Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder Page 11

  “You mentioned that your sister takes care of your father,” Andrea said. “Does she have another job, or does he need full-time care?”

  “He needs full-time care. The medical insurance paid for a wheelchair lift my sister had installed on the back of her van, and that’s how she takes my father to his appointments.”

  “Are you close to your sister?” Hannah asked.

  “We’re closer now than we ever were growing up, and I’m glad my father left her the farm. It’s not a working farm any longer, but the farmhouse is nice and she likes living there. Margaret loves the country, and she’s wonderfully patient with my father when he gets cranky.”

  “Do you see your sister often?” Hannah asked her.

  “Not often, but we talk on the phone a couple of times a week. As a matter of fact, I called her last night while I was waiting for . . .” Stephanie stopped speaking and swallowed hard, “. . . while I was waiting for Richard to get home. I wanted to tell her that I suspected he was starting another affair.”

  “Do you remember what time that was?”

  Stephanie thought for a moment and then she shook her head. “Not really, but we were on the phone for quite a while, speculating about who the latest woman could be.”

  Andrea exchanged glances with Hannah and wrote down a note. Their sisterly radar was working, and Hannah knew Andrea wanted to check to see if Mike and Lonnie had requested Stephanie’s phone records.

  “Did you call from your cell phone or your landline?” Hannah asked.

  “My cell phone was in the charger, so I called from our land line. I was sitting on the couch right next to the living room phone. There was another reason, too, one I’m not exactly proud of.”

  “What’s that?” Andrea asked her.

  “I didn’t want Richard to come home and see me talking to Margaret. He overheard me complaining about him once, and he wasn’t exactly happy with me. I can see the front door from my spot on the couch, so I was all ready to hang up before he got the door all the way open.” Stephanie reached for another Cocktail Quiche and looked slightly embarrassed. “I know I’m being a pig, but I’m really hungry. I was about to get something for breakfast when Mike and Lonnie arrived, and I didn’t feel like eating after they left. And then, when lunchtime rolled around, I was still upset and I couldn’t find anything I wanted to eat in my refrigerator. Actually, I’m still upset.”

  “Of course you are!” Delores reached out to pat Stephanie’s shoulder. “And my girls are upsetting you further with their questions.”

  “Yes, but I want them to ask me questions,” Stephanie explained. “I’m very glad that Hannah is investigating Richard’s murder. And I’m happy that Andrea is helping her. I really do want to contribute something. It’s just that I’m not sure what I can do.”

  “I can answer that,” Hannah said, smiling at Stephanie. “And both Andrea and I appreciate the fact that you’re so cooperative. Please feel free to call me any time of the day or night if you think of anything that might be helpful.”

  “And call me if you just want to talk, Stephanie,” Delores told her. “Sometimes, after something like this happens, you might just need to talk to someone. I’m always here, and I know that Doc feels the same way.”

  “Do you know what I think we all need?” Hannah asked them.

  “No,” Stephanie said, looking curious.

  “What do we need, dear?” Delores asked her.

  “Chocolate. I think all four of us need chocolate. It’s an antidote for being depressed, even if Doc doesn’t really believe it.”

  “But I do,” Delores said.

  “And I do, too,” Andrea echoed the sentiment. “You have no idea how much better I felt after I had a piece of your new cheesecake, Hannah.”

  “You brought another cheesecake?” Delores asked her eagerly.

  “No, but I baked some Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes at The Cookie Jar today and I brought some for you and Stephanie,” Hannah told her. “And before you ask, Andrea, I brought some for you, too.”

  “But I didn’t see you carry them in,” Andrea said, clearly puzzled.

  “That’s because I was carrying the quiche in the box. You didn’t notice that I had a tote bag hooked over my arm.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t notice. Where are the cupcakes?”

  “In the tote bag. Why don’t you go put some on another platter, Andrea? There are four boxes in there, one for each of you.”

  “And they’re chocolate all the way through?” Delores asked, beginning to smile.

