Blueberry Muffin Murder

by Joanne Fluke

“And then, when Mother starts preening because I followed her advice, I’ll just stick my tongue out at her.”

  “Why don’t you order something different, Andrea?” Hannah suggested, closing her menu and handing it back to the waitress. “You always have baked chicken.”

  “I like baked chicken.”

  “Whatever,” Hannah sighed. “At least try Sally’s cream of radish soup. It’s wonderful.”

  Andrea shook her head. “I’m sticking with the Caesar salad. It’s perfect with baked chicken.”

  Hannah shrugged and gave up the fight. She’d come out to the inn for dinner after all, but it hadn’t been her choice. The phone had been ringing as she unlocked the door to her condo, and it had been Andrea in an absolute panic. Could Hannah please have dinner with her? Janie had canceled, Bill had paged her to say he’d be late, and she’d been sitting at a table in the dining room all alone. After a few minutes of pleading, Hannah’s sisterly compassion had won out.

  “They have excellent wine by the glass, Hannah.” Andrea interrupted her thoughts. “Would you like me to pick out a nice chardonnay for you?”

  “No, thanks. I’m so tired, it would knock me right under the table.”

  Andrea had the grace to look slightly guilty. “I probably shouldn’t have called you, but I just couldn’t face sitting here all alone. You understand, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do,” Hannah said. As the most popular girl at Jordan High, Andrea had always been surrounded by admirers. She had grown accustomed to being at the center of attention, and the prospect of eating dinner in a restaurant alone was anathema to her.

  “Oh, good! There’s Bill!” A happy smile spread over Andrea’s face and she stood up to wave. “I thought they’d be much later than this.”

  “They?” Hannah glanced over at the entrance and felt a delicious tingle when she spotted Bill’s partner and boss, Mike Kingston. He towered over Bill, who was almost six feet tall, and most of the women in Lake Eden said that Mike was the best-looking man in town. With his dark blond hair and rugged physique, he reminded Hannah of the capable, fearless early settlers who had carved out a niche for themselves in the Midwest.

  “Don’t they look great in their uniforms?” Andrea asked.

  “Yes, they do,” Hannah responded, hoping she didn’t sound too breathless. Mike always had this effect on her. Then she realized that Andrea hadn’t been surprised to see Mike, and her eyes narrowed. Andrea and Bill were always trying to set her up with Mike. “Did you know that Mike was coming?”

  “Bill said he was going to ask him, but I wasn’t really sure.”

  “Did you plan this dinner to throw the two of us together?”

  “Of course not!” Andrea looked perfectly indignant. “I invited you this morning, remember? And Janie was supposed to be here, too. I just thought we could all have a nice time together.”

  Hannah still wasn’t sure that Andrea hadn’t played matchmaker. After all, she’d learned from an expert, their mother.

  “Smile, Hannah,” Andrea urged. “You want Mike to think you’re happy to see him, don’t you?”

  Hannah smiled. That part was easy. Seeing Mike always made her smile.

  Two hours later, Hannah unlocked the door to her condo for the second time that night and headed straight for the phone in the kitchen to exercise a little damage control. Once Mike and Bill had joined them, one thing had led to another with surprising rapidity. Sally had moved them to a secluded table by the big rock fireplace, the ambience had been romantic and intimate, and Mike had flirted with her outrageously. Hannah had stayed much longer than she’d planned, and that had turned out to be a big mistake.

  Hannah wasn’t sure when Delores and Carrie had come in, but they had been eating their main course when Mike had walked Hannah through the room on her way out. It was obvious that Norman had told them she’d refused a dinner date with him, because neither mother had spoken to her as she passed their table with Mike. If scathing looks could kill, Hannah knew she’d be toes-up on the floor of Sally’s dining room right now, deader than the sardines she’d been planning to eat for dinner.

  “Norman?” Hannah was pleased when he answered the phone on the first ring. “I wanted to catch you before your mother got home. I need to explain.”

  “Explain what?”

