Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(39)

5 stalks celery, leaves removed





6 small white or yellow onions 6 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks





salt and pepper to taste one package Lawry’s brown gravy mix (the kind that makes one cup)





Spread a layer of soup in the bottom of a disposable roaster (that’s about ? can) and place the roaster on a cookie sheet for stability.

Salt and pepper the brisket on both sides and then plunk it, fat side up, in the middle of the roaster.

Peel the potatoes and cut each one into six chunks. Arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Cut the celery stalks into 2-inch pieces. Arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the meat.

Peel the onions. Cut them in half and arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Peel the carrots. Cut them in 2-inch chunks and arrange them on top of the soup and around the sides of the meat.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you don’t want to go to all this work, just buy a couple of packages of frozen stew vegetables and dump them (you don’t have to thaw them) on top of the soup and around the sides of the brisket.

Salt and pepper the veggies and then slather the remaining soup over the top of everything in the roaster. Cover the roaster with a sheet of heavy duty foil to keep the steam in.

Bake your Brisket and Veggies at 350 degrees F. for 4 to 5 hours, or until it practically falls apart.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: Sally says to tell you that it’s practically impossible to over-bake this dish, that it just gets better and better.

Take off the foil the last half-hour of baking.

When the time is up, remove the roaster from the oven and let it cool for another half-hour before serving.

Hannah’s 4th Note: If the liquid around the brisket is too thin to use for gravy, Sally puts it in a saucepan on the stove, heats it to almost boiling, and adds a package of Lawry’s brown gravy mix (the kind that makes one cup) to thicken it.





Chapter Thirteen

“Oh, good! It’s Doc Knight,” Hannah told Norman with a smile. She’d been peeking out of the curtain every so often between bites of Sally’s wonderful Brisket and Veggies, waiting for her mother’s dinner companion to appear.

“She’s seen a lot of him lately,” Norman commented.

“She has?”

“Mother told me that she volunteered to organize the Gray Ladies.”

“Who are the Gray Ladies?”

“A group of ladies who go out to the hospital to visit the patients on off-hours. Delores makes out their schedule.”

“Charity work?” Hannah was surprised, and it showed on her face. Delores wasn’t known for doing charity work.

“I guess you could call it charity, but it’s more like community service. The patients in the hospital get lonely, and Doc keeps strict visiting hours. This way they can see the Rainbow Ladies in-between their regular visitors.”

Hannah was confused. “Wait a second. You said they were Gray Ladies.”

“They were, but your mother changed the name.”

“Why did she do that?”

“They used to wear gray smocks. Can you imagine your mother wearing a gray smock?”

“No, I really can’t,” Hannah said quickly. Her mother was fond of colorful clothing and she didn’t consider gray a color.

“Mother said Delores went to Claire’s shop and they ordered brightly colored jackets for all of the volunteers. They’re lightweight and washable, so the Rainbow Ladies wear them over a black top and black pants. Mother just loves hers. It’s turquoise and that’s her favorite color. Your mother brought a color wheel to their first meeting, and everyone chose a favorite color.”

Hannah glanced out through the curtains again. Her mother was deep in conversation with Doc Knight. Perhaps they were discussing the Rainbow Ladies.

Norman waited until she’d taken her last bite of brisket. “Do you have any leads yet?”

“Not yet. I haven’t even started.”

“Did you bring your murder book with you?”

Hannah reached down to pat the leather saddlebag-size purse that her mother and Andrea kept trying to replace. She readily agreed that it was “ratty,” her mother’s word for all the scratches on the leather, but everything she needed to survive was in there…and then some.

“Do you want to brainstorm about it now, before your Mother and Doc join us? Or would you rather just relax?”

“Brainstorm,” Hannah said instantly, reaching into her purse for her shorthand notebook and a pen. “First let me describe the scene of the crime, and then you can help think of possible motives.”

Describing the scene didn’t take long. Hannah had already done it twice in the past six hours, once in response to an official interrogation by Mike, and once at The Cookie Jar for Lisa. Each time she described it, it got a little easier, and she wondered if she was becoming jaded. She hoped not. Violent death was nothing to take lightly!

“And the murder weapon was a gun?” Norman asked when she’d finished.

“Yes, and he fell forward on the desk.”

“Did they find the murder weapon?”

“No. I asked Mike about that. But just as soon as the autopsy is…Doc!”