Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(83)

Stir everything all up, and then add the remaining flour and the remaining milk. Mix well.



Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make these cookies small, about the size of a cherry. If you make them too large, they’ll spread out on the cookie sheet and crumble when you remove them.



Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 14 minutes. (Mine took 13 minutes.)



Hannah’s 2nd Note: I use parchment paper because then I can just slide it onto a wire rack after the cookies come out of the oven.



While the first pan of cookies is baking, mix up the topping. 299



Heat the lemon juice just a bit in the microwave. (The sugar will dissolve more easily if the juice is warm.) Add the sugar and stir it all up. Place the topping next to your wire cooling rack, along with a pastry brush.



When the cookies come out of the oven, remove them to a wire rack with a piece of foil placed under it or, if you’ve used parchment paper, just pull the paper with the cookies from the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack.



Brush the topping onto the hot cookies. The faster you do this, the quicker the topping will dry into a glaze.



Yield: Approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending on cookie size.



Hannah’s 3rd Note: This recipe can be doubled.





Chapter Twenty-Eight




“No dialogue, no story, no lights, no music,” Hannah said with a sigh. “No wonder these tapes are so boring.”

“You forgot no action,” Norman reminded her, his finger on the fast-forward button. They’d watched the first third of the tape, and so far the Snack Shack was in shadows and absolutely nothing had happened. “There’s nobody in there to…whoa!” He stopped as the door opened and the lights clicked on. “Here we go! It’s show time!”

“It’s Ronni,” Hannah identified the blonde who walked to the far end of the room and took several small bottles from behind the counter. “And that’s diet green tea. This must be when she starts drinking Green-Teanis.”

Michelle looked puzzled. “I wonder why she didn’t change out of her exercise outfit for the party.”

“Maybe she didn’t have anything tighter,” Hannah offered her opinion.

“That wasn’t nice!” Andrea chided her.

“Maybe not, but I bet you were thinking the same thing.”

A shade of pink very much resembling the pink of the pillow shams in Hannah’s guest room started to appear at Andrea’s neckline. It moved slowly up to the top of her cheeks, and Andrea gave a guilty sigh. “You’re right,” she said. “I was.”

“Here comes the rest of the party,” Norman said, pointing at the screen. “Mike’s got your cream puffs, Hannah.”

Hannah watched Mike come in, carrying her tray of cream puffs. She noticed that he’d stuck a candle into each puff, but the platter was covered with plastic wrap. He set it behind the counter, where no one could see it, and gave Ronni a big kiss on the lips that lasted a lot longer than Hannah wanted it to. Then the partygoers began to file in, and Mike took a proprietary place at Ronni’s side with his arm around her waist.

“Mike’s acting like the host,” Andrea said, and then she glanced over at Hannah. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why not? It’s true.”

“Yes, but…oh look! There’s Mayor Bascomb!” Andrea sounded grateful that something else had come up on the screen.

Before much more time had passed, the room was filled with people. Someone had contributed a case of beer, and others drank soft drinks or concoctions from the blender that one of the sheriff’s deputies was manning behind the counter.

“Lonnie,” Michelle breathed, and Hannah turned to glance at her youngest sister. Michelle looked worried, and Hannah wondered if she feared that Lonnie would give the birthday girl the same kind of greeting that Mike had. But instead of heading over to greet Ronni, he gave a little wave in her general direction and got himself a beer from the case at the end of the counter. Then he started talking to a couple of other deputies who were there, and Hannah saw Michelle visibly relax.

“No women,” Norman said after another few minutes of watching.

Hannah turned to look at him. “You’re right! It’s all men.”

“Maybe that’s because she worked at the sheriff’s department, and it’s mostly men out there,” Michelle suggested.

“Are you kidding?” Hannah just laughed. “There are a couple of women deputies, not to mention quite a few secretaries.”

“Maybe she invited them and they didn’t come,” Norman suggested. But after a look from the three Swensen sisters, he gave up on that excuse.

“There’s Tad,” Michelle said, pointing at the man who’d just walked in the door. “Just look at that gorgeous bouquet of flowers! Would a stalker bring his victim flowers?”

“It does seem unusual,” Hannah said, thinking of what Tad’s nephew had confided to the class at Kiddie Korner and wondering if it was relevant.

“What is she doing?” Michelle’s mouth fell open as she watched the screen. “Ronni won’t even take them! She’s pointing to the door, and…”