Read Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) Online

Authors: Joanne Fluke

Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) (24 page)

Hannah went to the refrigerator and got a package of brick cream cheese. She opened it, put the cream cheese in a microwave-safe container, softened it in the microwave, and added it to the mixing bowl with the crumbs. “Stir it all up with a wooden spoon, Tracey. Make sure it’s well mixed.”
Tracey stirred the mixture until it was a homogenous mass. “I’m done,” she reported.
“Now we have to cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for at least three hours.”
“But will it be ready when the company comes?”
“No. You’ll take it home with you when you leave tonight. But I staged this recipe for you so you’ll be able to have candy for everyone to taste.”
“Oh, good!” Tracey sounded relieved as she carried her bowl to the refrigerator. She slipped it on a shelf and turned to Hannah. “Where do I find the stages?”
“The first stage is in that blue bowl on the second shelf. “It’s been chilling for you. Bring it over to the counter and I’ll show you what to do.”
In very little time, Hannah had showed her niece how to roll balls with the chilled mixture, place them in a single layer in a wax paper-lined cake pan, and stick toothpicks in each of the balls.”
“I’m done,” Tracey said, sticking in the last toothpick. “What now?”
“Now put the balls in the refrigerator and take them home with you when you leave tonight. You can put them in your refrigerator at home and have Grandma McCann help you finish them when you come home from school tomorrow.”
“Okay. But what do we do here? You said I’d have candy to give to the dinner guests.”
“You will. I rolled balls from my first stage this morning, so the second stage is ready to be dipped. Do you like things dipped in chocolate?”
“You’re teasing, Aunt Hannah. You know I do! And so does Bethie. Do I get to dip yours now?”
“You do. There’s a box of balls with toothpicks in place on the top shelf of the refrigerator. We’ll melt the chocolate and then we’ll get them out.”
“Okay.” Tracey watched with interest while Hannah put a cup of chocolate chips in a Pyrex measuring cup and melted them in the microwave. She stirred the chips smooth and then she carried the measuring cup to the counter.
“Shall I get out your box of balls?” Tracey asked.
“Just as soon as you put wax paper in another box.” Hannah indicated the empty box she’d placed on the counter. “The wax paper is in the third drawer down under the silverware.”
Once the box was ready, Hannah and Tracey dipped the balls in the melted chocolate and placed them on the wax paper. “Put the box in the refrigerator, Tracey.”
Tracey carried the box to the refrigerator and placed it on a shelf. When she came back to the counter, she looked very proud of herself. “I did it. It was easy, but you told me exactly what to do. You’ll give me a copy of the recipe, won’t you?”
“Of course. You saw how many balls we made and I know our guests won’t eat them all. What are you going to do with the leftovers?”
Tracey thought about that for a moment. “I think I’ll give them to Daddy to take in to work tomorrow . . . as long as Mom doesn’t eat them in the middle of the night. She loves chocolate almost as much at Grandma Delores does!”
POP IN YOUR MOUTH CHOCOLATE CANDY
 
Do Not Preheat Oven—This Is a No Bake Recipe!
1 package Oreo Cookies
(14.3 ounces by weight—about 36 sandwich cookies)
8 ounces brick-style cream cheese
(not whipped—I used Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
1 cup
(6-ounce by weight package)
semi-sweet chocolate chips
(I used Nestle)
 
Hannah’s 1
st
Note: This recipe is from Rhonda, who earmarked it for Tracey.
 
Crush the Oreo cookies with the steel blade in a food processor or by placing them in a ziplock freezer bag and crushing them with a rolling pin.
 
Unwrap the cream cheese and soften it by placing it in a microwave-safe bowl and heating it on HIGH for 1 minute.
 
Add the crushed Oreo cookies to the bowl and mix them up thoroughly.
 
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour so that the mixture will firm up.
(Longer than one hour is fine, too.)
 
Using impeccably clean hands, roll pop-in-your-mouth size balls from the cookie and cream cheese mixture.
 
Stick a toothpick into each ball and place the completed balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
(
The toothpicks will make it easier for you to dip the balls in melted chocolate chips once they’ve firmed up in the refrigerator again
.)
 
