Blackberry Pie Murder (18 page)

If your dough is too sticky to roll, place the bowl in the refrigerator for thirty minutes and then try again.

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144

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Once the dough balls are on the cookie sheet, press them down with the tines of a fork in a crisscross pattern

(the way you’d do with peanut butter cookies.)

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 6 to 7 dozen delicious cookies, depending on cookie size.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CRISPS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Follow the instructions for Orange Crisps
EXCEPT
: Reduce the cup of chopped nuts to one-half cup of chopped nuts.

Add one cup of miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
(a

6-ounce bag)
right after you mix in the chopped nuts.

Then proceed as directed.

Yield: 7 to 8 dozen delicious cookies that Delores adores.

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145

Chapter

!
Thirteen
#

“Ibet you’re glad to get home,” Michelle said as she drove down the ramp to the underground garage and parked in Hannah’s space.

“I’m more than glad. I’m relieved, too. It’s been a long day.”

Hannah gave a little sigh as she got out of the car. They still had the loaner car that Lonnie had gotten for her from his father’s garage. They would be driving it for a while. The authorities had released Hannah’s cookie truck, but it had some front end damage. Mike had surprised her by picking it up on Saturday afternoon and taking it in to Murphy’s Motors to be repaired.

Michelle led the way up the outside staircase with Hannah following behind her. When they reached the landing, she stopped and turned to face Hannah. “You’re excited, aren’t you?”

“About coming home, you mean?”

“No, about the grand prize. Mr. and Mrs. Purvis and the boys delivered it this afternoon. I handed them my key and Mrs. Purvis came into the coffee shop to bring it back. I gave her some cookies as a thank you. I hope that’s all right.”

“It’s fine.” Hannah smiled slightly. “The grand prize,” she repeated, her smile growing a bit wider. “So much has happened in the past three days, I forgot all about it. I wonder what it is.”

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“You’ll find out in a minute. Do you want to catch, or shall I?”

“There’s nothing to catch. Norman’s bringing Moishe back around seven tonight. I told him I’d fix him dinner.”

“I’ll help,” Michelle said, unlocking the door and stepping inside. “Come on, Hannah. Let’s go see your prize.”

The first place Hannah went was the kitchen. Nothing new there. Her old refrigerator was still in place, and so was the stove and the dishwasher. The grand prize wasn’t a fancy new kitchen appliance.

“I don’t see anything in here,” Michelle said, gazing around the living room.

“You’re right,” Hannah said, realizing that her old television set and stereo were still in place.

“Maybe we’re just not seeing it,” Michelle suggested. “It could be something small.”

Hannah shook her head. “It’s not small. They told me it would take at least three Jordan High football players to carry it in and set it up. And he said it had to be plugged in.”

“Well . . . where is it?”

“Let’s check the guest room. Maybe it’s a new bedroom suite with a night light built into the headboard or something like that.”

Hannah opened the door to the room Michelle used when she visited. “It’s not that,” she said, stepping into the room and gesturing toward the bed and dresser.

“You’re right. Same old, same old,” Michelle said, and then, when she realized what she’d said, she added, “Not that I don’t like the furniture in here. The mirror’s nice and big and the bed is very comfortable.”

Hannah chuckled slightly. Her baby sister was nothing if not considerate. “It’s Mother’s old bedroom set and you know it.”

“I know, but what I said is true. The bed
is
comfortable and the mirror’s big. Do you think they could have put whatever it is it in the guest bathroom?”

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Joanne Fluke

“It’s a tiny bathroom. It wouldn’t take three football players to carry in anything that could have fit in there. They couldn’t even get in there, at least not all three at once.”

“A new toilet?” Michelle suggested. “They’re really heavy.

And a new toilet has to be set up and hooked to the plumbing. Maybe that’s what Ken meant when he said it had to be plugged in.”

Hannah shook her head. “No way. They couldn’t put in a new toilet without getting permission from the homeowner’s committee. I’m on the homeowner’s committee and no one has asked permission for at least two months.”

“You need permission just to put in a new toilet?”

“Yes, for a brand new one. You don’t need permission if you’re just doing repairs on the old one. Our handyman does that free of charge to the homeowner. The problem is that the condo association is responsible for the plumbing and the electrical in all of the condos. If something goes wrong, our handyman fixes it. If the job is too big for him, we pay a plumber or an electrician to come in.”

“That’s nice, but I still don’t understand why you need permission to put in a new toilet.”

“It’s simple. People buy all sorts of fancy things with hookups in different spots like a bidet or whatever. The plumbing might need to be changed for those, and we want to check it out first to make sure that our handyman can do it. Changes to the plumbing are our responsibility and we don’t want to pay for re-plumbing a whole bathroom to ac-commodate a fancy toilet.”

“But what if you
want
a fancy toilet?”

“Then you have to pay for the plumbing and we have to authorize the permanent changes and inspect it when it’s completed. We’ve done it in the past for several units, but you have to come to a meeting with the plans and get our approval before you can start.”

Michelle thought about that for several moments. “I’m not sure I want to buy a condo,” she said.

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“I wasn’t sure either, but that’s what was available in my price range. And it’s a lot easier now that I’m on the board.”

Hannah stopped speaking and sighed deeply. “Actually . . .

I’m not sure it’s easier. It’s easier for changes that I’d like to make, but I don’t really want any changes. And the board meets twice a month with meetings that last a couple of hours. Now that I think about it, I really don’t know if it’s worth it.”

“Would you rather have a house?”

“Maybe, but then all the headaches would be mine, and all the expenses, too. This way it’s a shared responsibility. I’m just not sure which I’d prefer, but this is what I have and I’m happy with it.” She stopped and motioned to Michelle.

“Come on. My grand prize has to be here somewhere. We need to find it.”

