Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18)

by Fluke, Joanne

  Chapter Six

  “We didn’t see you at the Beatles Retrospective last night,” Andrea said when Ross and Hannah met them for breakfast.

  “That’s because we decided not to go.” Hannah picked up the jelly and put some on her toast.

  “What did you do?” Andrea asked.

  “We went to the pool instead,” Ross answered.

  “But we went to the pool afterwards and we didn’t see you,” Andrea said.

  It was obvious that Andrea wasn’t willing to stop quizzing them and Hannah felt her temper rise again. “I guess we weren’t there at the same time.”

  “What time were you there?” Andrea asked.

  “What time were you there?” Hannah countered. “I don’t appreciate being grilled, Andrea, especially because I know you’re going to tell Mother exactly what I said.”

  That comment made Andrea’s face turn pink. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I just don’t want you to . . . to . . .”

  “Get hurt,” Michelle finished her sentence. “We like Ross. It’s not that. We practically pushed you together. But we just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I understand.” Ross entered the conversation again. “And I don’t want Hannah to get hurt, either. But you really have to cut us some slack here. Hannah and I haven’t seen each other for a while and we’ve got some catching up to do.”

  “That’s right,” Hannah backed him up. “If you two are monitoring our every move, it’s going to get irritating in a hurry. Don’t try to chaperone us. Is that clear?”

  There was a moment of silence and then Andrea and Michelle nodded.

  “It’s clear,” Andrea said.

  “We’re sorry if we’ve been too intrusive,” Michelle followed up. “Maybe we’re more protective than we should be.”

  “No kidding!” Hannah said sarcastically, and then she wished she hadn’t. Her family was intrusive. There was no doubt about that. But they were only trying to protect her.

  “Let’s just forget it then,” Ross suggested. “It’s pretty clear that we all want the same thing. Instead of sniping at each other, let’s make plans for tonight. It’s our last night in Vegas and we should do something special together, at least for part of the night.”

  “Cirque Du Soleil,” Michelle suggested, remembering the tickets that Norman had given Hannah. “I’ve seen it on television, but everyone says it’s much more impressive if you see it in person.”

  “Fine with me,” Ross agreed. “Shall I pick up four tickets?”

  “All we need is one,” Hannah told him. “Norman ordered them in advance and gave us three.”

  “Okay. Let me go work on that. I’m sure they’ll have some at the front desk.”

  Hannah was thoughtful as she watched Ross walk away. Had that been a flicker of jealousy she’d seen on his face when she’d mentioned Norman’s name?

  “Whoa!” Michelle said, raising her eyebrows. “Ross didn’t like it when you mentioned Norman.”

  Andrea nodded. “I caught that, too. And I agree. I think Ross was jealous.”

  Hannah didn’t say anything, but she felt a tingle of satisfaction. If Ross felt the way she hoped he did about her, he should be a bit jealous or at least a bit uncomfortable when she mentioned a former boyfriend.

  Former boyfriend? The rational part of Hannah’s mind picked up on her phrasing. Does that mean that Norman and Mike are out of the running and Ross is in?

  Hannah ignored the question. There was time to think about things like that later when she was back in Lake Eden. Instead, she decided to address something else that was bothering her. “Mother’s worried about what I’m going to tell Mike and Norman when I get home.”

  “She’s not the only one!” Andrea said and then she sighed. “It’s like Great-Grandma Elsa used to say. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

  “Mother feels the same way. And it didn’t help that you told her I was in Ross’s suite until after two in the morning.”

  Andrea looked horribly guilty. “I’m sorry, Hannah. That was my fault. It just slipped out and then there was no way to take it back. It all started when she asked about our midnight swim and why we didn’t invite you to go along. I told her we were going to, but you didn’t answer our knock on your door.”

  “That’s exactly how it happened.” Michelle defended her older sister. “She said you might have been sleeping, but Mother didn’t buy that for a second. She said you’d always been a light sleeper and her guess was that you were still with Ross. And then she asked Andrea, point-blank, if she knew where you were.”

  “I couldn’t lie to her.” Andrea sounded sorry and guilty at the same time. “I’ve never been able to lie to Mother. I just wish she’d asked Michelle instead of me.”

  “Would you have lied about it?” Hannah turned to Michelle.

  “Probably. But Mother would have caught me at it. You know what it’s like to be grilled by Mother.”

  “Oh, yes. I know. And believe me, I can understand how the whole thing happened.”

  Andrea looked hopeful. “Does that mean you’re not mad at us anymore?”

  “I’m not mad at you. I told you I understood. I just wish Mother would mind her own business and let me take care of mine.”

  There was a silence and then Michelle cleared her throat. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask this, but what are you going to tell Norman and Mike? They’ll see the wedding pictures. Doc’s having posters made to display at the party. They’ll see that Ross was Doc’s best man.”

