Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(50)

When the cookies are cool, frost them with Mocha Icing.



Yield: 10 to 12 dozen delicious cookies

MOCHA ICING

1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick, 1/4 pound)

1 cup semi-sweet (regular) chocolate chips

4 to 6 teaspoons very strongly brewed coffee

3 to 3? cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar



Melt the chocolate chips with 4 teaspoons of the coffee in a microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute on HIGH. Stir, and if the mixture is still lumpy, remove the spoon and microwave it again for an additional 20 seconds. If the mixture is still lumpy, repeat again, stirring after each 20-second interval. When you are able to stir the mixture smooth, set the bowl on the counter to cool to room temperature.



Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, stir in the softened butter until smooth.



Whisk in the powdered sugar, and stir until the mixture is of spreading consistency. If it’s too thick, add the remaining 2 teaspoons of coffee. If it’s too thin, stir in a little more powdered sugar.



Frost the cookies and sprinkle on shredded coconut before the frosting has fully set, if you desire.



Hannah’s 4th Note: Lisa just confessed that if she’s too tired to frost these cookies, she just dusts them with powdered sugar, plunks half of a maraschino cherry on top, and serves them that way.





Chapter Seventeen




“So Ronni was really hard on Betty Jackson?” Hannah repeated what Charlotte Roscoe, Jordan High’s head secretary and a member of Ronni’s Swim to Slim class, had told her. It was another interrogator’s trick she’d picked up from Mike. You repeated the last comment and then you were silent, waiting to see if the person you were interviewing would fill that silence by elaborating.

“That’s right. Betty’s feelings were really hurt. You know how sensitive she is about her weight. When I saw her the next morning she was okay, but she told me she was going to think of some way to get even with Ronni.”

“Do you think that…”

“No!” Charlotte jumped in before Hannah could finish her question. “Don’t even think it, Hannah. There’s no way she had anything to do with Ronni’s death. Betty’s too squeamish to do anything like that. She won’t even swat a fly. When she said get even, she was probably talking about getting Ronni fired, or something like that. Besides, she isn’t even in town.”

“You’re sure of that?”

“I’m positive. We’re in the same night class at Lake Eden Community College, and I’m taking notes for her while she’s gone. Betty left early Tuesday morning. She drove up to Duluth for her cousin’s wedding, and she won’t be back until Sunday night.”

“Okay. Thanks, Charlotte.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything more I can do to help? I didn’t like Ronni personally. She was a real slave driver in class, but I’ll miss her. I managed to lose an inch around my waist in the first two weeks of her class, and now I can fit into my skinny pantsuit for work.”

“Really!” Hannah was glad to hear that. She’d been dreading the swimming class, but perhaps it would help her get into the Regency-style dress even faster.

“Can you find out when they’ll open the pool again?” Charlotte asked her.

“Tomorrow. I asked Roger when I signed up for your class. They’re keeping the Jacuzzi off-limits, but we’ll be allowed in the pool.”

“That’s definitely good news. I hate doing the exercises on dry land. It’s so much easier in the water. The impact is lower and water provides its own resistance.” Charlotte glanced at her watch. “Do you need a ride back to town?”

“Thanks, but no. Michelle and Andrea are meeting me out here, and we’re going to talk to the security guard who was on duty the night Ronni was killed.”

“That’s a good idea. You can probably get more information than those rookies at the sheriff’s station.” Charlotte leaned a little closer and lowered her voice, even though they were alone at a table in the Snack Shack. “I understand they pulled the seasoned detectives off the investigation because they were personally involved.”

Hannah remembered the good spin Andrea had put on the situation and decided to do some spinning of her own. “That’s true. Ronni taught physical fitness classes out at the sheriff’s station gym, you know. They saw her every day, and she was well liked. You know how cops are. They depend on each other, and there’s a real bond between them, just like soldiers or fraternity brothers. They considered Ronni one of their own, and losing one of their own is always hard. I think Bill’s afraid that some of his detectives might get a little too zealous if they got their hands on her killer…if you know what I mean.”

“I certainly do! And then they’d be in trouble. That was a wise move on Bill’s part.”

Hannah silently congratulated herself on a job well done. What she’d said wasn’t a mere rotation, or an ordinary revolution of the facts. She’d created an out-and-out whirling Moebius strip that outspun Andrea and then some!

“It’s a good thing you’re helping them out, Hannah. They’ll never catch the killer without the best minds on the force.”