Candy Cane Murder (Hannah Swensen #9.5)(12)

“When she calls to read me the riot act for finding another body, I’ll ask her to go shopping at Bergstrom’s and check out the Santa suits. It’s her favorite store at the mall.”

“And she’ll be so pleased she’s helping us solve Wayne’s murder, she’ll forget all about criticizing you?” Michelle guessed.

“That’s the general idea.”

“It could work,” Andrea offered her opinion. “Mother’s hard to distract, but a trip to Bergstrom’s right before Christmas could do it.”

! % { # 9

LEMON WHIPPERSNAPPERS

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

1 package (approximately 18 ounces) lemon cake mix, the size you can bake in a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan (Andrea used Betty Crocker) 2 cups Cool Whip (measure this—Andrea said her tub of Cool Whip contained a little over 3 cups.) 1 large beaten egg (it’s okay to just whip it up in a glass with a fork)

1?2 cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar in a separate small bowl (you don’t have to sift it unless it’s got big lumps)

Combine dry cake mix, Cool Whip, and beaten egg in a large bowl. Stir until it’s well mixed.

Drop by teaspoon into the bowl of powdered sugar and roll to coat the cookie dough.

Place the coated cookie drops on a greased (Andrea used Pam, but any nonstick cooking spray is fine) cookie sheet, 12 cookies to each sheet.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F., for 10 minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes or so, and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: approximately 4 dozen light and lovely cookies.

Hannah’s Note: Andrea showed me the recipe. Carli wrote that this is an old church recipe and that you can use any flavor cake mix in these cookies. She especially likes Lemon Whippersnappers in the summer because they’re simple to make and very refreshing.

! % { # 9

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Chapter


! Four #

“No!” Hannah groaned, categorically refusing to open her eyes. She reached for the snooze button on her alarm clock to shut off its infernal electronic beeping before it could fully wake her, but there was something wrong with her arm. It wouldn’t move! She could wiggle it slightly, but that was all. Had she suffered some type of debilitating injury while she slept? Or was she only dreaming that her arm was partially paralyzed?

There was only one way to find out and that was to open her eyes. Hannah groaned again and forced her eyelids up and open. In the dim wattage cast by the nightlight she’d bought the last time she’d climbed out of bed in the dark and stubbed her toe, she could see her arm, under the blanket, stretched out on the bed and perfectly immobile. But there was something different about it. Some time during the night it had swelled up to at least three times its normal size. That didn’t bode well!

Hannah wiggled her fingers, feeling the tingles that accompanied a cut-off blood supply. It was clear her arm had gone to sleep. But why was it swollen? Had she suffered some kind of neurological damage without even waking up?

As Hannah stared at the limb that had betrayed her while she slept, she saw two small peaks rise up from the vicinity of her armpit. The peaks were attached to a round fuzzy orb 40

Joanne Fluke

and for a moment Hannah was puzzled. Then she gave a startled laugh as she realized what had happened. The peaks and the fuzzy orb belonged to Moishe. The temperature must have dropped below freezing in the middle of the night, because he’d left his usual place at the bottom of her bed to seek warmer climes above. No wonder her arm had gone to sleep! It was buried beneath over twenty pounds of dozing cat.

“Come on, Moishe … get off my arm!” Hannah rolled over with difficulty and reached across her own body to give him a push. This elicited a protesting yowl, but he climbed off, and Hannah’s arm was freed from its furry burden.

The first thing Hannah did with her newly restored hand was shut off the alarm. She was awake now, and the urge to slumber for another five minutes was a wee bit easier to resist, especially when she reminded herself that today would be a busy day. Not only did she have cookie and dessert baking to do for her bakery and coffee shop, she’d agreed to cater luncheon at her mother’s regency romance club Christmas meeting.

Michelle had gone home with Andrea last night and they planned to head out early this morning to take care of several items on the To Do list. They’d start off by driving to the Lake Eden Inn to check the clock in Sally’s kitchen, pick up a copy of the guest list for last night’s party, and time their walk from the kitchen door that Wayne Bergstrom had used to the base of the snow bank where Hannah had found his body. During the afternoon, they’d do a little reconnoitering with their male counterparts. Andrea would pump Bill for information about the investigation, and Michelle would find out what Lonnie knew. The three sisters would compare notes that evening when they met at Andrea’s house for dinner.

“Coffee,” Hannah breathed and it was more of a prayer than a statement. She needed caffeine and she needed it now, before Newton’s First Law of Motion, the one about inertia, CANDY CANE MURDER

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came into play. A body at rest tended to stay at rest. And applying this principle of physics to her own life meant that if she didn’t get up soon, she might fall under the First Law and just sit on the edge of her bed, staring at the wall all day.