Chocolate Cream Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #24)(37)

“Of course I do!”

The answer came immediately and Hannah took heart. Ross really believed that she had fallen for his assurances of love.

“Where are you, Ross?” she asked again, trying to put honey in her voice instead of vinegar. “It’s been a long time. I want to see you.”

There was a pause and Hannah knew he wasn’t entirely convinced by the sweetness in her tone. Had she laid it on too thick?

“I want to see you, too, Cookie, but it’s too dangerous for me to come to Lake Eden. Mike warned me that he couldn’t guarantee my safety.”

“I know, but . . .” Hannah paused, thinking fast. “Maybe you could come to our condo. No one would expect you to come there.”

There was silence on the other end of the line and Hannah’s hopes rose. Would Ross take her bait?

“No,” he said at last. “I want to see you too, but I can’t take that chance. Just get me the money, Hannah. Call Doug and meet him at the bank tomorrow. He’s a friend of yours. He’ll give it to you. Tell him you need it for something important. Convince him that it’s a matter of life and death. You can convince him and even if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. You’re entitled to take a withdrawal of any amount you wish and he’s got to give it to you. I don’t care what you say, Hannah. Just get me that money!”

“But what if Doug doesn’t want to give me the money?”

“Make him do it. If you really want to be with me again, you’ll get it. It’s just too bad you opened your big mouth and told everyone that we weren’t really married. You have to make up for that by getting me the money.”

There was a click and the line went dead. A moment later, Hannah heard a dial tone. Ross had hung up on her. She took a deep breath, did her best to calm down, and pulled back the curtain to re-enter the booth.

Norman took one look at her, jumped to his feet, and pushed her down to sit in the booth. Then he pushed aside the dessert plates.

“Put your head down, Hannah,” he told her. “You look like you’re about to faint.”

“I’m . . . okay,” Hannah said, but she knew she wasn’t. There was a high-pitched ringing in her ears, and her peripheral vision was fading into shimmering dots of light. She lowered her head, swallowed again, and did her best to breathe normally. Her heart was pounding so loudly, she could hear it in her ears and it took long moments before she relaxed enough to bring it back to a normal rate.

Everyone in the booth was quiet, and Hannah knew that they were waiting for an explanation. When she felt calm enough to speak, she raised her head and faced them. “It was Ross,” she said.





ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE BUTTERSCOTCH BUNDT CAKE

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



4 large eggs ? cup vegetable oil ? cup chocolate liqueur (I used Ghirardelli Chocolate Liqueur)

8-ounce (by weight) tub of sour cream (I used Knudson)

box of chocolate cake mix, the kind that makes a 9-inch by 13-inch cake or a 2-layer cake (I used Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix)

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

12-ounce (by weight) bag of butterscotch baking chips (11-ounce package will do, too—I used Nestlé)





Prepare your cake pan. You’ll need a Bundt pan that has been sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray and then floured. To flour a pan, put some flour in the bottom, hold it over your kitchen wastebasket, and tap the pan to move the flour all over the inside of the pan. Continue this until all the inside surfaces of the pan, including the sides of the crater in the center, have been covered with a light coating of flour. Alternatively, you can coat the inside of the Bundt pan with Pam Baking Spray, which is a nonstick cooking spray with flour already in it.



Crack the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix them up on LOW speed until they’re a uniform color.



Pour in the half-cup of vegetable oil and mix it in with the eggs on LOW speed.



Add the half-cup of chocolate liqueur. Mix it in at LOW speed.



Scoop out the container of sour cream and add it to your mixer bowl. Mix it in on LOW speed.



When everything is well combined, open the box of dry cake mix and sprinkle it on top of the liquid ingredients in the bowl of the mixer. Mix that in on LOW speed.



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



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



If you have a food processor, put in the steel blade and pour in the butterscotch baking chips. Process in an on-and-off motion to chop them in smaller pieces. (You can also do this with a knife on a cutting board if you don’t have a food processor.)



Sprinkle the butterscotch baking chips in your bowl and stir them in by hand with a rubber spatula.



Hannah’s 1st Note: If you don’t want to use chocolate liqueur in this recipe, use whole milk or water with a little chocolate sauce mixed in for flavoring.



Hannah’s 2nd Note: The reason the butterscotch chips in this recipe are chopped in smaller pieces is that regular-size chips are larger and heavier, and they tend to sink down to the bottom of your Bundt pan.