Sugar Cookie Murder (5 page)

“Wouldn’t miss it. Sue wants to get a picture of Kevin in front of the Christmas tree. We tried to do it last year, but he was too young to sit up. She’s going to order some of those photo cards to send to the relatives.”

“They’re bound to like that. Thanks for helping me, Phil. I’ll see you all alter at the party.” Hannah was smiling as she climbed inside her candy-apple-red Suburban with the vanity license plate that read COOKIES. Her taxman claimed that the plate and the gold lettering on the sides that advertised The Cookie Jar constituted a write-off.

As Hannah drove up the ramp and along the narrow road that wound through her condo complex, lights winked on in several of the units. It was only four in the afternoon, but the shadows of the pine trees on the snow had darkened from lavender to indigo blue, and the horizon would soon be indistinguishable. Hannah switched on her headlights. At dawn and dusk visibility was poor, and even at the slow speeds that were posted in the complex, it was possible to have an expensive fender-bender.

In the few minutes it took Hannah to exit her complex, darkness fell completely. She turned left onto Old Lake Road, switched on her wipers to deal with the snow that was striking her windshield, and tuned her car radio to her favorite local station. The news on the hour was just ending and Rayne Phillips, KCOW’s meteorologist, was in the process of wrapping up his weather report.

“ . . . chance of snow flurries later this evening. Presently, we have clear skies with temperatures ranging in the teens across Winnetka County. It’s a beautiful night, folks. Get out there and enjoy it.”

Hannah grumbled, turning up the speed on her windshield wipers to handle the rapidly falling snow. “You’re an idiot, Rayne. If you just look out the window, you’ll know it’s already snowing!”

Edna Ferguson looked surprised as Hannah stepped into the kitchen at the community center. “What are you doing here so early? I didn’t expect you before five.”

“I thought maybe you could use some extra help.” As Hannah stashed Mike’s pâté in the refrigerator, she noticed that Andrea’s Jell-O Cake was already there on a shelf. “Lisa was here?”

“Come and gone. She said she had to rush home to get dressed. She dropped off the sugar cookies, and they’re just beautiful.”

“Lisa’s a whiz with a pastry bag. How about Andrea? Did she bring you the serving spoons?”

“She did, and I don’t know how she does it, as big as she is. That sister of yours is really something.”

“You mean because of the serving spoons?”

Edna shook her head so hard, her tightly permed gray curls bounced like springs. “That too, but mostly because of the decorations. The decorating committee was here when Andrea came in, and she asked as nice as pie if she could help. It was just the Hollenbeck sisters. Bernice Maciej was supposed to come too, but her back was acting up. Anyways, they didn’t want to let Andrea help at first, her being in the condition she is and all. But then she said she’d call a couple of her friends to do all the lifting, and they admitted they could use the help. You should have seen the whirlwind once those younger gals started working. Why, they finished it all in less than two hours, including the eighteen-foot-all Christmas tree!”

“She did more than that. I tell you, I almost dropped my teeth when I saw her up on the ladder, putting the angel on top of the tree.”

Hannah was glad that she hadn’t witnessed that particular folly. She doubted that Doc Knight had realized the full ramifications when he’d told Andrea to resume her normal activity.

“Go turn on the lights and have a look.” Edna motioned toward the door. “it’s just beautiful!”

Hannah went back out into the dining room. Only a few lights had been on when she’d come down the stairs, and she hadn’t really noticed the decorations. She flicked on the bright lights and blinked in astonishment at the wonders her sister had accomplished.

There were four long tables at the front of the banquet hall, each covered with a different color tablecloth and sporting a large centerpiece of poinsettias, pine boughs, and gold Christmas balls. Stuck inside each one was a hand-lettered flag on a candy cane pole. The red table was for appetizers. It said so right on the flag. The gold was for entrées and sides, the silver was for desserts, and the green was for salads, soups, and breads. Another table, covered in red and green plaid, had bee set up with coffee, tea, and a cooler that would contain bottles of milk, water, and juice.

More long tables were set up in a geometric pattern around the room, each decorated with Christmas tablecloths sporting snowmen, Santas, Christmas trees, holly, and snowflakes. Three centerpieces, scaled-down versions of the ones that were on the food tables, were placed equidistant down the middle of each table.

