. Four Alarm Brownie Cookies

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position, for all three types of brownie cookies.

  1. To make Fruit and Nut Brownie Cookies, follow the recipe below:

  2. To make Hot Stuff Brownie Cookies, leave out the cinnamon, raisins, and chopped nuts. Add one small can of chopped green chilies, well drained and patted dry with paper towels.

  3. To make Four Alarm Brownie Cookies, leave out the cinnamon, raisins, and nuts. Add one small can chopped jalapenos, well drained and patted dry with paper towels. (If you can find a can already chopped, use those. If you can’t, you’ll have to chop your jalapeno peppers by hand.)

  1 box brownie mix (the kind that makes an 8-inch

  square pan)

  3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

  ½ teaspoon cinnamon

  ½ cup chopped nuts (your choice—I used walnuts)

  cup vegetable oil

  2 large eggs

  ½ cup chocolate chips

  ½ cup raisins

  Spray cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper and spray that.

  Pour the dry brownie mix into a mixing bowl. Add the 3 Tablespoons of flour and the cinnamon. Mix thoroughly. (I used a fork to do this.)

  Add the chopped nuts and mix them with the dry ingredients to coat them.

  In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and the eggs together.

  Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the brownie mix. Stir until everything is combined, but DO NOT OVERSTIR.

  Stir in the chocolate chips and the raisins.

  Drop the cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you wet your fingers, you can shape these cookies into rounded mounds.

  Bake these cookies at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.) To test for doneness, lightly touch the top of a cookie. If it feels firm to the touch, they’re done.

  Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: This recipe is so easy, I gave it to Andrea. It’s a first cousin to her “whippersnapper” cookie recipes. The only difference is that her recipes use cake mix, and this recipe uses brownie mix. My youngest niece, Bethie, adores these cookies. Her favorites are the Hot Stuff Brownie Cookies variation. She says they tickle her tongue and she calls them “Hot Chockitts”.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  It hadn’t done a particle of good and Hannah was depressed when Mike left. She’d told him she knew about Barbara’s attempted murder and Doctor Bev’s actual murder. Mike had been equally forthcoming, but they still hadn’t been able to narrow the suspect list. Actually, neither one of them even had a suspect list. The best they’d been able to come up with was that the attack on Barbara had been a random act of violence perpetrated by an unknown suspect. They had agreed that the attack against Barbara and Doctor Bev’s murder could be connected somehow, but they were unable to identify exactly what that connection was.

  Hannah was still trying to fit the new information she’d learned from Mike into what she’d already discovered when her cell phone rang. She jumped up from her stool and hurried to the counter, where her cell phone was plugged into the charger. She unhooked it and answered, “Hello?”

  “Hannah. This is Jenny from the hospital. Your mother gave me your cell phone number.”

  “Hi, Jenny,” Hannah said, wondering why Jenny had called. “Barbara’s all right, isn’t she?”

  “Barbara’s fine, now that Moishe chased away the monster and Freddy fixed her screen.”

  “It’s good to know that Barbara was right about the monster. And it’s entirely understandable that she didn’t know what to call it since she’d never seen a weasel before. It makes me wonder about her other delusions, and whether there’s some sort of reasonable explanation for those, too.”

  “I hope there is. Barbara and I have been working on her delusion about her father and we’ve had an interesting development. Do you remember when I told you about the name game and Barbara’s block about her father’s name?”

  “I remember.”

  “We just tried it again and we had the same block. She remembers that her dad’s name is Patrick, but she blocked when I asked her about her father’s name. That was when it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps the word father means another person to her, a person that isn’t her dad.”

  “Like who?” Hannah asked.

  “Like her priest. Barbara’s records show she’s Catholic. And many Catholic families refer to their priest as Father. That’s why I called you. Your mother said the Catholic priest’s name is Father Coultas. I tried that with Barbara and she knew who he was, but she still blocked when I asked her for her father’s name. I called you to see if you had any suggestions.”

  Hannah thought about that for a moment. “Yes. We call the Lutheran minister Reverend Bob. Maybe Barbara’s parents called the Catholic priest by his first name.”

  “Do you know what it is?”

  “Yes, it’s Paul. Does she get any mental images when you ask her about her father?”

