Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(60)

“I’ll try it tonight,” Lisa said, sticking the recipe in the pocket of her apron. “Herb’s bound to love it and I’ve got ham left over from Sunday dinner. It was nice of Grandma Knudson to think of us. When you go back there, please thank her for me.”

“I will,” Hannah said, just as the phone rang. Lisa got up to answer it, and Hannah heard her thank Grandma Knudson for the recipe.

“It’s Grandma Knudson with a message for you,” Lisa said to Hannah. “She says she has another clue to the identity of the killer, and she wants to know if you can come up to the parsonage right now.”

“Tell her I’ll be there in less than five minutes,” Hannah said, jumping to her feet and grabbing her parka from the hooks by the back door.

“As long as Marge is here, I’m going with you,” Michelle said, jumping up almost as quickly as Hannah. “Are you coming, Norman?”

“I’m driving,” Norman said, grabbing his coat and following the two Swensen sisters out the door.





PINEAPPLE CASSEROLE

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

two 20-ounce cans of chunk pineapple (I used Dole)





? cup white (granulated) sugar





? cup all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)





? teaspoon salt





? teaspoon baking soda





1 cup grated cheddar cheese (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)





? cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound) salted butter





4 Tablespoons (that’s ? cup) of the pineapple juice you reserved





1 cup crushed cornflakes (measure AFTER crushing)





Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice. You’ll use some of it in this recipe.

Mix the sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl. Make sure they’re well mixed.

Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with Pam or another nonstick baking spray. Put the flour mixture in the bottom of the casserole dish.

Add the drained pineapple to the casserole dish and mix it in.

Add the grated cheese to the casserole dish and mix that in. (It’s okay to use your impeccably clean fingers.)

Unwrap the stick of butter. Put it in a microwave-safe measuring cup that will hold at least one cup, and melt in the microwave on HIGH for 45 seconds.

Drizzle about half of the melted butter over the mixture in your casserole dish. Mix it all up with your fingers or a spoon.

Drizzle the top with 4 Tablespoons of the pineapple juice that you reserved.

If you haven’t already done so, crush the cornflakes. You can do this in a sealed plastic bag with your hands. Measure out one cup of crushed cornflakes and sprinkle them on top of your casserole.

Drizzle the remaining melted butter over the top of the crushed cornflakes.

Bake your casserole at 350 degrees F. for 35 to 40 minutes.

Yield: This casserole serves 6 to 8 unless Herb comes to dinner. Then you’d better make two casseroles.





Chapter Twenty

“Now that you’re here, we’re off to make the bank deposit,” Marguerite told them when they arrived at the parsonage. “It shouldn’t take us more than fifteen minutes. We go straight into Doug Greerson’s office and he does it for us personally. Is that okay with you, Hannah?”

“It’s fine. We’ll stay until you get back or Reverend Matthew comes in, one or the other.”

“Grandma said to pour yourself a cup of coffee and come into her sitting room. She’s got Jacob in there.”

Of course Grandma Knudson had put on a fresh pot of coffee. There was always fresh coffee at the parsonage. Michelle poured a cup for all three of them and they walked down the hallway to the sitting room.

“There you are!” Grandma Knudson greeted them. “And Michelle, too. Did you flunk out of college?”

Michelle laughed. She knew Grandma Knudson was teasing her. Delores had bragged about her grades so much that everyone in Lake Eden knew she had a three-point-nine average. “I didn’t flunk out of college, Grandma Knudson…at least not yet.”

Grandma Knudson chuckled cheerily, and Hannah noticed that only about a quarter of the cookie bars she’d brought on the platter were left. They’d done their work well. Grandma Knudson was a lot calmer now, and there was actually some color in her cheeks.

“You said you needed to see me because you had a clue to the identity of the killer?” Hannah asked her, seating herself in a chair close to Grandma Knudson while Norman and Michelle sat down on the pink davenport. “What is it?”

“It’s Jacob,” Grandma Knudson gestured toward the mynah bird in his cage. “He just said something I’ve never heard him say before. And I can’t help thinking he might have learned it the night of the murder. I’m hoping I can get him to say it again so you can all hear it.”

“Come on, Jacob. Be a good bird and say it again.”

They were all gathered around the birdcage, Grandma Knudson, Hannah, Norman, and Michelle. Grandma Knudson had been trying to get Pete Nunke’s bird to repeat himself for almost five minutes now, but the mynah bird just stared at them with beady yellow unblinking eyes.