  “Even more than that. There’s a chocolate Easter egg on top and they’re frosted with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. I think there’s enough chocolate there even for you, Mother.”

  CHOCOLATE EASTER EGG CUPCAKES

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

  Ingredients:

  4 large eggs

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  ½ cup whole milk

  1 cup (8 ounces by weight) sour cream

  1 box of chocolate cake mix, with or without pudding in the mix (the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake or a 2-layer cake—I used Duncan Hines)

  5.1-ounce package of DRY instant chocolate pudding and pie filling (I used Jell-O.)

  12-ounce (by weight) bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can also use milk chocolate chips if you prefer—I used Nestlé)

  To Decorate:

  9 to 12 Cadbury Mini Chocolate Easter Eggs to decorate on top of frosting.

  Hannah’s 1st Note: If you’re baking these cupcakes for adults, you can use ¼ cup chocolate liqueur and ¼ cup whipping cream instead of the half-cup of whole milk.

  Prepare your cupcake pans. You’ll need two 12-cup cupcake or muffin pans lined with double cupcake papers.

  Crack the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix them up on LOW speed. When they’re mixed, turn the mixer up to MEDIUM speed and mix until they are light and fluffy, and are a uniform color.

  Turn the mixer down to LOW speed again and pour in the half-cup of vegetable oil. Mix it in with the eggs on LOW speed. Continue to mix for one minute or until it is thoroughly mixed in.

  Add the half-cup of whole milk and mix it in on LOW speed. (This is where you substitute the quarter-cup of chocolate liqueur and the quarter-cup of whipping cream, if you’re making these for adults.)

  Add the cup of sour cream and blend it in thoroughly.

  Open the box of cake mix and sprinkle HALF of the dry cake mix on top of the contents in your mixing bowl.

  Turn the mixer on LOW speed and mix for 2 to 3 minutes, or until everything is well combined.

  Shut off the mixer and sprinkle in the 2nd HALF of the dry cake mix. Mix it in thoroughly on LOW speed.

  Shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

  Open the package of instant chocolate pudding and pie filling and sprinkle in the contents. Mix it in on LOW speed.

  Shut off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl again, and remove it from the mixer. Set it on the counter.

  Open the bag of chocolate chips and sprinkle them into your mixing bowl. Stir them in by hand with a rubber spatula or mixing spoon.

  Use a rubber spatula or a scooper to transfer the cake batter into the prepared pans. Fill the cups three-quarters (¾) full.

  Smooth the tops of your cupcakes with a rubber spatula and place them in the center of your preheated oven.

  Bake your Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes.

  Before you take your cupcakes out of the oven, test them for doneness by inserting a cake tester, thin wooden skewer, or long toothpick into the middle of one cupcake. If the tester comes out clean and with no cupcake batter sticking to it, your cupcakes are done. If there is still unbaked batter clinging to the tester, shut the oven door and bake your cupcakes for 5 minutes longer.

  Take your cupcakes out of the oven and set the pans on cold stovetop burners or wire r
acks. Let them cool in the pans until they reach room temperature and then refrigerate them for 30 minutes before you frost them. (Overnight is fine, too.)

  Frost your cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. (Recipe and instructions follow.)

  Yield: Approximately 18 to 24 cupcakes, depending on cupcake size.

  To Serve: These cupcakes can be served at room temperature or chilled. When you serve your cupcakes accompany them with tall glasses of icy-cold milk or cups of strong, hot coffee.

  CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

  4 ounces softened cream cheese (half of an 8-ounce package)

  ½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound) salted butter, softened

  ½ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

  3 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  Rinse out the bowl of your electric mixer with hot water and dry it with a paper towel. Put it back in the mixer and attach the paddle.

  Place the softened cream cheese and the softened, salted butter in the bowl of the mixer.

  Beat them together on MEDIUM speed for 5 minutes.