Hannah glanced up and was surprised to see that a canopy that had been woven overhead from red, green, gold, and silver crepe-paper streamers crisscrossed in an intricate patter. Everything was lovely and festive, especially the Christmas tree that resided in what her Regency-enamored mother would have called “pride of place” in the center of the room. Hannah walked over to switch it on and actually gasped as thousands of miniature bulbs lit up in a rainbow of colors.

“It’s gorgeous, all right,” Hannah announced to the empty room, turning to walk back to the kitchen. Andrea had done a super job today, and it was good to have her back in the mainstream of life in Lake Eden. They’d never been close growing up, but working together to investigate the murder that had earned Andrea’s husband his detective badge had taught them to appreciate each other, at least when they had a common problem to solve.

Hannah crossed her fingers, a habit left over from childhood, and wished that the Christmas buffet dinner would be a huge success. And then she headed back to the kitchen to see if she could lend a hand until Edna’s work crew arrived.

Forty minutes later, Hannah took up her position at the foot of the stairs. She’d been shooed out of the kitchen by Edna and her minions, and sent here to greet the people who were soon to arrive. Soft Christmas music was playing over the sound system, something that sounded suspiciously like a late-night television, not-sold-in-stores Christmas collection available for nineteen ninety-five plus seven ninety-five postage and handling, and if you called within the next five minutes, you got a second CD free.

“Hi, Hannah.” Kirby Welles, the Jordan High band teacher was the first down the stairs. He was followed by the Jordan High Jazz Ensemble, ten members in all. The boys were dressed in red satin jackets with black pants and the girls were wearing green satin dresses.

“You look great!” Hannah said, admiring the new outfits each student had bought for the occasion. The jazz ensemble was scheduled to play for the dancing that would take place after dinner and to provide music during the dessert course. “What do you need, Kirby? I’ll help you set up.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Kirby said, flashing teeth that just might have been whitened by Norman. He was a well-muscled bachelor in his middle twenties, and over half of the female population at Jordan High had visions of dating him. “I was down here this morning to arrange everything. All we need is folding chairs. We brought everything else with us in the school van.”

Hannah directed Kirby to the area beneath the stairs where the extra tables and folding chairs were kept and hurried back to her post. She was just in time, because Kurt Howe was the next to arrive.

“Hi, Kurt!” Hannah called out, greeting him before he’d even started to descend the stairs. “I’m glad you made it.”

Kurt hurried down the steps. “I would have been here sooner, but it started snowing when I hit Elk River, and that slowed me down. Something sure smells good in here!”

“That would be food,” Hannah said, taking his arm. “Everybody knows you’re coming, so let me introduce you to Edna and the ladies in the kitchen before they gang up on us out here. And then I’ll get you a good place to sit and we can wait for Norman. He should be here any minute and you can cue him in on what shots you want him to try for tonight.”

Once Kurt had met the kitchen staff, Hannah settled him at a table and served him a relish dish that was typical of Minnesota cuisine. It was a small bowl with crushed ice in the bottom and it was filled with celery sticks, carrot sticks, radishes, and dill pickle spears. A second small dish, special fare for tonight’s party, contained pickled green beans, mushrooms, beets, and baby onions.

Hannah had just explained that the contents of the second dish of appetizers were all homegrown and pickled in farm kitchens, when Norman came down the stairs with his camera bag slung over his shoulder. He was carrying a box wrapped in Christmas paper, and Hannah thought he looked very dashing in a tan suede jacket, black turtleneck sweater, and black pants, with his fur-lined parka draped over his arm.

Norman came straight over to Hannah and hugged her a few seconds longer than some older and more conservative Lake Eden residents might say was appropriate. Then he handed her the box. “This is for you. It’s an early Christmas present, and Claire thought you might want to wear it tonight.”

“Thank you, Norman,” Hannah said, and wasted no time opening the box. Inside was an appliquéd Christmas sweater that perfectly matched her dress. “I love it! It’s gorgeous!” Hannah slipped it on immediately and turned around so that Norman could see.’

“It looks even better than Claire said it would.” Norman gave her another hug and then he turned to Kurt. “Hi, Kurt. Good to see you again.”

“Same here,” Kurt said, patting the chair next o him. “Sit down and have some of these appetizers with me.”

“I will in a second. I just have to go hang up my parka.”

“I’ll take it,” Hannah said, taking Norman’s parka before he could step away from the table. “I want to dash into the ladies’ room and look at my new sweater in the mirror. And you need to talk to Kurt about what sort of photos he needs.”

