Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18)

by Fluke, Joanne

  “That’s a great cake! I’ll be there unless I’m arresting Judge Colfax’s killer. And that reminds me. How’s your investigation coming?”

  Hannah shrugged and tried to look casual. She was glad she’d asked Mike to dinner before he’d started to grill her about what she’d learned. If she’d waited, she might not have felt like asking him. “It’s going okay, I guess. I haven’t gotten very far yet.”

  “You got far enough to interview Dave Johansen at the courthouse this morning.”

  Mike knew, and that meant he was keeping tabs on her. Hannah didn’t like it, but there was nothing she could do about it. “Yes, I went out to talk to him,” she admitted. “When I met Dave yesterday, Howie mentioned that Dave had worked there for years, and I thought talking to him would be a good place to start. I’m assuming that you interviewed him, too?”

  “That guy knows everything about everybody involved with the courthouse.”

  “That’s exactly what Howie said about him.” It was a good opening and Hannah wanted to find out what Dave had told Mike. “Did Dave tell you about Judge Colfax’s first wife?”

  “Yeah. He said that it was a bitter divorce so I’ll go to talk to her. The son is another person I want to contact. Kids from broken homes can have big grudges against the absent parent. I’ve seen that more times than I can count. His name is Seth, right?”

  “That’s what Dave said.”

  “Did he mention anyone else?”

  “He talked about Chad Norton first. He told me that Chad has a hair-trigger temper, and one of the judges found him in contempt of court and ordered Chad to complete an anger management course. I added his name to my suspect list.”

  “He’s on my list, too. Actually, he’s my prime suspect right now, but that could change. I’m calling him in this afternoon to see if he’s got an alibi.”

  “Will you let me know?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I thought we were sharing information.”

  “We are. Just don’t forget that you’re a civilian. Law enforcement is privy to certain information that civilians aren’t.”

  Same old, same old, Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. She just sat there and waited to hear what else Mike would say.

  “I know it’s not fair, but those are the rules. As a sworn law enforcement officer, I can’t break the rules.”

  Hannah knew she should remain silent, but she simply couldn’t. “You’ve broken those rules before.”

  “I know, but I won’t do it again. It’s not the sort of thing an ethical cop should do.” Mike glanced down at his notebook. “Let’s get back to business. Is there anyone else on your suspect list?”

  Hannah dropped her gaze so that Mike couldn’t see how angry she was. He expected her to share her information with him, but he wasn’t willing to return the favor. Was he holding out on her? There was only one way to find out.

  “Any other suspects on your list?” Mike asked her again.

  “I gave you my suspects,” she said, quite truthfully. She had given him her suspects. Perhaps not all of her suspects, but information sharing was a two-way street. “It’s time for you to reciprocate, Mike. Are there any other suspects on your list?”

  Mike looked down at his list. “Nope. That’s it for now.”

  He was lying! Either that, or Dave hadn’t told him about Margaret George and her daughter. Whatever the case, Hannah wasn’t about to share Dave’s information with Mike, at least not until she had the chance to ask Delores about Margaret George.

  There was an uncomfortable silence and then the swinging door opened and Tracey came running in. “Hi, Aunt Hannah. Mom said I could go to the mall with you to get your new phone. I did a little research online and I found some new ones that are super and have lots of apps.”

  “You’re going out to the phone store?” Mike asked her.

  “Yes. I decided it was time to upgrade when I tried my old phone and it wouldn’t turn on.”

  Mike’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did you forget to charge it again?”

  “I don’t remember, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s an old flip phone and it’s time to replace it.”

  “It sure is!” Tracey said, plunking down on a stool next to Hannah. “That phone is a real dinosaur.”

  “What kind of dinosaur?” Mike asked her.

  Tracey thought for a moment and then she smiled. “A Brachiosaurus.”

  “Why did you compare it to a Brachiosaurus?” Hannah asked her. Tracey always had a reason and she wanted to hear it.

  “Because the Brachiosaurus could weigh up to forty-five metric tons and your old cell phone is heavy. It’s big, too, and a Brachiosaurus could grow as long as eighty-five feet.”

  Mike whistled. “That’s long!”

  “Yes, it is. It’s more than three-quarters the length of the football field at Jordan High!”

  “That’s right,” Hannah said. “I’d hate to have something that big coming after me.”

  “The Brachiosaurus is an herbivore,” Tracey informed her. “They only eat plants, but they eat a lot. They could eat through almost nine hundred pounds of plants a day.”

  “Were they the biggest dinosaur?” Mike asked her.

  “No. That’s the T-Rex.” Tracey turned back to Hannah. “Another reason I chose the Brachiosaurus is because some of them lived right here in the United States. Not only that, but the first fossils were found by a farmer and we have a lot of farmers around here.”

  “Those are all good reasons,” Hannah told her. “Just hearing them convinced me that I should buy a new phone. If I keep my Brachiosaurus cell phone, we won’t have any plants left in my whole condo complex.”