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” Hannah said, sounding much more confident than she felt. “There’s no reason I should feel guilty about spending time with Ross. Mike’s dated plenty of other women and Norman was going to marry Doctor Bev. I don’t have an exclusive relationship with either one of them.”

  “That’s true, but you haven’t dated anyone else . . . have you?”

  Hannah laughed. Michelle had sounded very tentative when she’d asked. “No, I haven’t dated anyone else. But that’s only because I haven’t found anyone I want to date.”

  “Until now,” Andrea pointed out. “Is Ross the one, Hannah?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is I really like to be with him. Ross and I have been friends for a long time. I lived down the hall from Ross and Linda for over three years when we were all in college. We got together at least four times a week, sometimes more.”

  “But you were dating Bradford Ramsey when you were in college,” Michelle pointed out.

  Dating isn’t exactly the right word, Hannah’s mind corrected, but she ignored it. “Only for a couple of months,” she replied, shooting her youngest sister a warning glance. Andrea didn’t need to know that both her older and younger sister had been involved with the same college professor. “Here comes Ross,” she said, giving a little wave in his direction. “I wonder if he managed to get a ticket.”

  “Here you are,” Ross said, handing an envelope to Hannah. “The best four seats in the house. We even get to go backstage during intermission and talk to some of the performers.”

  Hannah opened the envelope and frowned slightly. “But . . . we already had three tickets. And you have four more in here.”

  “They’re better tickets than the ones Norman gave you. These are premium tickets. They come with appetizers, free drinks, and that backstage visit I told you about. Not only that, we don’t have to battle the crowds. With these tickets, we’re entitled to enter through a special door and leave the same way.”

  “These must have cost a lot more than the other tickets,” Hannah said.

  “They did, but that’s okay. You’re worth it.”

  Ross smiled at her and Hannah felt warm all over. She also felt slightly guilty over the tickets that Norman had given her. “I wonder what I should do with the other tickets.”

  “You could give them away,” Andrea suggested. “There’s a family of three in the room next to ours and their daughter was talking about wanting to go to Ci
rque Du Soleil. They’re sitting at that table by the door, having breakfast.”

  Hannah reached into her purse and handed the envelope to Michelle. “Go over there right now and see if they want them. It would be a real shame if they just go to waste. And if you see our waitress on your way over there, send her over with another menu.”

  Michelle was clearly surprised. “You’re still hungry?”

  “Not really, but I want to try a baked doughnut. I noticed that they had several kinds listed in the menu.”

  “A baked doughnut?” Ross looked puzzled. “I didn’t know doughnuts could be baked. I thought they were always deep fried.”

  “That’s exactly what I thought!” Andrea said. “It’s one of the reasons I don’t let Tracey have them very often. She gets a doughnut every Sunday and French fries on Wednesdays at the café when she visits me at the office after school.”

  When Michelle came back to their table, she was smiling broadly. “You should have seen Judy’s face when I offered them the tickets.” She turned to Hannah and Ross to explain. “Judy is their daughter’s name. She’s ten. Andrea and I talked to her mother at the pool. Judy was so excited, she bounced up and down in her chair.” Michelle handed a menu to Hannah. “Here you go. I didn’t see our waitress, but Judy and her parents had already ordered so they sent this menu for you.”

  Hannah opened the menu and found the page listing the baked doughnuts. She read down the list and was amazed at how many varieties there were. “They have chocolate, strawberry, cherry, vanilla, lemon, and something called confetti.”

  “Cherry,” Andrea said, deciding immediately and then she turned to Michelle. “How about you?”

  “Since they don’t have maple, I’ll take lemon.”

  “Ross?” Hannah turned to him.

  “Confetti. It sounds interesting and I want to see what it is.”

  “And I’ll have chocolate,” Hannah decided.

  “No surprise there,” Michelle said.

  “If I like it, I’ll get another for you to take up to Mother,” Hannah said, by way of explanation.

  Five minutes later, no one at the table uttered a peep. They were all too busy eating doughnuts and sipping coffee. Ross was the first to finish his confection and, after he’d taken a final sip of his coffee, he gave a satisfied sigh. “These are really good.”

  “Mmmm,” Hannah murmured by way of acknowledgment as she chewed her last bite of chocolate doughnut. “Mine was excellent. I wonder if I can get their recipe. It’s not like we’re in competition or anything. They’re in Nevada and The Cookie Jar is hundreds of miles away in Minnesota.”

  “Let me try,” Ross offered. “There’s our waitress.” He gestured toward a table across the room. “I’ll ask her if she’ll introduce me to the person who makes the doughnuts.”

  “Do you think he can get the recipe?” Michelle asked after Ross had left.

  “Probably,” Andrea answered, putting down her coffee cup. “He’s awfully handsome.”

  Michelle nodded. “And he’s charming, too. Ross reminds me of Lonnie. He always knows what to say to make a woman feel good about herself.”

  “That’s Irish charm,” Hannah told them. “And that’s why Ross reminds you of Lonnie. Ross’s mother was Irish. He told me all about his family when we were in college and he showed me a picture of his mother. She was beautiful. And his father was really good looking, too.”

  Ross came across the room just then, carrying an envelope in his hand.

  “Looks like Ross got the recipe,” Michelle commented.

  He arrived at the table just in time to hear her comment. “I got both recipes,” he told them. “One is for the baked chocolate doughnut that Hannah had. And the other one is for baked vanilla doughnuts. The pastry chef told me that the dough is the same for all of the flavors except chocolate. You just add a couple of things to the dough and glaze them differently.”

  “Sounds easy,” Hannah commented. She took the envelope that Ross handed her and read quickly through the recipes. “There’s no reason why we couldn’t make these at The Cookie Jar.”

  “The pastry chef showed me the pans she uses,” Ross told them. “And she said they’re getting so popular that they come in smaller sizes for the home baking market.”

  “There was a kitchen supply store in the shopping center where we got your bathing suit,” Andrea recalled. “Michelle and I can call there to see if they carry doughnut pans.”

  “If they do, we can run over there to get some,” Michelle offered. “We don’t have any plans for this afternoon.”

  Hannah glanced at Ross and found he was looking at her. As she watched, he winked and Hannah dropped her eyes quickly, hoping she wouldn’t give anything away in a telltale blush. The two of them had already made plans for the afternoon, but Andrea and Michelle certainly didn’t need to know about that!

  “How many do you need, Hannah?” Michelle asked her.

  Hannah glanced at the recipes again. “It all depends on how many doughnuts each pan holds. Lisa and I can use large pans like the ones the pastry chef uses, but I’d rather not buy those right off the bat. I need to test the doughnuts in smaller batches to see if they’ll work for us. Besides, most of the chains don’t carry industrial oven-sized pans in their retail stores.”

  Hannah thought for a moment and then she came to a decision. “I’m guessing that the home baking pans will probably hold six to eight doughnuts and be roughly the size of cupcake pans. If I’m right, get six. That’s two pans for each of us and The Cookie Jar will pay you back. Every year, when Stan does my taxes, he tells me that I need to spend more money on baking equipment.”

  “The Cookie Jar is buying me two doughnut pans?” Andrea asked, looking surprised.

  “It’s the least we can do,” Hannah told her. “You’ve given us at least five great Whippersnapper Cookie recipes that our customers love.”

  Their waitress brought the bill and Ross grabbed it before any of them could make a move toward the black folder. “I’ll get this.”

  “But we should pay you back,” Michelle objected. “You paid for our breakfast yesterday.”

  “And I’ll pay for your breakfast tomorrow, too,” he promised. “It’s only fair. I enjoy the company and I hate to eat breakfast alone.”

  “Me, too,” Hannah said, and then she wished she hadn’t just in case Ross thought she was hinting that they ought to have every breakfast together. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. Or was it the right idea? She wasn’t quite sure yet.

  “Thank you, Ross,” Andrea said as she pushed back her chair and stood up.

  “Yes, thank you,” Michelle echoed, also getting to her feet. “Maybe we’ll see you at the pool later. I talked to Lonnie and he said it got down to forty degrees last night. I need to get some more pool time in before we go home.”

  Andrea nodded. “The same goes for me. Maybe we’ll see you later.”

  Not if we see you first, Hannah thought, but of course she didn’t say it. It was a cinch, however, that she wouldn’t suggest going to the pool that Andrea and Michelle frequented. The look in Ross’s eyes had been very romantic when they’d exchanged glances and she could hardly wait to be alone with him again.

  CHOCOLATE BAKED DOUGHNUTS

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

  cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)

  1 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

  ¾ cup white (granulated) sugar

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

  ½ teaspoon salt

  2 large eggs

  ½ cup milk

  cup sour cream

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  ½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound) salted butter, melted

  1 cup (a 6-ounce bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

  Spray the wells in a 12-cup doughnut pan wi
th Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. (I used two 6-cup doughnut pans)

  In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the cocoa powder and all-purpose flour together at low speed.

  Place the sugar in the bowl and mix it in on low speed.

  Add the baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well.

  Mix in the eggs, one at a time.

  Add the milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.

  With the mixer running, drizzle in the melted butter and continue to mix until the doughnut dough is smooth.

  Take the bowl out of the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Give the doughnut dough another stir by hand.

  Use the rubber spatula to mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

  Spoon the dough into the indentations in the doughnut pan, filling them a bit over ¾ full.

  Bake the doughnuts at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle baked part of one of the doughnuts comes out clean.

  Take the doughnuts out of the oven and transfer the pan to a wire rack. Cool them for 1 to 2 minutes.

  Loosen the edges of the doughnuts by running a table knife around the circles. Then use potholders to pick up the pan and tip them out onto the wire rack.

  Sugar/Cocoa/Cinnamon Coating:

  2 Tablespoons white (granulated) sugar

  ½ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

  ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)