Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(115)

Cover and chill the coconut mixture for at least an hour. (Overnight is fine, too.)



When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.



Form balls of chocolate dough, 1 inch in diameter, with your hands. Place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-sized sheet. Press them down with the heel of your impeccably clean hand.



Form balls of coconut just a bit smaller than the chocolate balls you made. Place them on top of each squashed chocolate ball. Now squish those down.



Make 12 more chocolate balls, the same size as the first ones, and put them on top of the squashed coconut balls. Press them down slightly to make little “sandwiches.”



Bake at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 11 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for at least two minutes. When they’re cool enough to remove, use a spatula to move them to a wire rack to complete cooling.



Yield: 5 to 6 dozen yummy cookies.



If you have any coconut mixture left over, form coconut balls, 12 to a baking sheet, put a milk chocolate chip on top of each ball and press it down slightly, and bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.



Norman wants me to make these cookies even chewier—he says it’ll provide more revenue for his dental clinic. (He’s kidding…I think.)





Chapter Nine




When the phone rang at seven in the morning, Hannah grabbed it. She’d been on pins and needles all night, wondering if Andrea would be successful in her phone search for Candy’s mother.

“The Cookie Jar. This is Hannah speaking,” she said, hoping it was her sister and not another customer with a big cookie catering order they couldn’t possibly fill before Christmas.

“She’s there, right?”

It was Andrea and it didn’t take sisterly telepathy to know that she was talking about Candy. “That’s right.”

“Meet me in the back booth at Hal and Rose’s in fifteen minutes. Say you have to deliver some cookies or something. I’ve got big news!”

Hannah frowned as the line went dead. Andrea was prone to play drama queen, but if she’d managed to find Candy’s mother, Hannah would be the first to applaud her performance.

“Is something wrong?” Lisa asked, noticing Hannah’s frown.

“Just another emergency cookie order. I have to run out with three dozen, but I’ll be back before we open. Will you bag them up for me, Candy?”

“Sure.” Candy grabbed one of their distinctive bags, snapped it open, and slipped on a food service glove. “What kind do you want?”

“Anything we can spare. You must have heard that old saying: “Baggers can’t be choosers.”



“I love these cookies! What do you call them again?” Andrea rooted around in the bag to find a sibling to the three she’d just eaten.

“Fudge-Aroons. Are you going to tell me, or not?”

“I’m getting to it.” Andrea glanced around, but no one was paying the slightest attention to them. The regulars were at the counter, downing mug after mug of Rose’s strong coffee, and there were faint sounds of sweeping as Hal prepared the banquet room for the day’s poker game. Only one other booth was filled, and it wasn’t within earshot. Cyril Murphy and Father Coultas were eating fried eggs and double orders of bacon for breakfast, something Cyril’s wife and Father’s housekeeper wouldn’t let them have because they were supposed to watch their cholesterol.

“So you found the vet clinic?” Hannah prompted.

“Of course I did. It’s in Des Moines, Iowa. I left my number with the answering service, but the vet didn’t get back to me until eight last night.”

“And he gave you Candy’s home phone number?”

“No, he didn’t have it. But he told me the name of the last vet. Candy’s dad was Dr. Allen Roberts. He died last year, so Candy didn’t lie about that.”

“I didn’t think she was lying.” Hannah shook her head when Rose held up the coffee pot. Her mug was almost empty, but now that Andrea had finally started to tell her about the phone calls, she didn’t want anything to interrupt her. “So Candy’s last name really does start with an R.”

“That’s right. I called information for her home phone number, but there was no listing for Allen Roberts. I figured that Candy’s mother must have put it in her name after her husband died, so I got a list of every Roberts in Des Moines.”

“Were there a lot of them?”

“I’ll say! I never thought of Roberts as a common name before, but the operator gave me dozens of numbers. I started calling right away, but I had to stop when Bill came home.”

“But you managed to find Candy’s mother?” Hannah asked, cutting to the chase.

“Right before I called you this morning. She cried on the phone, Hannah. She’s been worried sick about Candy and she was so happy to hear that she’s all right.”

Hannah couldn’t even begin to imagine the stress Candy’s mother had been under. “Did you ask her to come here so we could help work things out with Candy?”

“Yes, and she agreed. I put her on hold and called Sally at the inn to see if there were any vacancies. When Sally said there were, Deana told me she’d throw some things in a suitcase and they’d get on the road right away.”