They looked in the guest bathroom, but there was nothing there. It was exactly as Hannah had said. The room was too small for anything that needed three football players to carry it.

“The only place left is your bedroom,” Michelle said, opening the door to Hannah’s room. “Since we’ve eliminated all the other possibilities, it’s got to be in here.”

Both women started to enter Hannah’s bedroom, but the moment they cleared the doorway, they both stopped dead in their tracks.

“Whoa!” Hannah said, taking a step backward.

“Whoa is right,” Michelle breathed. And then they both simply stared at the huge apparition taking up the space near the foot of Hannah’s bed.

“Is that what I think it is?” Hannah asked, turning to face her sister.

“I think so. It looks like one of those all-in-one trainers, the ones that take the place of stationary bicycles, rowing machines, cross-country ski simulators, and treadmills.”

“I was afraid of that,” Hannah said, frowning deeply.

Then she pointed to the front of the machine. “Is that what I think it is between the handlebars?”

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Joanne Fluke

“If you’re thinking television set, you’re right. And I think there’s a . . .” Michelle stopped speaking and walked forward to approach the front of the machine. A moment later, she said, “I’m right. It’s a television set with a built-in DVD

player so you can play exercise videos, or watch regular television while you use the treadmill. It’s an expensive piece of equipment, Hannah. You won an all-in-one fancy exercise machine that would make every member of a fitness center drool.”

Hannah let out a groan and sat down on the edge of her bed. “Just what I needed. Oh, boy.”

“You’re being sarcastic . . . aren’t you?”

“And how! I don’t need an exercise machine. The last time I used one was at Heavenly Bodies Spa in the mall. And you know what happened when I did that!”

“You discovered a dead body.” Michelle gave a little chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry about that. There’s no Jacuzzi here. And it’s certainly not a reason to avoid this machine.

You won’t find a dead body here in your bedroom unless someone breaks in and exercises himself to death.”

“That could happen. If I start using this machine, the victim could be me.”

“You’re going to use it?” Michelle asked, sounding surprised.

“Maybe. My jeans are getting a little tight around the hips.

And it does have a DVD player. I don’t necessarily have to watch an exercise tape. I could amble on the treadmill and watch one of my favorite movies.”

Michelle looked down at the machine. “Sorry, Hannah.

There’s no setting for amble. The closest you could come would be fast walk.”

“I could do a fast walk, especially if I watched
Chariots of
Fire
or a documentary about the life of Roger Bannister.”

“That’s true. And it might take the onus out of exercising for you. Actually . . . I wouldn’t mind using it while I’m here.

If you don’t mind, that is.”

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“I don’t mind. Have at it. I’m going to go make a dessert for tonight’s dinner. Norman’s picking up pizza at Bertanelli’s.”

“He’s going to leave the cats in the car while he goes inside?” Michelle asked, sounding worried.

“Of course not. They’ve got a drive-in window now. Ellie told me that Bert put it in himself. They hired an extra person to man the window and business has increased fifteen percent already.”

“I can understand that. Their pizza is the best in Winnetka County. What kind of pizza is Norman getting?”

“He’s getting three. Sausage and pepperoni, five cheese, and a garbage pizza with everything on it.”

“Who else is coming?”

“Nobody, as far as I know. But Norman wanted us to have plenty of leftovers so we wouldn’t have to cook for a couple of nights.”

“That’s nice of him. What are you making for dessert?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”

“Okay,” Michelle said, paging through the manual that had come with the machine. “It says that this machine can take the place of almost every machine in a well-equipped gym.”

“That’s interesting,” Hannah said for lack of something better to say.

“I’ll be there to help you in a couple of minutes. I just want to try this thing out and see if it does what they say it can do.”

“No hurry,” Hannah told her, turning to leave. “Knock yourself out, but not literally, of course.”

Hannah was frowning slightly as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen. She wasn’t head-over-heels delighted about her grand prize, but she had to admit it was impressive. Unfortunately, they’d given it to the wrong person. She could think of several people right here in Lake Eden who’d really enjoy it and would use it every day. Giving it to her was almost like throwing money up in the air and watching it blow away. She might use it, sooner or later. And it would 152

Joanne Fluke

probably be later, if she were entirely honest about it. But she wasn’t thrilled by the prospect. At least Michelle seemed to appreciate it and that was good. Now that she thought about it, there were several people she knew who might appreciate it. She’d show it to Norman when he got here and get his opinion, and she’d certainly show it to Mike the next time he came over. Mike was the expert when it came to exercise equipment. He’d ordered all of the fitness machines for the gym at the sheriff’s station, and Bill had told her that they had the best equipped law enforcement exercise facility in the whole state of Minnesota.

Hannah entered the kitchen, flicked on the lights again, and took an apron out of the drawer. Then she opened the refrigerator to see what was there. Perhaps Michelle had gone shopping while she was in jail, and there would be some special ingredient she could use for her dessert.

“No such luck,” Hannah said aloud, staring at the empty shelves. Lonnie and Michelle must have gone out to eat or brought in takeout every night that she was gone. It was time to try the pantry and hope she could find something there.

Of course the basic ingredients for cookies were in her pantry. She kept them on hand in case of fire, flood, earth-quake, blizzard, or any other natural disaster. Cookies made everything bearable. Hannah and every one of her customers at The Cookie Jar would testify to that!

What could she put in the cookies to make them interesting and different? She had several different flavors of chips including white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, butterscotch, and peanut butter, but she wanted something more special than a variation on her Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies. The only item that was even remotely promising was a packet of sweetened dried cranberries that had been on her shelf since Christmas before last. Hannah read the “use by” date on the package. It was good until September this year. Of course the sweetened, dried cranberries were still good. Nothing affected sweetened dried cranberries BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER