Red Velvet Cupcake Murder Read online

  Hannah glanced at her sister. It was clear that Andrea didn’t like being ordered around by Doctor Bev, but it seemed that Doctor Bev was wearing the pants in the relationship and there was no way Andrea wanted to antagonize an important real estate client like Roger.

  “Okay. I’ll be there,” Andrea agreed.

  “I knew you would. I wouldn’t want any of my furniture damaged before I even get the chance to use it. And I won’t be here. I have to drive back to the Cities to pick up a few necessities.”

  And I’ll just bet one of those necessities isn’t your daughter! Hannah thought.

  “Is Roger happy about moving back to Lake Eden?” Lisa asked.

  Doctor Bev shook her head. “Roger’s not moving back here. His headquarters are in the Cities and he has several projects there. He may move here eventually, but not now. The penthouse is another engagement gift, just like my new car. Roger’s so generous.”

  “So it’s just you in the penthouse?” Lisa asked, looking shocked. Hannah knew why. The penthouse had six bedrooms and the idea of one person living there alone was ridiculous.

  “I know it’s much too large for one person,” Doctor Bev seemed to read Lisa’s mind, “but I plan on inviting a lot of houseguests. There’s entertaining, too. I’ll do quite a bit of that. I really have to do something to fill up the place. I put some of my things in the closet this morning and there’s so much room left in there. I have to go shopping for more clothing and shoes.”

  “Won’t you be lonely up there all by yourself?” Lisa asked.

  “Oh, I won’t be there alone. I’ll have guests staying with me and I’ll be interviewing for staff at the end of the week. Do any of you know a good live-in housekeeper? Or a maid?”

  Almost as one, the three women shook their heads.

  “I didn’t think so. Oh, well.” Doctor Bev gave a deep sigh.

  “I’ll just have to go through an agency. I’ll need a housekeeper, a maid, a landscaper for the rooftop garden, and a personal assistant. Just think about it. If I can find suitable locals, it could be a real boost to Lake Eden’s economy. Isn’t that just wonderful?”

  There was dead silence for what seemed like an eternity, and then Doctor Bev laughed. “I didn’t expect a warm welcome. Norman warned me about that at lunch today.”

  “Did you and Uncle Norman go back to the café?” Tracey asked her.

  “No, sweetie. We went to lunch at the Lake Eden Inn. That’s where I’m staying right now, you know.”

  “I know. Mom told me. She said Aunt Sally called to tell Grandma and then Grandma called to tell Mom, and . . .”

  “That’s enough, Tracey!” Andrea interrupted her.

  “Sorry, Mom. I’ll go to the kitchen and get some more lemonade so the adults can talk.”

  “So precious,” Doctor Bev said, smiling sweetly. The phrase, Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, crossed Hannah’s mind. “And Tracey’s so talkative, too. Between your little Tracey and Norman, I learned everything I needed to know about coming back to Lake Eden to live. Norman’s not too happy about it, but I’m very good with men like Norman. He’ll come around. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he spends more time at my penthouse than he does at his dental clinic.”

  “How about Roger?” Hannah asked, despite her vow to keep silent. “You’re still engaged to him, aren’t you?”

  “Of course I am. I’ve got Roger right where I want him. I’m very good with men like Roger, too. And Roger can give me so much more than Norman ever could.”

  Hannah held her breath as Doctor Bev stopped speaking and the silence deepened again. There was no way she was going to ask another question and it was clear that Andrea felt the same way. Lisa, however, didn’t share their restraint. “So you’re telling us that you’re after Norman again?” she asked.

  “Why, my goodness! I guess I am! He’s such a nice man, who could resist? And I know he’ll come around to my way of thinking once he realizes that Roger won’t be spending much time with me in Lake Eden. When your lover’s away, it’s always nice to rely on your other male . . . friends.” Doctor Bev stopped speaking and glanced at her watch. “Oh, my! Just look at the time. I really must be going. I promised to let Richard drive my new car and the dome is due to arrive in less than twenty minutes.” She gave the most insincerely sweet smile Hannah had ever seen. “I’m also very good with men like Richard, you know. Actually . . . now that I think about it, I’m really very good with all the men.” She turned to Hannah and narrowed her eyes. “You really ought to keep an eye on me, Hannah. You might learn a thing or two about how to handle men . . . or perhaps not.”

  That said, Doctor Bev picked up the box with the cupcakes and left the porch, leaving the screen door open behind her.

  “What a witch!” Lisa said, and both Hannah and Andrea knew which word she might have used if Tracey hadn’t been close by. She got up to close the screen door, and came back to sit down again. “She said she was going to let Richard drive her car. Who’s Richard?”

  “Mayor Bascomb,” both Hannah and Andrea answered, almost simultaneously.

  Lisa looked thoughtful. “Do you think that . . . ?”

  “Probably,” Andrea said before Lisa could finish her question. “He’s been known to play the field. Mother told me that he once had three women on the string, not counting his wife, and not one of them knew about the others.”

  “Oh, my!” Lisa looked shocked.

  “It’s true,” Hannah told her, starting to grin. “And it seems to me that both Doctor Bev and the mayor have the same talent for multitasking.”

  Perhaps it was childish and only one of them could qualify as a child, but all four of them had cheered right along with the crowd on the street when the mammoth flatbed truck had arrived with the dome. They’d cheered again when the gigantic crane had lifted the dome, and yet again when it had risen slowly up into the air.

  “That crane is really huge,” Lisa breathed, watching the dome sway as it ascended higher and higher.

  “I’m glad we’re watching it from here,” Andrea commented. “I’d hate to be out on the street standing under that dome. I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about what would happen if it fell.”

  “You’d be okay if you were under it and it fell straight down,” Tracey pointed out. “It’s a dome. It would fit right over you.”

  “It won’t fall,” Lisa said. “Herb told me that it’s attached to the crane with steel cables. They’re interwoven and even if one strand breaks, the other strands will hold.”

  Andrea didn’t look convinced. “I still wouldn’t want to take the chance. Look how it’s swaying up there.”

  Hannah gave a little gasp as the dome rocked from side to side and rose past the second floor of the hotel. “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

  “Neither have I,” Tracey confided. “I wonder if my whole class is here.”

  “I bet they are,” Lisa said. “I think the whole town is here.”

  “Do you think Mrs. Watson can see it from her studio windows?” Tracey asked, and Hannah wondered if she’d skipped summer dance class to be here.

  “I’m almost sure she can see it from there,” Lisa answered her. “Danielle’s on the second floor over the Red Owl, and the only building that’s as tall as the hotel is City Hall.”

  Hannah looked at Lisa in surprise. “City Hall’s only two stories high.”

  “You’re forgetting the cupola on the roof. Herb’s watching from there. Rod Metcalf is with him and he’s taking pictures for the Lake Eden Journal.”

  “Can Grandma see it from her shop?” Tracey asked.

  “Yes,” Hannah answered. “She can see perfectly from the windows on the second floor. Mrs. Beeseman and Lisa’s dad are there and so are some members of the Lake Eden Historical Society. They’re having a tea party up there.”

  “We baked a Double Whammy Lemon Cake for your grandma to serve,” Lisa said. “We did a lot of baking this morning!”

  �
�But . . . doesn’t it have vodka in it?” Andrea asked.

  “The original recipe does,” Hannah said.

  “So you changed it for Mother and her guests?”

  “Yes, and no.” It was Lisa’s turn to answer. “We made two cakes, one with the vodka and the other with cream. Your mother’s guests can choose which cake they want.”

  “But does the name fit when it’s made with cream instead of vodka?” Andrea wanted to know.

  Hannah bit back an amused smile. For some reason Andrea was fixating about recipe titles today. “The one with vodka is the Double Whammy Lemon Cake. The one with cream is Lemon Cream Cake.”

