Devil's Food Cake Murder (15 page)

While Norman was gone, their drinks arrived. Dot brought sparkling water with a wedge of lime for Norman, and what she said was Sally’s favorite Estate Melon wine from De Ponte Cellars in Dundee Hills, Oregon. Her eye to the crack in the curtains, Hannah sipped her wine and watched Norman talk to her mother.

Delores wasn’t getting up. Hannah decided that was a good sign. Norman would be escorting her back to their private booth by now if she’d accepted their invitation to join them. But something was definitely going on, because Norman left her mother’s table and headed out of the dining room.

Please don’t let it be a dental emergency, Hannah’s mind pleaded. And if it is, let him call Doctor Bev to take care of it. This is the first time we’ve been alone in ages, and I’m not willing to cut our time short.

Dot arrived with the bread basket before Hannah could speculate further. She lifted the napkin that covered the heated treasures inside and gave a little smile of contentment. There were three breads tonight. Nestled on the right side of the bread basket were two of Sally’s cornbread and honey muffins. Three Easy Cheesy Biscuits were on the right, and that also made Hannah smile. She’d gotten the recipe from a friend and passed it on to Sally.

It was the bread in the center of the bread basket that had caused Hannah to smile in delight. Sally’s Apricot Bread was delightful. Sally had given her the recipe months ago, but she hadn’t gotten around to baking it yet. Perhaps tonight would be the night. She could bake a batch with Norman when they got back to her condo. A batch made two loaves and if they baked a double batch, she could give one to Norman, one to her mother, who also loved it, and keep two loaves for herself.

Hannah was just spreading soft butter on her warm apricot bread when Norman pushed back the curtain and slid into the booth. “I take it Mother’s not going to join us for dinner?” she asked, her smile still in place.

“No, she’s waiting for her date.”

“Who’s her date?”

“She didn’t say. But she did ask me if you were investigating Reverend Matthew’s murder.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I said I thought you probably would, that I thought you felt a certain responsibility when you discovered a murder victim.” Norman leaned forward toward her. “Am I right?”

“Yes,” Hannah answered, although she hadn’t really decided until this very moment. “Will you help?”

“Of course. I’m already helping. I asked your mother if she’d known Reverend Matthew when he stayed with Grandma Knudson as a teenager.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she knew him slightly. But she also said her date for the evening knew him much better than she did.”

Hannah was silent for a moment, taking that in. It had already occurred to her that Reverend Matthew could have been killed due to an old grudge, or something that had happened in Lake Eden in the past. “That could be helpful, depending on what it is. I think we should all get together over coffee and dessert.”

“I’m ahead of you,” Norman said, looking quite satisfied with himself. “I invited them to join us for dessert. And I checked with Sally right after I talked with your mother. She said she’d save the rest of the pear pie for the four of us.”

“Great! Thanks, Norman.” Hannah took a bite of her apricot bread and made a little sound of contentment. And then she remembered what she had wanted to ask him. “How about later at my condo? Would you like to help me make a batch of Sally’s Apricot Bread? I’ll give you a loaf to take home.”

Norman reached out to take her hand. “Sounds like fun,” he said. “I really love to bake with you.”

“And I really love to bake with you,” Hannah said, putting down her half-eaten slice of bread so that she could lay her other hand over his.

BRISKET AND VEGGIES

Hannah’s 1st Note: Before she would give me this recipe, Sally made me promise to tell you that although this is the easiest recipe in the world, you have to pretend you’ve been toiling over a hot stove all day. She says it was her mother’s secret recipe, and now it’s yours, too.

4 to 5 pound beef brisket (not corned!)

2 cans (approx. 10 ounces apiece) condensed golden mushroom soup

3 medium potatoes (sweet, regular, it doesn’t matter)

5 stalks celery, leaves removed

6 small white or yellow onions 6 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

salt and pepper to taste one package Lawry’s brown gravy mix (the kind that makes one cup)

Spread a layer of soup in the bottom of a disposable roaster (that’s about 1/2 can) and place the roaster on a cookie sheet for stability.

Salt and pepper the brisket on both sides and then plunk it, fat side up, in the middle of the roaster.

