Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(106)

Hannah came close to groaning. Mike was taking her literally. Perhaps she was better off asking Bill. “Okay, forget I mentioned Lisa. I’m curious and I want to go back to the theoretical. Let’s pretend that you don’t know the girl and you don’t know the parents. What will you do, Bill?”

“After we interview her, we’ll call Child Protective Services to come and get her. They’ll take custody and make sure she’s cared for. Then we’ll concentrate on finding out where she came from.”

“How will you do that?”

“We’ll check the missing persons reports,” Mike stepped in, “and compare the picture we took of her to the pictures on file. And we’ll file our own report with her picture, saying we found her and listing anything we know about her. Then we’ll run her prints to see if she’s in the juvie system. If she’s run away from home before, she could be there.”

“And that’s it?” Hannah asked, gazing at the two men in surprise. “That’s all you’ll do?”

“That’s all we can do,” Mike corrected her.

“So she’ll just stay in the Winnetka County Children’s Home until they decide she’s eighteen?”

Mike shrugged. “That’s the way it happens sometimes. But don’t forget that there’s a reason she ran away from home in the first place. Maybe she’s better off in the county home.”

Hannah had done volunteer work at the Winnetka County Children’s Home. The children were well cared for and the staff tried their best to make it cheerful, but the old granite building was an institution, not a real home.

“Gotta run,” Mike said, standing up and reaching out for Hannah’s hand. “How about Saturday night? Do you want to go have a burger and take in a movie or something?”

“I’d love to,” Hannah said, glad that her voice hadn’t squeaked, or quavered, or done anything to show how excited she was that he’d asked her for another date.

“See you at six, then. If you’re ready to leave now, I’ll walk you to the front door.”

“We’ll both walk her to the front door,” Bill said, getting to his feet. “It’s the least we can do for all those cookies.”

Hannah felt a little strange as Bill took her left arm and Mike took her right. And she felt even stranger as they walked down the hallway toward the desk at the entrance. If anyone had been waiting in the plastic chairs in the lobby, she might have felt the need to explain that she wasn’t under arrest, that the detective on her left was her brother-in-law and the man on her right was her date for Saturday night.





BUTTER-SCOTCHIES




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

1 cup butter (2 sticks, ? pound—melted)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

2 eggs—beaten (just beat them up in a glass with a fork)

1 teaspoon baking powder

? teaspoon baking soda

? teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour (don’t sift—pack it down in the cup)

2 cups butterscotch chips (an 11-ounch package will do just fine)

1 ? cups rolled oats (uncooked oatmeal—I used

Quaker’s Quick 1-Minute rolled oats)



Melt the butter in large microwave-safe bowl. (About 90 seconds on HIGH.) Add the sugars and let it cool a bit. Then add the beaten eggs, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract.



Mix in the flour and then the butterscotch chips. Add the rolled oats and mix in thoroughly. Let the dough rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes to allow the butter to solidify.



You can either drop this dough by rounded teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet, or roll the dough in balls with your hands and place them on the cookie sheet, pushing them down just a bit so they won’t roll off on their way to the oven. (I prefer rolling the dough balls—the cookies turn out nice and round.)



Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.



These freeze really well if you roll them in foil and put them in a freezer bag.



Yield: This recipe makes approximately 8 to 9 dozen cookies, depending on cookie size.



Hannah’s Note: Mother’s friend Carrie just loves these when I use one cup of butterscotch chips and one cup of milk chocolate chips.





Chapter Six




“Okay, so what’s going on with Lisa’s aunt?”

“Andrea?”

“That’s right. Bill just called and told me you brought him some goodies. And while you were there, you told him that Lisa’s cousin ran away from home. Is that true?”

“Well, actually…”

“I didn’t think so, especially when Bill said you asked him some questions about underage runaways. So where are you keeping her?”

Hannah glanced over at Candy, who was helping Lisa transfer several pans of freshly baked cookies to the glass jars they used for display. When the phone had rung at seven-thirty in the morning, she’d answered it assuming that it was her mother. Instead it was Andrea with a mouthful of questions.