  “I had to go out to the inn, after all. Andrea had a dinner date with Bill, but he called to say he’d be late and she talked me into driving out to keep her company. Then Bill showed up with Mike, and Andrea asked him to join us.”

  “Okay.” Norman sounded perplexed. “Why did you call to tell me that?”

  “Because our mothers showed up and saw us together. I knew they’d tell you, and I wanted to get to you first.”

  “It’s okay, Hannah. I know you go out with Mike sometimes.”

  “I know you know, but I didn’t want you to think that I refused to go to dinner with you and then turned around and went out with Mike. I figured that if I didn’t explain it, you might be hurt…or maybe even jealous.”

  “I wouldn’t be jealous. We don’t have an exclusive relationship and you can go out with anyone you want to. Besides, I like Mike. He’s a nice guy.” Norman paused. “Hannah?”

  “Yes, Norman.”

  “How about coffee tomorrow morning? I have to be at the Ezekiel Jordan House early, and I could stop by The Cookie Jar.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll treat you to a blueberry muffin.”

  “Great. I’ll see you then. And thanks for calling, Hannah. It was very considerate of you.”

  Hannah was frowning as she hung up the phone. Norman hadn’t been jealous—not even a little. Hannah guessed she should be glad that he wasn’t, but it was real blow to her ego.

  Chapter Six

  Hannah’s headlights cut two converging tunnels through the darkness to illuminate the stop sign at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue. She was early, an hour ahead of her normal schedule, but she felt good about giving Lisa the morning off.

  Nothing was moving as Hannah drove through the silent business district of Lake Eden. Norman’s dental clinic was locked up tight, Hal & Rose’s Café was dark, and there was only a dim security light shining through the front window of the Lake Eden Neighborhood Pharmacy. The town was still slumbering, but Hannah was alert and ready to go to work. This was the opening day of the Winter Carnival, and the cookies they’d baked yesterday wouldn’t last through the day. She had to bake more and deliver them to the warm-up tents.

  Instead of driving down the front of her block, Hannah turned into the alley and passed the back of Claire Rodgers’s dress shop, her neighbor to the north. Claire had mentioned that she planned to open Beau Monde Fashions early this morning, but early for Claire was a whole lot later than early for Hannah. No one would want to buy designer dresses or Winter Carnival wear at five-thirty in the morning.

  Hannah frowned as she turned into The Cookie Jar parking lot, and her headlights flashed across the rear of the building. The back door of her shop was slightly ajar.

  The fact that her door was unlocked didn’t set off warning bells in Hannah’s mind. Everyone in Lake Eden knew that she emptied the cash register before she went home, and there wasn’t much else to steal. If some homeless person had jimmied the back door to secure a warm place to sleep, Hannah couldn’t really blame him. It had been a bitterly cold night. She’d just give the unfortunate soul a hot cup of coffee and a bag of cookies and send him on his way.

  Hannah parked in her usual spot, plugged her extension cord into the strip of outlets on the white stucco wall, and walked closer to examine her door from the outside. The lock was intact and the door showed no sign of pry marks. Janie had simply forgotten to lock it when she left with Connie Mac. Thanking her lucky stars that the gusty winds hadn’t torn her door off its hinges and caused a massive jump in her heating bill, Hannah pushed it open and flicked on the lights.

  At first glance, her startled mind refused to believe what was right in
front of her eyes. Then her mouth opened in a soundless gasp of shock. A bag of cake flour was on the floor, its contents scattered over the tiles like super-fine snow. Stainless steel mixing bowls filled with dried cake batter covered every inch of the work island, and sticky spoons and spatulas stood up inside them like miniature flagpoles. Several cartons of eggshells and dirty utensils were piled on the counter near the sink, and next to them was Hannah’s industrial mixer with cake batter glued to its beaters.

  Hannah fumed as she surveyed her usually immaculate kitchen. Janie never would have left this incredible mess. She must have gone back to the inn early, and Connie Mac just hadn’t bothered to clean up before she left.

  Uttering a string of expletives that would have made her mother run for the soap, Hannah stepped inside. It would take her at least an hour to clean her kitchen, and she didn’t have any time to waste. She had just started to wipe off the counters when she realized that there was a sickeningly sweet, charcoal-laden smell in the air. Something was burning!