Peel the potatoes and cut each one into six chunks. Arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Cut the celery stalks into 2-inch pieces. Arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the meat.

Peel the onions. Cut them in half and arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Peel the carrots. Cut them in 2-inch chunks and arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the meat.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you don’t want to go to all this work, just buy a couple of packages of frozen stew vegetables and dump them (you don’t have to thaw them) on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Salt and pepper the veggies and then slather the remaining soup over the top of everything in the roaster. Cover the roaster with a sheet of heavy duty foil to keep the steam in.

Bake your Brisket and Veggies at 350 degrees F. for 4 to 5 hours, or until it practically falls apart.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: Sally says to tell you that it’s practically impossible to over-bake this dish, that it just gets better and better.

Take off the foil the last half-hour of baking.

When the time is up, remove the roaster from the oven and let it cool for another half-hour before serving.

Hannah’s 4th Note: If the liquid around the brisket is too thin to use for gravy, Sally puts it in a saucepan on the stove, heats it to almost boiling, and adds a package of Lawry’s brown gravy mix (the kind that makes one cup) to thicken it.

“Oh, good! It’s Doc Knight,” Hannah told Norman with a smile. She’d been peeking out of the curtain every so often between bites of Sally’s wonderful Brisket and Veggies, waiting for her mother’s dinner companion to appear.

“She’s seen a lot of him lately,” Norman commented.

“She has?”

“Mother told me that she volunteered to organize the Gray Ladies.”

“Who are the Gray Ladies?”

“A group of ladies who go out to the hospital to visit the patients on off-hours. Delores makes out their schedule.”

“Charity work?” Hannah was surprised, and it showed on her face. Delores wasn’t known for doing charity work.

“I guess you could call it charity, but it’s more like community service. The patients in the hospital get lonely, and Doc keeps strict visiting hours. This way they can see the Rainbow Ladies in-between their regular visitors.”

Hannah was confused. “Wait a second. You said they were Gray Ladies.”

“They were, but your mother changed the name.”

“Why did she do that?”

“They used to wear gray smocks. Can you imagine your mother wearing a gray smock?”

“No, I really can’t,” Hannah said quickly. Her mother was fond of colorful clothing and she didn’t consider gray a color.

“Mother said Delores went to Claire’s shop and they ordered brightly colored jackets for all of the volunteers. They’re lightweight and washable, so the Rainbow Ladies wear them over a black top and black pants. Mother just loves hers. It’s turquoise and that’s her favorite color. Your mother brought a color wheel to their first meeting, and everyone chose a favorite color.”

Hannah glanced out through the curtains again. Her mother was deep in conversation with Doc Knight. Perhaps they were discussing the Rainbow Ladies.

Norman waited until she’d taken her last bite of brisket. “Do you have any leads yet?”

“Not yet. I haven’t even started.”

“Did you bring your murder book with you?”

Hannah reached down to pat the leather saddlebag-size purse that her mother and Andrea kept trying to replace. She readily agreed that it was “ratty,” her mother’s word for all the scratches on the leather, but everything she needed to survive was in there…and then some.

“Do you want to brainstorm about it now, before your Mother and Doc join us? Or would you rather just relax?”

“Brainstorm,” Hannah said instantly, reaching into her purse for her shorthand notebook and a pen. “First let me describe the scene of the crime, and then you can help think of possible motives.”

Describing the scene didn’t take long. Hannah had already done it twice in the past six hours, once in response to an official interrogation by Mike, and once at The Cookie Jar for Lisa. Each time she described it, it got a little easier, and she wondered if she was becoming jaded. She hoped not. Violent death was nothing to take lightly!

“And the murder weapon was a gun?” Norman asked when she’d finished.

“Yes, and he fell forward on the desk.”

“Did they find the murder weapon?”

“No. I asked Mike about that. But just as soon as the autopsy is…Doc!”

Norman gave a little laugh. “Yes, Doc. He’ll probably tell us his opinion. Doc’s seen a lot of gunshot wounds as county coroner, and chances are he’ll be right.”