  Add the unsweetened cocoa, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and continue to beat on MEDIUM speed for 3 to 4 additional minutes.

  Shut off the mixer and check the consistency of the frosting. If it’s too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar and beat for another minute. If it’s too thick, add a teaspoon or two of heavy cream or milk and beat on MEDIUM speed for another few minutes.

  When your Chocolate Buttercream Frosting is of the proper spreading consistency, take the bowl out of the mixer and give it a final stir by hand.

  Frost your cupcakes. Once all the cupcakes have been frosted with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, get out a sharp knife and cut the Cadbury Mini Chocolate Easter Eggs in half, length-wise.

  Place one half, rounded side up, on top of each frosted cupcake. Press the candy down slightly so it will adhere to the frosting.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Are you up for more baking, Andrea?” Hannah asked her when they got back to The Cookie Jar.

  “Yes, I’m having a good time down here, Hannah. Everything’s fine except for when Aunt Nancy pushes open the swinging door and I hear a little bit of Lisa’s story. And . . . actually . . . I’m getting better with that, now that I’ve heard it a couple of times. It’s beginning to feel like it happened to someone else.”

  “Good.”

  “Will you let me actually do something this time?” Andrea asked. “I’ll get the ingredients, but I want to do more to help you.”

  Uh-oh! Hannah’s suspicious mind warned. You’re going to have a mess on your hands if you let her bake!

  Not if Hannah gives her something simple, the rational part of Hannah’s mind contradicted. It will give Andrea a sense of accomplishment. And she does make Whippersnapper cookies all by herself.

  Hannah stopped listening to the internal squabble and smiled at Andrea. “Do you think you could help me fill the cupcake papers with batter?”

  “I could do that! I know I could, Hannah! And I can put those little paper liners in the cupcake pans for you. Would you like that?”

  “That would be very helpful. Each cup gets two papers.”

  “I noticed that when I had one of your Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes.”

  “Then we’re all set.”

  “If you give me the recipe, I can get the ingredients for you,” Andrea offered, waiting for Hannah to page through her loose-leaf recipe book to find the right page. When Hannah handed her the recipe for Peeps Easter Cupcakes, Andrea read the list of ingredients. “This is a piece of cake,” she commented.

  “Piece of cupcake,” Hannah corrected her, and Andrea was still laughing when she went to the pantry to start gathering the ingredients.

  After Andrea had arranged all the ingredients in order on the stainless steel surface of the workstation, she watched as Hannah mixed up the cupcake batter. As always, Hannah checked off the ingredients with a pen as she added them to her mixing bowl. “Why do you check off the ingredients, Hannah?” she asked.

  “It keeps me from forgetting one,” Hannah told her. “That’s not such a big danger with this one because I haven’t made it before, but if it’s something like Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies, I know the recipe so well that I get ahead of myself. I work really fast when I know the recipe that well, and one morning I forgot to add the baking soda even though it was sitting right there.”

  “But don’t you end up with hundreds of checkmarks on a recipe you make that often?”

  “I would if I didn’t print a clean copy each time and put it in my recipe book.”

  “Do you throw away the one with the checkmarks?”

  “No, I put it on top of the mixing bowl when I stick it in the walk-in cooler. That way, when I bake the cookies in the morning, I can double-check to make sure I didn’t forget something.”

  “That makes perfect sense. I think I’ll start doing that when I bake something at home. It’s a good way to check on yourself.”

  “And not spend precious time baking something that won’t work right,” Hannah added. “Will you please hand me that container of sour cream, Andrea?”

  Once the cupcake batter had been mixed to Hannah’s satisfaction, she gave Andrea a scooper and taught her how to fill the cupcake papers to the proper level. Surprisingly, Andrea was very good with the scooper. “You’re doing a really good job, Andrea,” she told her sister.

  “Thank you. I’ve had lots of practice with these scoopers, or disher, or whatever you call them.”

  “You have?” Hannah was surprised. “Do you bake cupcakes at home?”