After Hannah had hung Norman’s parka in the long, narrow cloakroom and admired her new sweater in front of the ladies’ room mirror, she went back to her post at the foot of the stairs. Her next few minutes were spent greeting several dozen Lake Eden residents and telling them where to deliver casseroles, bowls, and platters. She was about to dash back to the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee when Mike arrived with Shawna Lee.

“Hi, Hannah!” Shawna Lee walked gracefully down the stairs balancing a platter, something Hannah wouldn’t even have attempted, especially in four-inch high heels. “I really hope I did these right. I followed the recipe exactly.”

“I’m sure they’re just fine,” Hannah said, hoping that her words would be prophetic. She’d given the blond secretary one of the easier recipes. Susan Zilber’s Spinach Rollups. Once the spinach had been cooked and drained, there was no other cooking involved.

“I hope they make the cookbook. The only thing I did different was I cut them on the slant. I think they look better that way.”

Hannah glanced down at the platter Shawna Lee was holding. It was covered with plastic wrap and the rollups looked just fine to her. “They’re very attractive.”

“I know. And they’re good, too. I tasted the end pieces when I cut them off.”

“Cook’s prerogative,” Hannah commented, smiling at Shawna Lee. She could afford to be charitable now that her rival was leaving town. “Just take them in the kitchen and give them to Edna. She’ll see that they get out to the right table when it’s time to serve. And tell her what we should do with your platter after it’s washed.”

“Oh, Mike can take it home for me. He’s got the key and he knows where it goes in the cupboard.”

Hannah saw red, and that made her forget all about being charitable. Only a frequent visitor to Shawna Lee’s kitchen would know where her dishes belonged. Visions of intimate candlelight dinners and early breakfasts danced through Hannah’s mind and made her long for retribution.

“I’m really sorry I can’t stay for the dinner,” Shawna Lee interrupted Hannah’s contemplations of double homicide. ‘I just know it’ll be wonderful! But I’ve got a ten o’clock flight and I have to be at the airport two hours early. Mike’s taking me. Isn’t that nice of him?”

“Nice,” Hannah said, putting on a smile that wouldn’t have fooled anyone except perhaps a brand-new acquaintance with a severe visual problem.

“While you’re in the kitchen, why don’t you see if the coffee’s ready?” Mike suggested, giving Shawna Lee a little push in that direction. “I could use a up before we hit the road.”

“Cream, two sugars, right? Except in the morning, when you don’t take cream.”

“Right.” The moment Shawna Lee had left, Mike turned to Hannah. ‘I need to talk to you about those brownies.”

Hannah gulped slightly, glad that she had witnesses just in case this turned ugly. “Look, Mike. I’m really sorry about . . . “

‘I haven’t had a chance to thank you in advance. That was really nice of you, Hannah. I would have opened them right away and had a few, but it’s been a totally impossible day. I just put them in my drawer so the other guys wouldn’t snitch them and I never got back to my desk.”

Hannah nodded, but she hadn’t really listened to anything Mike had said beyond the first sentence. “ So . . . you haven’t had a chance to taste the brownies?”

“Not yet. They’re still in my center desk drawer. Do I have to refrigerate them or anything? Or will it be all right if I leave them there until tomorrow?”

“They’ll be fine in the drawer. Absolutely.” Hannah gave him what she hoped was an innocent smile, her mind already working on a way to retrieve them before Mike had the chance to take the first bit. “I’m sorry you’re going to miss the buffet.”

Mike slipped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug. “What do you mean? Just keep a chair warm for me. I’m going to drop Shawna Lee off at the airport and com straight back. Maybe there won’t be much food left by the time I get here, but there’s no way I’m going to miss my first Lade Eden Christmas party with you.”

Once Mike and Shawna Lee had left, each carrying a large frosted sugar cookie for the trip to the airport, Hannah went back to her greeting duties. She could hear the wind whistle every time the upstairs door opened to let in another group of hungry arrivals. If there were children in the group, they squealed in excitement as they spotted the miniature Christmas village in the lobby of the community center. The Jordan High shop class had made it as a holiday gift to the city of Lake Eden three years ago, and they kept making improvement and adding structures to the basic design. Last year George Baxter’s students had put in lights that twinkled from the windows. And this year, his senior boys had built three churches with stained glass windows that were exact replicas of the three churches in Lake Eden. Pam Baxter, George’s wife and the home economics teacher at Jordan High, had decided to help with the project. Her girls had made tiny wreaths for the doors and decorated the windows of the stores.