  “I’ll find out. If it rhymes with Paul, we are on to something. I’ll call you as soon as I find out.”


  After she hung up the phone, Hannah paged through her murder book again. There was something she was forgetting. She turned to the notes she’d made about their confrontation with Doctor Bev on the front porch of the Peterson house and one line jumped out at her. Said she’s already taken some things up to the penthouse. Mike’s detective team had already searched through Doctor Bev’s personal possessions at the Lake Eden Inn, but they hadn’t searched the things she’d taken up to the penthouse at the hotel. The baking was done for the day. She could leave now, if she chose. Hannah was about to call Andrea to see if her sister would let her into the penthouse to search when her cell phone rang again.

  “Hello,” Hannah said, after she’d switched it on.

  “Hi, Hannah. It’s Jenny again. I tried Paul as her father’s name, and Barbara said that wasn’t right. Then I asked her if she had a mental picture of her father and she told me that he was sitting underground in a cave or a cavern. Does that mean anything to you?”

  “Not really, unless you can think of something that rhymes with spelunker.”

  Jenny laughed. “Somehow I don’t think that’s it.”

  “Neither do I. Any other ideas?”

  “Not at the moment. I’ll think about it though.”

  “How about Barbara’s brother? Does she have any mental pictures for him?”

  “No. She says it’s just a blank in her mind.”

  “Call me back if Barbara comes up with anything new. I’ll have my cell phone with me.”

  “I really hate to bother you like this, Hannah.”

  “You’re not bothering me. Barbara’s my friend and I want to help in any way I can.”

  Once she’d ended the call, Hannah sat down on her stool again. Barbara pictured her father in a cave or a cavern. That was a new development and at least she had a mental image now. Perhaps it would become clearer as the swelling in her brain abated and then the mystery would be solved.

  “Thanks, Andrea,” Hannah said as they parked in the reserved section for the penthouse. “I really appreciate this.”

  “That’s okay. I’m curious, too. I want to find out what things Doctor Bev moved.”

  Hannah got out of Andrea’s Volvo just as huge drops of rain began to fall. They hit the dusty pavement sending up little puffs of dust as she followed her sister into the lobby of the hotel. “Why do you want to see what Doctor Bev moved?” Hannah asked.

  “Because the last time I moved, I took the most important things first. I’m just curious to see if she did the same thing.”

  Hannah thought about that as they walked through the beautiful lobby to the penthouse elevator. “I’ll bet she did. I know I did. When I moved from Mother’s house to my condo, I brought my books and my boxes of recipes first.”

  “Oh.” Andrea gave a little sigh.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m embarrassed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the first things I moved were my nail polish collection and my makeup. Do you think I’m terrible?”

  “No, I think you’re Andrea. Don’t ever change. I love you just the way you are.”

  Andrea smiled the most beautiful smile Hannah had ever seen. “Thank you, Hannah. I hope you never change either.”

  As the two sisters approached the elevator, there was a loud crack of thunder that made both of them jump, and the lights flickered several times. A bright flash of lightning lit the lobby with an almost iridescent white light, and Hannah blinked several times in response to the brightness. When she could see normally again, she noticed that the lights had dimmed to pale amber. A moment later they were back to full luminescence.

  “Uh-oh,” Andrea said, pulling Hannah back from the elevator doors. “No way we’re taking the elevator. The power might go out.”

  Hannah agreed wholeheartedly. The last thing she wanted to do was get stuck in the penthouse elevator while an electrical storm raged overhead. “I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” she said.

  “Wrong. Follow me.” Andrea led Hannah to a door several feet from the elevator. “We’ll take the stairs.” She unlocked the door, switched on the lights, and beckoned Hannah inside. “Don’t worry. I’ve got the flashlight on my phone if the lights go out and the emergency generator doesn’t work.”

  “They installed the new one?” Hannah asked, remembering that Andrea had mentioned replacing the old generator.

  “Yes. Roger told me they put it in yesterday, but I’m not sure it’s hooked up yet. And I don’t want to go down there to look because it’s scary down there.”

  “How is it scary?”

  “It’s a full basement, but you have to know which hallway to take to get where you want to go. They’re really narrow hallways, almost like tunnels, and I’m always afraid I’ll get lost and I’ll never be able to find the stairway to get out. You almost have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs like Hansel and Gretel, you know?”

  “I understand. I’m not fond of old basements myself.”

  “It’s just that it smells damp and musty, and you know that you’re under the ground. Every time you come around a corner, you expect to see a mole, or a rabbit, or a groundhog.” Andrea reached out for the railing. “Come on, Hannah. Let’s go. This staircase goes up to the third floor.”

  Up to the third floor? Hannah repeated her sister’s words in her mind and added a question mark. Perhaps climbing up to the third floor would be easy for Andrea, but she wasn’t looking forward to the climb. “Is this the servant’s staircase you told me about?”

  “Yes. It was really a single-person staircase when it was built, but Roger had the contractors widen it and it’s a lot better now. Now it’s big enough for two to climb up together.”

  “Two what?” Hannah asked, dropping behind her sister after the first few steps. “Two anorexic toddlers?”

  Andrea laughed. “I know it’s not very wide even now, but you should have seen it before the contractors enlarged it. Remember Barbara’s mother?”

  “Theresa Donnelly? Yes, of course I do.”

  “When she worked at the Albion in her senior year at Jordan High, she must have been a whole lot thinner than she was when we knew her. I saw a photo of her on the third floor landing and there was barely enough room for her to carry up a breakfast tray.”

  Hannah didn’t say anything. She was too busy trying to breathe as they crossing the second floor landing. Andrea was like a gazelle leading the way, and she felt like an elephant lumbering up the stairs.

  “Almost there,” Andrea said, taking the last five steps in staccato rhythm and crossing the third floor landing to the door at the top of the stairs. “Just wait a second and I’ll unlock it.”

  Just wait a second? Hannah might have laughed if she’d had the breath for it. Of course she’d wait a second. She wasn’t going to move until she stopped panting.

  Luckily, Andrea had trouble with the key and it took at least a minute before the tumblers rolled back and the door opened. “Here we are, Hannah,” she announced.

  “Great,” Hannah said, finding her voice for one word at least.

  Andrea stepped in and flicked on the lights. “Where do you want to start?” she asked.

  “Let’s look around and see if we can spot the things that Doctor Bev moved in.”

  “I know there’s nothing of hers in here,” Andrea said, glancing around the kitchen. “It was perfectly bare when they delivered the furniture. There was nothing in the living room either. I would have noticed. Let’s try the master bedroom. She might have put something in one of the closets.”

  “That sounds . . .” Hannah’s comment was interrupted by another boom of thunder and a near-blinding flash of lightning. “Does this place have lightning rods?” she asked.

  “You don’t need them on the roof anymore. They have built-ins now. Come on, Hannah. Let’s go check the closets.”

  Hannah followed her sister into the master bedroom. The master closet had double doors and Andrea open
ed them. “I thought so!” she said, spying several matching suitcases on the floor. “This wasn’t here the night of the party. I showed several people the closets.”

  Andrea carried the suitcase to the bed and opened it as Hannah watched. The clothes inside were clearly new. Their tags were still attached.

  “Wow!” Andrea said, pulling out a pair of white leather pants and a matching vest. “I’d kill for something like this.”

  Maybe someone did, Hannah thought, not eliminating jealousy as a motive. Did Roger have any serious girlfriends in Minneapolis who might be inclined to get rid of his new fianc ée so that they could try to take her place?

  “Jewelry,” Andrea breathed, opening a cleverly constructed velvet folder that contained pockets and slots for rings, necklaces and bracelets. “Oh, Hannah! Just look at this one!”

  Hannah looked and knew just enough about jewelry to echo Andrea’s gasp. The necklace Andrea was regarding with an emotion bordering on reverence glittered with diamonds and rubies. “Is it real?” she asked, hardly daring to believe that it was.

  “Oh, yes. And it’s probably worth twice the price of this expensive penthouse.”

  “Enough,” Hannah said, reaching out to close the velvet jewelry folder. “Let’s see what else is here.”

  Five minutes passed as they went through the contents of a second suitcase, and another five or six minutes were taken up with a third. They were about to open the fourth matching leather suitcase when Andrea’s cell phone rang.

  “Hello?” she answered. As Hannah watched, worry lines furrowed her forehead. “But I thought Mrs. Dunwright was coming to pick you up from dance class.”