  Hannah raced to her oven, opened the door, and jumped back as a cloud of black smoke rolled out. Through the smoke, she could see several charred, smoldering lumps that had once been layers for the official Winter Carnival cake.

  With lightning speed Hannah turned off the gas and hurried to her second oven. Smoke was beginning to leak out the door, and she didn’t have to look to know that there were similar lumps inside. She turned it off, ran to the windows to yank them open, and flicked the exhaust fan on high. Coughing slightly from the smoke and the exertion, she ran out the back door and propped it wide open behind her.

  Hannah was livid as she paced back and forth in the parking lot, kicking up snow with the toes of her boots and waiting for the smoke to clear. Connie Mac had waltzed out of The Cookie Jar with cakes in the ovens, and if Hannah hadn’t come to work early, The Cookie Jar might have burned to the ground!

  After ten minutes of pacing and fuming, Hannah approached the doorway and took a tentative sniff. There was still a trace of smoke in the air, but it no longer made her eyes water. She stomped into her kitchen with a scowl on her face and headed straight for the sink. There was no time to waste. She had to clean up the mess and begin mixing her cookie dough for the day.

  Hannah swept the egg cartons and shells into the nearly overflowing trash can and turned on the hot water to fill the sink with soapy water. Once she’d set the dirty dishes to soak, she carried out the trash and lined the can with a new plastic bag. She was gathering up her cake-batter-encrusted mixing bowls from the work island, preparing to move them to the counter by the sink, when she noticed something that made her stop cold.

  Connie Mac’s leather handbag was sitting on top of a stool. She must have forgotten it, unless…Hannah swiveled around with a frown on her face. Connie Mac’s sable coat was still hanging on a hook by the back door. It had dropped down below zero last night. Connie Mac must have been in a real rush to leave if she hadn’t taken the time to grab her coat.

  Suddenly, the pieces clicked into place, and Hannah glanced around her uneasily. Janie had left early. That much was obvious. Her car was gone, and so were her coat and purse. Connie Mac had been here alone, and someone or something had frightened her away.

  A glimmer of light caught Hannah’s eye. The pantry door was open a few inches and someone had turned on the light. Hannah grabbed the first weapon she could find, the heavy pot she used to make boiled frostings. If the person who’d frightened Connie Mac away was hiding in her pantry, she’d get in a few good licks before she turned him over to the sheriff!

  Once she had moved silently into position, Hannah inched the door open with her foot. She glanced inside, and what she saw caused the pot to slip from her nerveless fingers. Her earlier assumption was wrong. Connie Mac hadn’t left last night.

  The Cooking Sweetheart was facedown on the pantry floor, her arms and legs sprawled out like a kid who’d hit the surface of Eden Lake in an ungainly belly dive. She had been struck down by a massive blow to the head in the act of sampling one of Hannah’s Blue Blueberry Muffins.

  Shock rendered Hannah immobile for a moment, but then she knelt down to feel for a pulse. The biggest celebrity ever to set foot in Lake Eden would never star in another episode of her television show or pose for pictures in her magazine. Connie Mac was dead.

  Chapter Seven

  Hannah was pacing the parking lot, trying to banish the gruesome sight from her mind, when she spotted the headlights of an approaching car. As it passed under the streetlight in the middle of the alley, she realized that it was Norman’s car and that they had an early-morning coffee date.

  Norman stepped on the gas when he spotted the sheriff’s department cruiser. One glimpse of his concerned face as he jumped out of his car was all it took for Hannah to forgive him for not being jealous of her dinner with Mike.

  “Are you all right, Hannah?” Norman asked, pulling her into his arms before she even had time to answer.

  Hannah nodded, almost hating to admit it because it was so good to be hugged. Norman was solid and dependable, and it felt a lot better than she’d remembered to be in his arms. Actually, it was quite habit-forming. Once there, she didn’t want to leave.

  “What happened?” Norman asked her.