Place the cookie sheet with the Pop in Your Mouth Chocolate Candy in the refrigerator for another 1 to 2 hours.
(
Overnight is even better.
)
 
Once your balls have chilled again and you’re ready to dip them in chocolate, place one cup of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.
(
I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup
.)
 
Heat the chocolate chips on HIGH for 1 minute. Let them sit in the microwave for an additional minute and then stir to see if the chocolate chips are melted. If they’re not, continue to heat in 20-second increments until they are.
 
Take the cookie sheet with the balls out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. Using the toothpicks as handles, dip the balls, one by one, in the melted chocolate and then return them to the cookie sheet. Work quickly so that the balls do not soften.
 
If you want to decorate the balls with sprinkles, sprinkle them on while the chocolate coating is still wet.
 
Return the cookie sheet with the Pop in Your Mouth Chocolate Candy to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
 
When you’re ready to serve, remove the candy from the refrigerator, arrange the balls on a pretty plate or platter, and remove the toothpicks.
 
Hannah’s 2
nd
Note: If you plan to serve these at a party, use pretty toothpicks when you make the balls and leave them in place so that your guests will have a way to pick them up off the platter without getting chocolate on their fingers.
 
Yield: Approximately 100 Pop in Your Mouth Chocolate Candies depending on the size of the balls.
 
