Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(50)

Press the sandwiches down with a flat metal spatula, or the palms of your impeccably clean hands. That will make the tops adhere to the bottoms when they bake.

Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the cream and the vanilla, mixing thoroughly. Pour this mixture over the apricot bread sandwiches in the pan.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil and let it stand out on the counter for a minimum of twenty minutes. (If you’re planning a nice dinner party, you can make this in the morning, cover and refrigerator it, and slip it into the oven when your guests arrive so that it’s ready to serve for dessert.)

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

Take off the plastic wrap. Melt the second stick of butter and drizzle it over the tops of the cream cheese chocolate chip sandwiches.

Bake the Chocolate Apricot Bread Pudding at 350 degrees F., uncovered, for approximately one hour (60 minutes) or until the top has browned. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for at least five minutes before you serve.

To serve: Sprinkle the top of the pan with powdered sugar before you carry it to the table. This will make it look more attractive. Use a metal spatula to lift out the individual sandwiches which you’ve transformed into yummy Chocolate Apricot Bread Pudding. One sandwich is one serving.

Hannah’s Note: I like to flip my sandwiches over when I put a serving into a dessert dish. Then my guests can see all the syrupy goodness on the bottom. I also like to top this delicious bread pudding with sweetened whipped cream or a scoop of softened vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 10 large and yummy servings.





Chapter Sixteen

“Look at these,” Norman said, after Mike had left, laying four pieces of photo paper out on the metal surface of the workstation. “All the school yearbooks are online at the Jordan High Web site. I found Paul’s photo and printed it out. And Matthew’s senior photo is right here next to his cousin’s.”

“They look like twins!” Lisa said, her eyes traveling from one to the other and then back again.

“This one,” Delores tapped one of the photos.

“That’s Paul,” Norman answered her unspoken question.

“Paul has more prominent cheekbones, but perhaps that’s because he’s thinner. You probably could tell which was which if you saw them together.”

“Which one is the youngest?” Andrea asked.

“Paul,” Norman answered her. “He’s two years younger than Matthew.”

“Why do they look so much alike?” Lisa asked.

It was Hannah’s turn to explain. “Matthew’s father had a younger brother and Matthew’s mother had a younger sister. The two younger siblings met at their wedding and got married a year later.”

“I wonder if they still look alike,” Andrea mused. “I think Reverend Matthew looked like an older version of his yearbook photo. I wish we knew what his cousin Paul looks like now.”

“We don’t have any way to find out,” Hannah told her. “If the private detective Matthew hired to find Paul couldn’t do it, our chances aren’t very good either.”

“Here’s the rest of Matthew’s senior class,” Norman informed them, pointing to the third photo. “And here’s a picture of Matthew at the senior prom. He’s with his high school girlfriend, and everybody thought they’d get married right after they graduated. Her name was Alice Roste.”

“Now it’s Alice Roste Vogel,” Delores told him. “And they didn’t get married. According to one of my telephone sources, Matthew broke Alice’s heart and she married the oldest Vogel boy on the rebound.”

“And that’s our Alice?” Hannah was surprised.

“That’s right,” Delores confirmed it. “That’s what I was going to tell you when I came in this morning. Then I saw Mike, and I decided I’d better wait. I didn’t want him bothering Alice with a lot of questions. This must be terribly hard on her. My source said Alice never really got over loving Matthew.”

Andrea reached out to grab Hannah’s arm. “Mother’s source is right, Hannah. Remember when I told you that I was going over Claire’s sales information?”

“I remember.”

“Well, one of the invoices was for Alice Vogel. She bought a new dress the day after Reverend Matthew arrived in town.”

“That’s a big leap to a conclusion,” Hannah warned her sister. “What does that sales receipt really prove? Hasn’t Alice ever bought a dress from Claire before?”

“No, at least not in the past twelve months. I went through a whole year’s worth of invoices, and I think the only reason Alice bought such an expensive dress was so she’d look nice for Reverend Matthew.”

“That does make sense,” Delores said. “It’s natural to want to look good when you’re meeting an old flame after all these years.”

Hannah turned to stare at her mother. Delores had been dressing even better than usual, and that was going some! And she’d bought at least one new dress every week from Claire’s most expensive collection. Come to think of it, Bertie had mentioned that Delores had come in to the Cut ’n Curl to have her hair done at least once a week, and she’d gone for the works with a facial and a manicure. Was it because Delores was dating old flames again?