  “Connie Mac’s dead and I found her in my pantry this morning and someone bashed in her head when she was eating one of my muffins and I called the sheriff’s department and that’s why they’re here.” Hannah’s words came out in a rush, with no pause for punctuation. She reminded herself to slow down so that Norman could understand her, and went on. “Someone killed Connie Mac last night while she was baking the Winter Carnival cake.”

  “That’s horrible. Do they know what time it happened?”

  Hannah shook her head. “Not yet. Doc Knight’s examining her now.”

  “Well, it must have been after nine.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I grabbed a quick sandwich and then I came back to test my fill lights. I saw Connie Mac and Janie through your window when I left to go home.”

  “You’d better tell Mike and Bill.”

  “I will. I’m sorry you were the one to find her, Hannah. It must have been awful.”

  “It was.” Hannah nodded. Then she took a deep breath and managed a shaky laugh. “After all the others, you’d think I’d be used to it by now.”

  “I don’t think you ever get used to something like that.”

  “Maybe not, but if I keep on finding dead bodies, I’d better put the sheriff’s number on speed-dial.”

  Norman chuckled. “Your sense of humor is coming back. You’re going to be fine, Hannah.”

  “Of course I am.”

  The back door of The Cookie Jar opened and Mike stepped out. He frowned when he spotted Norman, but then he put on a polite smile as he strode forward across the snow. “Hi, Norman. It’s a good thing you’re here. Hannah shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. I would have stayed with her myself, but I’ve got a job to do inside.”

  “Go ahead,” Norman responded. “I’ll stay with Hannah.”

  That comment earned another frown from Mike, and Hannah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Norman and Mike were facing off like two banty roosters, and she was no spring chicken.

  “I’ve got some bad news for you, Hannah.” Mike didn’t look happy as he turned to her. “Your shop is a crime scene. We’ll be securing it in a couple of minutes.”

  It took a moment for that to sink in. When it did, Hannah groaned. She’d seen enough cop shows and movies to know that only authorized personnel were allowed past the barrier of yellow crime scene tape. “You mean I can’t go back inside?”

  “I’m afraid not. I’ll send Bill out with your purse. I really shouldn’t do it, but since it wasn’t here when the crime was committed, I’m willing to bend the rules a little.”

  “So what am I supposed to do?” Hannah asked him.

  “Go home, get some rest, and try to forget about t
his. The forensics guys are on their way and we’ll take care of everything.”

  Hannah’s thoughts were so jumbled, it was difficult to think clearly. If she couldn’t get into her kitchen, how could she bake the cookies she needed for the Winter Carnival? “I know I have to wait until the forensic team is through, but I can get back in soon, can’t I? I’ve got to bake cookies for this afternoon.”

  “Sorry, Hannah.” Mike looked glum as he shook his head. “I can’t let anyone disturb the scene until the lab results are in.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “It depends. Our lab’s not set up for DNA testing and we have to send it out. And depending on the results, our guys may have to come back in to collect more samples. I know it’s an inconvenience, but I can’t let you contaminate possible evidence.”

  “Just a minute,” Norman said, stepping up to face Mike squarely. “You didn’t answer Hannah’s question. How long could she be locked out?”

  “It’s not up to me, Norman. If I had my way, I’d let Hannah back in just as soon as we collect all the samples. Unfortunately, it’s not up to me.”

  “How long could she be locked out?” Norman repeated his question. “At least give Hannah a ballpark figure. She’s got to make plans.”

  Mike sighed and turned to Hannah. “Worst-case scenario, it could be as long as it takes us to catch the killer.”

  “What happens if you don’t catch the killer?” Hannah frowned at the man who had recently been the subject of her romantic fantasies.

  “We will. I just spoke to Sheriff Grant and he’s putting every available man on this. You have to be patient. It could take a while.”

  Hannah’s frown turned into a glare. “But I don’t have a while! If my shop is locked up for long, I’ll go bankrupt.”

  “Let’s not borrow trouble.” Mike reached out to take her arm, but Hannah snatched it back out of his reach. “I’m not the enemy here, Hannah. It’s police procedure and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”