Chapter Twenty-four
 
H
annah knew it wasn’t physically possible, but she was willing to testify that she felt her heart jump up to her throat when the knock came at her door. “I’ll get it,” she gasped, and raced to the door to answer it.
“Hannah!” Ross stood on her landing, smiling and holding out his arms.
She wasn’t aware of moving, but she must have stepped forward because before Hannah could draw another breath, she was standing on the landing with Ross, his arms clasped tightly around her. “You’re here,” she said breathlessly.
Her sarcastic mind countered,
What an idiotic thing to say! Of course he’s here. You’re standing on the landing with him.
Hannah didn’t give it another thought. She simply raised her face to his and kissed him.
Bells rang, birds chirped, strains of beautiful music floated through the air, and Hannah felt warm all over. Her mind told her how ridiculous her thoughts were, but she ignored it and ceased to think of anything except how wonderful it was to be in Ross’s arms again. The kiss seemed to last forever, or at least until a female voice interrupted.
“Hey, Hannah!” Michelle roused her older sister from the fantasy that was no longer a fantasy. “Are you going to stand there kissing all afternoon? Or are you going to invite Ross in?”
Hannah blushed. She’d forgotten that she had people waiting inside. “Come in, Ross. Michelle’s here, but you already know that. And so are Andrea and Tracey. I guess I got a little . . . distracted.”
“Me, too.” Ross chuckled and slipped his arm around her shoulders. And then he said quietly, so no one else could hear, “I’ve been dreaming about this moment ever since I left you at the airport in Las Vegas.”
“Uncle Ross!” Tracey raced up to him. “You’re here!”
“Rrrrrow!” Moishe yowled, following her.
“I’m so glad you’re back!” Tracey said, hugging Ross. “We had so much fun the last time you were here.”
“We did,” Ross said, picking her up to give her a hug. “You’ve got to be at least a foot taller than the last time I saw you.”
“Almost, but not quite. Grandma McCann says I’m growing like a weed. Is that a good thing?”
“Sure. Weeds are plants and some of them are really pretty. Have you ever seen a milkweed pod? They’re beautiful.”
Tracey thought about that for a moment while Ross reached down to pet Moishe, who was rubbing up against his legs.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a milkweed pod,” Tracey told him.
“Maybe we can go looking for some this weekend. I’m pretty sure your Aunt Hannah knows of some good places to look.”
“I do,” Hannah said quickly. “I’ve seen some by Eden Lake. Cattails, too.”
“Rrroww!” Moishe let out a yowl, and everyone laughed.
“Not real ones, Moishe,” Tracey told him. “We’re talking about the plant variety.”
The dinner was going very well and Hannah could hardly wait until everyone left. She chided herself internally for her impatience to be alone with Ross, and concentrated on being a good hostess. Thank goodness no one seemed upset that Ross was in Lake Eden! Mike and Norman appeared to be very happy to see him, and Hannah hoped that their acceptance would continue if they guessed that she was in love with him.
As it turned out, they hadn’t needed any distractions. The green-eyed monster had not put in an appearance and everyone was getting along famously. Perhaps she was being a bit unrealistic, but it gave Hannah hope that she could remain friends with Mike and Norman even if her relationship with Ross intensified in the way she hoped it would.
“I’ll help you put on the coffee, Hannah,” Andrea said once they’d finished the salad, which had worked well, and eaten their main course of pork chops, peppers, and potatoes.
“Thanks,” Hannah said quickly. Either Andrea had gotten a bit of dust in her left eye and was trying to blink it out, or she was attempting to send her a signal.
“What is it?” Hannah asked, when they were alone in the kitchen and the conversation had resumed at the table.
“Here,” Andrea said, pulling a sheaf of papers from the shoulder bag purse she’d carried into the kitchen and handing them to Hannah. “The top one is Mike’s report on Chad Norton.”
“How did you get these?”
“I ran them through the scanner this morning while Bill was in the shower.” Andrea looked very proud of herself. “He always brings paperwork home with him when the detectives are working on a big case. I saved the files to my computer and I printed them out after Bill left.”
“Very smart and very sneaky,” Hannah complimented her.
“Thanks. I was going to give them to you earlier, but then you got busy baking with Tracey, and then Ross came, and there wasn’t any time I could get you alone. I figured you could go over them with Michelle after everyone’s left.”
“That’s exactly what I’ll do.” Hannah placed the papers on the top shelf of her cupboard. “Does Bill think Chad did it?”
“Not anymore. Mike cleared him. It’s all in the report. Chad was on the phone to his boss when Judge Colfax was killed.”
Hannah used a word she would never have used if Tracey had been in the kitchen. “I was almost hoping he was guilty.”
“Bill felt the same way,” Andrea said. “And so did everyone else at the station. They all think that Chad is an arrogant. . .” she stopped and grinned, “another word that starts with an
a
. I’m sure you know what I mean.”
Hannah laughed. “Of course I do. You meant arrogant
attorney
. Or perhaps, arrogant
assistant
DA.”
“Right,” Andrea said with a laugh, just as Tracey came into the kitchen, followed by Ross.
“Norman says to tell you that Cuddles has that look in her eyes again,” Ross reported. “What does that mean?”
“I told him that it meant
feet up
, Aunt Hannah, but Uncle Ross didn’t get it,” Tracey tried to explain. “You’d better tell him.”
“I’ll do better than that,” Hannah promised. “I’ll show him.” She motioned to the platter of cake she’d just sliced and the tray of coffee cups. “Will you carry the tray with the cups, Ross? I’ll bring the coffee, Tracey can carry the cream and sugar, and Andrea can take the cake.”
“I always did take the cake,” Andrea quipped, following them to the table.