  Tracey giggled and Hannah was gratified. She loved to hear both of her nieces laugh.

  “I’ll take you both out to the mall with me,” Mike offered. “I have to pick up a new phone, too. I had a little accident with my phone this morning.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Mike,” Tracey accepted his offer before Hannah could say a word. “What happened to your phone?”

  “I . . . uh . . . I dropped it in the toilet.”

  “You don’t have to be embarrassed about that,” Tracey told him. “My dad’s done it three times already. Mom told him not to take his phone with him in the bathroom anymore, but Dad says he has to check his e-mail first thing in the morning.”

  “That’s exactly what I was doing,” Mike said.

  “Toilets and cell phones don’t play well together,” Tracey said, looking wise. “This boy in my class, Calvin Janowski, did the same thing and his mother took his cell phone away for a whole month! Do you have yours with you?”

  “It’s in a bag in the cruiser.”

  “Oh, good! We’re going in the cruiser?” Mike nodded and Tracey looked delighted. “Can I sit in back and pretend to be a dangerous criminal?”

  “If you want to.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Mike. It’ll be fun.”

  “But it’s just pretend, right?” Hannah asked. “You don’t really want to be a dangerous criminal, do you?”

  “Of course not!” Tracey was clearly shocked. “I just want to practice my acting skills since Uncle Ross is coming to town. You’re coming to dinner, aren’t you, Uncle Mike? Our whole family is going to be there.”

  “I know. Your Aunt Hannah told me. I’ll be there.”

  “Maybe you can help me teach Aunt Hannah how to use her phone, especially if you get the same kind. I’ll download the instruction manual on Mom’s computer at work. They’ve got a faster printer than we do.” Tracey turned to Hannah. “You’d better make sure you have your credit card, Aunt Hannah. New cell phones are expensive.”

  “I’ll go check right now,” Hannah said and went off to get her purse. It was hanging by the back door and even though she was out of sight, she could still hear Tracey and Mike’s conversation.

  “Mom said Aunt Lisa and Uncle Herb are coming, too,” Tracey told him. “And Uncle Norman is bringing Cuddle
s so she can see Moishe. Maybe they’ll play chase and bang into the table leg again.”

  Hannah smiled. She knew they’d play chase, especially if she baited them with bits of her pork chop.

  “I can hardly wait to pick out Aunt Hannah’s phone,” Tracey said, sounding excited at the prospect. “She needs lots of help with technology. And I’m glad we’re all going shopping together.”

  “Me, too,” Mike said. “I’m just thinking that maybe I should upgrade my phone, too. It’s almost two years old.”

  “That’s ancient,” Tracey told him. “Are you due for an upgrade from your provider?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll just buy it out-of-pocket.”

  “You might not have to. Check with the clerk at the phone store. Sometimes you can get a new phone or some kind of a discount if you switch providers.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll do that.”

  “And take your old phone in anyway to have it dried out. That way you can give it to Helping Hands to sell in their thrift store, and take a deduction on your income tax. That’s what my mom did with her old cell phone. I’m going to try to convince Aunt Hannah to do the same thing with hers.”

  “Maybe you’d better hold off until you talk to someone at Helping Hands,” Mike cautioned.

  “Why should I do that?”

  “Because they might not take dinosaurs.”

  “That’s a good one, Uncle Mike!” Tracey gave a little giggle and then she broke into delighted laugher.

  Mike joined in and Hannah smiled at the sound of their mirth.

  When their laughter trailed off, Tracey spoke again. “Thanks for inviting us to go with you, Uncle Mike. It’s kind of warm this afternoon and it would be hot inside the cookie truck. Aunt Hannah’s air-conditioning doesn’t work right.”

  “I know. Her climate-control system is practically nonexistent. Your Aunt Hannah’s truck has four-sixty air-conditioning.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Four windows rolled down at sixty miles an hour. It’s the only way you can cool off in her cookie truck.”

  Buying a new phone didn’t take long and Hannah was glad to get back to The Cookie Jar. When she walked in the back door, she found Lisa and Michelle waiting for her in the kitchen.

  “Did you get it?” Michelle asked.

  “Yes. It’s beautiful, but I have to wait until tomorrow night to learn how to use it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that’s when Tracey promised to teach me.”

  “You don’t have to wait,” Lisa said, looking extremely confident. “You can always get the instructions online. That’s what I did when I got my new phone.”

  “Good for you, but that won’t work for me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t even know how to turn it on. I’ll just have to wait until Tracey teaches me.”

  Michelle and Lisa exchanged glances, and Hannah knew what they were thinking. “I know you think I’m clueless. You’re right. I am. Maybe I could figure it out, but I’m going to wait for Tracey. She’s very proud of the fact that she gets to teach her dinosaur aunt how to use her new cell phone.”

  “I’ll bet she is!” Lisa said, smiling at the thought. “We teach her things all the time. Just the other day, she asked me how our oven worked, so I showed her.”