  “Oh. That’s okay then.” Andrea’s eyes widened as the dome rose up even higher than the penthouse. “What are they doing? It’s too high!”

  Lisa shook her head. “No it’s not. They have to stabilize it over the penthouse garden and then lower it. And they need maneuvering space for that. Herb explained the whole thing to me. They’ll bring it straight down and once it stops swaying, the workmen up there will grab the handholds on the inside and guide it down. Once it’s in place the crane operator will release the cables and the job is done.”

  “That sounds like precision work,” Andrea said.

  “Oh, it is. The people who sold Roger the dome brought their own crew with them to do it.”

  There was a tense moment as the dome began to lower and the men standing in the penthouse garden reached up for the handholds. For the first time in her life Hannah wished she had a cell phone with a camera instead of the stripped-down model she’d insisted was all she needed.

  “They got it!” Lisa exclaimed, pointing up at the dome. “The crane operator just released the cables. The penthouse garden is finished.”

  “I wish it had been finished on Saturday,” Tracey said. “Then Aunt Barbara wouldn’t be in the hospital and she’d still be Daddy’s secretary.”

  Hannah didn’t say a word. It was readily apparent that Andrea hadn’t told Tracey that Barbara had jumped off the roof to get away from someone who was attacking her.

  Andrea reached out to give her daughter a hug. “So do I, honey. But Aunt Barbara will be back. Doc Knight says she’s getting better every day.”

  “That’s good. Daddy gets crabby when he has a temp. Remember when Aunt Barbara was on vacation and he couldn’t find anything in his office? He yelled at everybody.”

  “That’s true,” Andrea said with a smile. “He was terribly frustrated. What do you say we watch the crane drive off and then we hurry over to Granny’s Attic to see if there’s any cake left?”

  “Two desserts in one day!” Tracey breathed, smiling as she turned to her mother. “I’d like to see Grandma and I want to taste the Double Whammy Lemon Cake. I bet Bethie has already had some!”

  “I hope not,” Andrea said and then she turned to Hannah and Lisa to explain. “Bethie is with Grandma watching the crane.”

  “Why can’t Bethie have the cake?” Tracey asked.

  “Because the Double Whammy Lemon Cake is the one with the vodka in it, honey. Grandma wouldn’t let her have that.”

  “I’d better not have any either, otherwise Daddy could arrest me for . . . ,” Tracey stopped for a moment and then she started to laugh. “I wouldn’t be drinking, so Daddy couldn’t arrest me for underage drinking. I guess he’d have to arrest me for underage eating!”

  DOUBLE WHAMMY LEMON CAKE

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

  Zest from 2 small lemons (approximately

  2 teaspoons)

  1 box white cake mix (the size that makes a 9-inch

  by 13-inch cake)

  1 box vanilla instant pudding mix (NOT sugar-

  free—the size that makes 4 half-cup servings)

  ½ cup vegetable oil

  1 cup sour cream

  cup vodka (I used Tito’s Handmade Vodka)

  4 large eggs

  6-ounce package white chocolate chips

  (approximately 1 cup)

  Hannah’s 1st Note: When I first made this cake I bought a white cake mix with pudding in the mix. I used it and it was a disaster. The cake browned too fast and stuck to the bottom of the Bundt pan. DO NOT USE A CAKE MIX WITH PUDDING IN IT!

  Spray a Bundt pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

  Zest your lemons. They should yield approximately 2 teaspoons of zest. Measure out ½ teaspoon of zest and save it for the frosting. The remainder will go in your cake batter.

  Place the dry white cake mix and the dry vanilla pudding mix in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them together on low speed until they’re combined.

  Add the vegetable oil, sour cream, vodka, and lemon zest (except for the half-teaspoon you reserved). Beat on low speed until thoroughly mixed.

  Mix in the eggs, one at a time on MEDIUM speed, beating after each addition. When you’re through, this batter should be nice and fluffy. If it’s not, turn the mixer up to HIGH and beat for 2 additional minutes.

