Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(42)

Hannah smiled. Andrea was really on the ball. She’d known that Hannah would investigate Reverend Matthew’s murder, and she was already collecting official reports for her. “Before you came to join us, Norman and I were talking about possible motivations for Reverend Matthew’s murder. We decided it could be something current from his return here as a substitute pastor, or something that happened in the past when he went to Jordan High as a senior.”

“Or something completely unrelated to Matthew Walters at all,” Doc suggested a third possibility.

“But how could that be?” Delores asked him.

“Let’s say that someone broke into the church in the middle of the night, not knowing that he was there in the church office. It could have been a botched burglary, and whoever it was didn’t want to leave a witness.”

Hannah immediately thought of Matthew’s cousin Paul. He’d been convicted due to a burglary gone bad. She looked over at Norman, knowing the same thought was running through his mind, and he gave a little shake of his head to remind her they’d decided that Paul wasn’t a viable suspect.

“What would someone break into a church to steal?” Delores asked.

“The collection money?” Doc suggested.

Hannah thought about that for a moment. “That makes sense. The church was packed on Sunday because we held Reverend Bob and Claire’s bon voyage party right after the service. There would have been more money than usual.”

“You’re good at this, Doc,” Delores complimented him.

“Thanks. I should be good at it after all the practice I’ve had.”

“You’ve solved crimes before?” Norman asked him.

“No, but it’s a lot like diagnosing a patient. You add up all the facts, eliminate the diseases that don’t fit the profile, and test for the ones that do. That’s what I’m trying to teach my interns. Marlene’s getting good at it, but Ben still has a ways to go.” Doc reached out for the coffee carafe to pour more for Delores and then offered it to Hannah and Norman before he filled his own cup. “Lori thought you’d want to know about how Matthew got the quarterback job on the Lake Eden Gulls.”

“Please tell me,” Hannah said, flipping to a fresh page in her shorthand notebook and reaching into her purse for her pen.





SALLY’S CINNAMON SUPREME COFFEE

Hannah’s 1st Note: Sally uses a drip coffeemaker to make this coffee. She has a 30-cup pot, but I’ve reduced the recipe to fit in a household drip coffeemaker.

4 whole cinnamon sticks





3 Tablespoons brown sugar, well packed





1 teaspoon ground cinnamon





1 cup freshly ground coffee (Sally uses French Roast beans and grinds her own)





10 cups water





Place the cinnamon sticks and the brown sugar into the glass (or metal) carafe.

If your coffeemaker uses a filter, place it in the brew basket. Then put the freshly ground coffee and the ground cinnamon inside the basket.

Pour in 10 cups of water and turn on the coffeemaker. Let the water drip through completely.

Remove the carafe with the freshly made coffee and stir it to dissolve the brown sugar. Put it back on the heated pad at the bottom of the coffeemaker. It should sit there for at least 5 minutes so the flavors will meld.

This coffee is best topped with sweetened whipped cream. Use one cup of whipping cream, 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, and ? teaspoon vanilla extract. Whip it up and place it in a pretty bowl so that people can top their coffee with it.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you really truly don’t feel like making sweetened whipped cream, you can buy it in a tub or a canister. Although sweetened whipped cream is always better when it’s homemade, this coffee is so tasty, the ready-made sweetened whipped cream will be fine.

To serve, pour the coffee into a serving carafe, or if you’re making just one pot, use the carafe from the coffeemaker. Transfer the cinnamon sticks to whichever carafe you use. This coffee will just get better and better as it sits.

Pour generous cupfuls and top with sweetened whipped cream. If you like, sprinkle a bit of brown sugar over the top of the sweetened whipped cream for an extra treat.

Yield: Serves 5 because everyone will want a second cup.





Chapter Fourteen

Hannah had to hunt for the pen she’d dropped in her purse only moments before. The roomy interior of her saddlebag-type purse reminded her of a claw arcade game. You operated the steam shovel to grasp a prize from the jumble of items in the glass box. Sometimes you lucked out and managed to get what you wanted. Other times you came up with a prize you could easily live without. This time Hannah was lucky, and she drew out the pen she wanted on the very first try.

“Ready?” Doc asked her.

“Yes.”

“When Matthew came to school at Jordan High, he tried out for the football team and made it as an alternate quarterback. Hugh Kohler was the regular quarterback and had been for the past two years. I saw a couple of the games. The kid was good.”

“So Hugh Kohler was the quarterback and Matthew was second string?” Norman asked.

“For the first three games. But everything changed when Coach Telleson took the whole team on a camping trip at Eden Lake. It was the weekend before the big homecoming game, and they were supposed to bond together as a team. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.”