  “I taught her something, too,” Michelle told them. “Tracey came in yesterday, after school, and she said she knew I’d taken a dance class in college and she wanted me to teach her to dance.”

  “That’s exactly why I want to wait,” Hannah told them. “Adults teach her things all the time, but this time it’ll be different. Tracey can be the teacher and attempt to teach a clueless adult like me how to use my new cell phone.”

  SECRET SPICE COOKIES

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

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

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  2 teaspoons ground ginger

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  ½ teaspoon ground allspice

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 cup white (granulated) sugar

  cup tomato ketchup (I used Heinz)

  ¼ cup salted butter (½ stick, 2 ounces, 4 Tablespoons)

  ¼ cup vegetable oil

  ¼ cup molasses

  1 large egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)

  2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  ¼ cup white (granulated) sugar for coating the dough balls prior to baking

  Either spray your cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray or line them with parchment paper.

  Place the flour in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a mixing bowl if you want to stir the cookie dough by hand, but it’ll take some muscle).

  Sprinkle in the baking soda and turn the mixer to low speed to combine them.

  Add the ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Mix them in at low speed.

  Mix in the granulated sugar at low speed.

  In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the ketchup, butter, oil, and molasses. Heat the mixture on HIGH for 30 seconds or until the butter has melted.

  Let the bowl sit in the microwave for another 30 seconds and then stir to combine the ingredients.

  With the mixer running, add the ketchup, butter, oil, and molasses mixture. Beat until thoroughly combined.

  Add the egg and mix it in at medium speed. Then mix in the vanilla extract and beat until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

  Take the bowl from the mixer, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, and give the bowl a final stir by hand.

  Place the ¼ cup sugar in a small, shallow bowl.

  Using a small scooper (Lisa and I used a 2-teaspoon size at The Cookie Jar), form dough balls from the cookie dough. If the dough isn’t firm enough to do this, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for one hour. (Don’t forget to turn off your oven if you do this!)

  Roll the dough balls, one at a time, in the bowl of sugar to coat them. Then place them on a prepared cookie sheet, no more than 12 cookie dough balls to a standard-size sheet.

  Hannah’s Note: Lisa is going to try rolling some dough balls in powdered sugar the next time we bake these. She thinks it’ll have a different visual effect, but we may miss the crunch of granulated sugar.

  Bake the Secret Spice Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges.

  Take the cookies out of the oven and let the cookie sheet sit on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack for 2 minutes. Then pull the parchment paper off the cookie sheet and onto a wire rack to allow the cookies to cool completely.

  Yield: approximately 3 dozen tasty cookies, depending on cookie size, spiced with a secret ingredient that no one who didn’t watch you make them will be able to identify.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “It always smells so good in here!” Michelle took a deep breath as they walked past the huge stone fireplace in the lobby of the Lake Eden Inn.

  “That’s because Sally is a great cook,” Hannah told her, heading for the stand that was positioned just inside the dining room door.

  “I think I smell chicken Kiev. Maybe I’ll have that tonight. I love Sally’s chicken Kiev.”

  “I agree it’s wonderful, but wait until we hear the specials. Sally’s specials are always . . . special.”

  Their favorite waitress was working at the reservation stand and Hannah greeted her with a smile. “Hi, Dot. Is Norman here yet?”

  “He’s here and so are Lonnie and Mike. Andrea just called. They’re running late, but they’re leaving the house right now and coming straight out here. They said to start and not wait for them. Just follow me and I’ll take you to Norman’s table.”

  “Thanks, Dot,” Hannah said, choosing to walk beside her instead of following. “How’s the baby?”

  “Not a baby anymore. Just ask him. If you do, he’ll tell you that he�
��s a big boy. My mother told him that big boys don’t wear diapers and she’s got him in training pants. And then she said that big boys had to learn to use the potty and he did!”

  “That’s amazing. He’s still really young, isn’t he?”

  “Twenty months and he’s already potty trained . . . most of the time. He still has an occasional mistake, but he’s really pretty good. My mother is incredible with things like that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she taught him to read next year.” Dot stopped as she reached Norman’s table. “Here you go, ladies. I’ll be back.”

  “She walks in beauty like the night,” Lonnie said as Michelle approached.

  “I just love guys who quote poetry to me,” Michelle said, giving him a little kiss on the top of the head before she sat down.

  “How about an appetizer while we wait for Andrea and Bill?” Norman suggested.

  “Good idea!” Mike said. “I skipped lunch and I’m starved.”

  Hannah was amused, but she didn’t say anything about the fact that Mike had eaten two cookies in the coffee shop even more cookies with her in the kitchen. It seemed that Mike’s appetite rivaled Howie’s.

  “Hi, everyone,” Sally said, arriving at their table in time to hear Norman’s suggestion. “How about my baked Brie for your appetizer? It’s brushed with butter and has French herbs on the top. I serve it with little knots of fresh bread that you can dip in the cheese that runs out when you cut a slice.”