  Take the bowl out of the mixer, chop the white chocolate chips into smaller pieces so they won’t all sink to the bottom of the cake and mix them in by hand. Don’t overstir. You want to keep as much air as possible in the batter.

  Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

  Bake the cake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes until a cake tester or a thin wooden skewer inserted in the center of the ring comes out clean.

  Cool the Double Whammy Lemon Cake for 20 minutes on a cold burner or a wire rack.

  After 20 minutes, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Don’t forget to run the knife around the tube in the center of the Bundt pan to loosen that, too.

  Invert a large plate on top of the Bundt pan, flip it over, and unmold the cake. Let it cool completely on the plate before frosting it with Double Whammy Lemon Frosting.

  Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you would prefer not to use alcohol in this cake, simply substitute cup light cream for the vodka and call it Lemon Cream Cake. It’s yummy that way, too.

  DOUBLE WHAMMY LEMON FROSTING

  1 pound box powdered (confectioners) sugar

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

  ¼ cup vodka (I used Tito’s Handmade Vodka)

  2 teaspoons lemon extract

  ½ teaspoon lemon zest

  Reserve a half-cup of the powdered sugar and place the rest in a mixing bowl. Beat in the softened butter.

  Continue to beat as you drizzle in the vodka and lemon extract.

  Mix in the lemon zest you reserved for this frosting.

  If the frosting is too thick, add a little more vodka. If it’s too thin, add a little more of the powdered sugar you reserved. When the frosting has reached spreading consistency, frost your Double Whammy Lemon Cake. (Don’t forget to frost the inside of the tunnel in the center of your cake!)

  Hannah’s Note: If you would prefer not to use alcohol in this cake, simply substitute ¼ cup light cream for the vodka and call it Lemon Cream Frosting.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Okay, Mother. I’ll come out there right after I feed Moishe,” Hannah said, glancing down at the cat who was rubbing up against her ankles. “Is there anything I should bring? I could stop at The Cookie Jar and pick up something.”

  “No, dear. Barbara can’t have solid food yet. Norman said he was going to work on her bridge this afternoon and he told Doc that he’d bring it out to the hospital tomorrow. If her mouth has healed enough, he’ll put it in and then she’ll be able to eat soft food.”

  “That’s good news,” Hannah responded even though she wondered if Norman had gone back to the dental clinic to work on Barbara’s bridge after his lunch with Doctor Bev. “I made a double batch of Mom’s Bran Muffins yesterday and it made six dozen. Would you like me to bring some out to you and Doc?”

  “I don’t care for bran, dear, but Doc is always looking for good bran recipes for his senior patients. The only bran muffins I’ve
ever liked were Great-Grandma Elsa’s.”

  “That’s what these are.”

  “But you said they were Mom’s Bran Muffins.”

  “That’s what it says on the recipe, but Grandma Ingrid must have written it down. The recipe was on the back of a gas bill that’s addressed to Grandma and Grandpa Swensen.”

  “Oh, my goodness! I hope they paid it!” Delores exclaimed.

  “They paid it, Mother. It’s stamped Paid in Full.”

  “That’s a relief. What time will you be here, dear?” Hannah glanced up at the apple-shaped clock on her kitchen wall and mentally calculated the time it would take her to feed Moishe, change clothes, and drive out to the hospital. “You can tell Doc Knight I’ll be there within the hour. And I’ll bring enough muffins for both of you.”

  Once she’d hung up the phone, Hannah gave a little sigh. She’d been home less than thirty minutes when the phone had rung. Of course she’d thought about not answering, but there was something about a ringing phone that was too compelling to deny. She’d picked up the receiver, said hello, and heard the request from her mother. It seemed that Barbara was extremely agitated today and she wanted to see Hannah.

  “Hold on, Moishe. I’ll get your food in just a minute,” she told the cat, whose rubs against her ankles had turned into head butts that demanded attention. There was still a little kitty kibble in his bowl from his breakfast, but that wouldn’t satisfy him for long. Moishe knew from past experience that there would be better, more interesting food coming with dinner.