“It’ll give us something to go on until the ballistics lab sends their report. Mike said that would take at least three days, maybe as long as a week.”

Norman was silent as Dot arrived. She cleared their plates and told them that Delores and Doc would be joining them in five minutes or so. Then she left with Norman’s credit card.

“Let’s talk about motives while we’re waiting for them,” Norman suggested. “Why would anyone want to kill a minister?”

“Maybe it had nothing to do with the fact that Reverend Matthew was a minister. Don’t forget that he lived here for a year when he was a senior in high school. Maybe someone with an old grudge seized the opportunity and killed him.”

“Okay. Old grudge. What kind of old grudge?”

“I don’t know. It could be jealousy. Grandma Knudson said that when Matthew was a senior at Jordan High, he was the quarterback and he dated the head cheerleader. She also said that the principal at the time thought Reverend Matthew’s cousin Paul was jealous of the time they spent together.”

Norman thought about that for a moment. “But why would cousin Paul wait all these years to kill Reverend Matthew when the reverend didn’t end up marrying the cheerleader? And if cousin Paul was jealous of the time Reverend Matthew spent with the cheerleader, why didn’t he kill the cheerleader?”

“I don’t know. Those are good points. I guess we’ll have to leave Paul out of it. No one knows where he is anyway. Reverend Matthew hired a private detective to find him when Paul’s mother was dying, but the detective couldn’t find Paul. The trail went cold at the state prison in Iowa right after Paul was released.”

“Hold the phone! Reverend Matthew’s cousin Paul was in prison?”

“That’s right. And he got out early due to prison overcrowding. No one knows exactly what his crime was, only that it was a burglary gone bad, but he got out in five years so it couldn’t be murder.”

“I agree. I think we can write off cousin Paul. Do you know if Reverend Matthew had any enemies when he was here in Lake Eden as a teenager?”

“Grandma Knudson didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t necessarily know. She was busy with her husband and the church, and teenagers, especially ones whose parents are thousands of miles away, don’t usually confide in relative strangers.”

“Right. We need to find a list of Matthew’s classmates and see if any of them are still around. They may remember something.”

“Good idea!” Hannah gave him a big smile and then she jotted it down. Norman had said, We need to find a list of Matthew’s classmates. His use of the plural pronoun meant that Norman wanted to be a part of her investigation. “Marge Beeseman has a shelf full of Jordan High yearbooks down at the library. All we have to do is find the right year.”

“First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll run over to the library to check. Bev can cover for me. Marge may even remember Matthew.”

“It’s possible. She’s lived here all her life. We can ask Lisa’s father, too.”

Norman looked concerned. He knew Lisa’s father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “Do you think Jack will be able to tell us?”

“Maybe, if it’s a good day. And if it isn’t, we’ll come back the next day.”

“This is a strange case,” Norman said, his brows furrowing slightly. “It’s almost as if we’re investigating two murders.”

“One back when Matthew was in high school, and the other in the present?” Hannah guessed.

“Exactly right. Reverend Matthew was killed in the present, but the motive for his murder could be in the past. On the other hand, the motive could be right now in the present. And you know what that means.”

“Double the work?” Hannah guessed.

“That’s right. You’re really going to need me to do leg-work for you this time around.”

“I certainly am,” Hannah said, noticing that Norman looked very pleased with himself. He really did like to help her, and there was no denying that they made a good team.

“Bev can take over for the week,” Norman said, drawing out his cell phone. “I’ll tell her not to overbook. And if she gets in a jam with too many patients, she can always bring in Doc Bennett to help her. That way I can be all yours for the week. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Hannah said, wishing he hadn’t added the words, for the week.

“Do you mind if I call her right now?”

“Not at all,” Hannah said, wondering how Doctor Bev would take the news that Norman wouldn’t be in at all this week. Would she be jealous that he was Hannah’s for the week? Or would she console herself with Mike when he came home from work at night?

“Hello, darlings,” Delores greeted them as she slid into the booth with Doc Knight. The next thing she did was to reach out to pat Hannah’s hand. “I heard all about it from Lisa. What a terrible experience for you! Are you all right?”