They actually managed to eat a little cake and take several sips of coffee before Hannah heard kitty footfalls coming down the hallway. “Feet up!” she warned, steadying her coffee cup and picking up the carafe. Those who knew the drill lifted or steadied anything on the table that might fall as Moishe raced into the room, followed closely by Cuddles, who was chasing him.
Ross raised his feet like everyone else as the cats raced around the table. “So that’s what
feet up
means! But why do you steady the . . .” He stopped speaking as Moishe slammed into the table leg and their coffee sloshed in the cups. “Oh!
Now
I get it.”
“Hannah’s cat got my steak that way one night at Norman’s house,” Lonnie explained. “Moishe crashed into the table leg, and my steak fell on the floor. Before we could pick it up, he grabbed it and ran up to Norman’s bedroom with it. By the time we got up there, both cats were under the bed eating it.”
“So now he does it on purpose,” Ross said, catching on immediately. “It’s almost impossible to wipe out the effects of intermittent reinforcement. Moishe and Cuddles will probably do this every time you have food on the table.”
“He’s right,” Hannah said, exchanging glances with her sisters. There was no need to say that they’d helped the intermittent reinforcement along by dropping some of the little bits of pork they’d secreted in their napkins. “If they keep on doing this, we may have to eat behind closed doors.”
“Or take them to my house every time we eat here,” Norman said. “And bring them here, every time we eat at my house.”
“Or you could simply come to our house,” Lisa suggested, “except then we’d have to deal with our dogs because Dillon and Sammy beg at the table.”
Hannah turned to her partner in surprise. “I thought you weren’t going to give them scraps from the table.”
“I wasn’t. And I haven’t.” Lisa turned to Herb. “He does it all the time, but they know better than to beg from me.”
“How about at breakfast?” Herb asked Lisa, and Hannah noticed that Lisa’s face turned slightly pink. “You know as well as I do that breakfast is a free-for-all at our house.”
“Not all the time! And it’s only when we have bacon.” Lisa turned to Hannah. “It’s those sad puppy dog eyes. I just have to give Dillon some of my bacon. And in the interest of fairness, I simply have to give Sammy the same amount.”
“Let me get this straight,” Hannah said. “You feed them bits of bacon at breakfast, but you don’t feed them anything at lunch or dinner?”
Lisa nodded. “That’s right.”
“And somehow you expect them to know that they can beg from you if there’s bacon on the table but they can’t beg from you if you don’t serve bacon?”
“Exactly right. That’s the way I trained them.”
Hannah began to grin. “So . . . you’re telling me that you never serve bacon at lunch or dinner?”
“Well . . . there are exceptions. Sometimes we have BLTs for lunch, but they smell entirely different than just plain bacon. A dog’s sense of smell is very acute, you know.”
Hannah turned to Herb. “Does this actually work?”
“Not at all, but Lisa keeps trying.”
Everyone at the table laughed, including Lisa. “Herb’s right. It’s not really working, but you know me. I refuse to give up. One of these days one of them will get it . . . maybe. And in the meantime, they get lots of bacon.”
“Maybe you should try to pair it with a signal,” Tracey suggested. “You know, like ringing a bell when it’s bacon for breakfast, but not ringing it when it’s bacon for lunch. After a while, they might not expect anything when the bell doesn’t ring.”
Just as Tracey finished speaking, a bell rang. It sounded like a clock way off in the distance, but Hannah didn’t have any clocks with chimes.
“Did you do that for effect?” she asked Tracey.
“No, you did. You’re getting a text message, Aunt Hannah.”
“Oh!” Hannah exclaimed, and then she laughed at herself. “It’ll stay there until I retrieve it, won’t it?”
“Yes,” Tracey assured her. “It’ll stay there until you read it and then it’ll go into the old text mode unless you erase it.”
“Right. That’s what you taught me at lunch.”
“Yes. And you taught me how to make Pop in Your Mouth Chocolate Candy. Do you think they’re ready yet, Aunt Hannah?”
Hannah glanced at the clock. “I’m sure they are. Why don’t you go get them right now, Tracey?” She looked around the table. “You all want to try one, don’t you?”
“You have to ask when it’s
chocolate
?” Grandma McCann questioned with a laugh.
“
Chockit
!” Bethie said, clapping her hands. “I want
chockit
!”
“She knows how to say that,” Bill commented. “Andrea says it’s the first word she learned.”
Andrea shook her head. “Actually, it’s not. Her first word was for you, Bill. She called you Da-da, just like Tracey did. It’s pretty obvious that Daddies count more than Mommies in our family.”
“Now you know that’s not true,” Bill said with a laugh, but Hannah noticed that he looked very proud. She hoped that Andrea would never admit that both Tracey and Bethie had said
Ma-ma
first.
After more coffee refills and several Pop in Your Mouth Chocolate Candy pieces that everyone pronounced incredibly delicious, Norman got up. “I’d better check on the cats.”
“Because they’re quiet . . . too quiet?” Hannah asked him.
“That’s right. It generally means that they’re into something when they do that at my house. The last time it was the cat food. One of them knocked the bag down from the counter and they were in the kitchen gorging themselves.”
“That’s why I have a padlock on my broom closet and I keep the cat food in there,” Hannah said. “Moishe hasn’t figured out how to pick that lock yet.”
Mike smiled. “Give him time, Hannah. And if he can’t get to his dry food, he’ll learn how to use a can opener and steal your tuna and salmon.”
“Or your salad shrimp,” Lisa said. “I bet he could open your freezer if he really put his mind to it.”
“Look at this!” Norman came back holding a small teddy bear.
“Where did you find that?” Hannah asked him.
“The cats had it under your bed and they were chewing on it. I think I got it just in time. They punctured it a few times with their teeth and they were probably getting ready to pull out the stuffing.” Norman stopped and frowned slightly. “It’s not a cat toy, is it?”

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