  “No, but I dish up Grandma McCann’s chili that way.”

  “You don’t use a ladle?”

  Andrea shook her head. “I can’t use a ladle. Bethie took it out to the sandbox last summer and broke it. We were having chili that night so I used a scooper. And it worked so well, I never bothered to replace my ladle. I use it for mashed potatoes, too. That way Bill and the girls can tell me how many scoops they want on their plates.” Andrea stopped speaking and went over to look in the oven. “They’re rising, Hannah!”

  “Well, I hope so . . .”Hannah stopped speaking and gave a little laugh, “since that’s what they’re supposed to do.”

  “I know, but . . . I was a little worried that I did something wrong.”

  “What could you do wrong?” Hannah asked her.

  “I don’t know. I was just hoping that I’d do everything right. And the pan of cupcakes I filled with batter is rising just as much as the pan you filled.”

  “Excellent,” Hannah said, suddenly realizing that her sister was very nervous when it came to making anything that was baked. “These cupcakes are a bit like Whippersnapper cookies, Andrea. And you make those very well.”

  Andrea began to smile. “I do, don’t I?” She paused and waited for Hannah to nod. “I was just hoping that I could make these, too, especially since they’re made with cake mix.”

  “Well, you did just fine. And next time we make a cake mix cupcake, I’ll let you mix up the batter. How’s that?”

  Uh-oh! the suspicious part of Hannah’s mind exclaimed.

  I know, but Hannah was serious, Hannah’s rational mind explained.

  I realize that, the suspicious part of Hannah’s mind did an unprecedented thing by agreeing. Cross your fingers. It’s going to be a toss-up to see if Hannah’s right or not.

  Time passed rapidly as the two sisters worked together, baking several batches of cookies and cupcakes, waiting for them to cool a bit, and then transferring them to shelves on the baker’s rack. They had just finished transferring a batch of Molasses Crackles when Aunt Nancy came through the swinging door from the coffee shop.

  “Grandma Knudson’s here,” she told them. “She said she’d like to talk to you if you’re not too busy baking. Claire’s with her and she’d like to come back here, too.”

  “That’s fine with us,”
Hannah said quickly. “When Lisa’s finished with her story, please bring them back here for a coffee break with us.”

  “Good. I figured there would probably be questions you’d have for both of them.” There was the sound of applause in the background, and Aunt Nancy nodded. “If that’s any indication, Lisa just finished. I’ll bring Grandma Knudson and Claire back with me in a minute or two.”

  “Are you going to ask Grandma Knudson about the mayor’s college years?” Andrea asked, once Aunt Nancy had left the kitchen.

  “Yes, among other things.”

  “You’re not going to bring up Claire’s . . . ”Andrea hesitated and then settled on a word, “. . . Claire’s time with the mayor, are you?”

  Hannah looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I will if it comes up. Grandma Knudson knows about it and so does Reverend Bob. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything like that.”

  “Do you think it might be embarrassing for Claire to discuss it in front of her grandma-in-law?”

  “I’m not sure. I think I’ll just have to play that by ear and decide when they get here.”

  “I’ll put on a pot of fresh coffee,” Andrea said, hurrying to the kitchen coffeepot. “Are you going to serve something to them?”

  “Yes, I made some Blueberry Danish and I’ll put a few of those on a platter. Conversation always goes best with something sweet to munch on.”

  By the time the coffee was ready and Hannah had filled a platter with the Blueberry Danish she’d baked that morning, Aunt Nancy was back with Grandma Knudson and her granddaughter-in-law, Claire.

  “Sit down and I’ll get you some coffee,” Hannah said after greetings had been exchanged.

  “Thank you, Hannah,” Grandma Knudson said, motioning for Claire to sit next to her on a stool at the workstation. She turned to Andrea, “I’m so sorry about what happened to you, Andrea. It must have been horrible finding Mayor Bascomb like that.”