Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(31)

“Apple? Oh, yes. We bake Apple Orchard Bar Cookies. Most people love those.” Again, Lisa added a line to her list. “Strawberry? Why, yes. We have Strawberry Shortcake Bar Cookies. They’re excellent and they’ll hold up in the heat.”

Hannah could see the list with its five entries. One to go. As far as she knew, they didn’t have any other non-chocolate bar cookies, unless . . . The moment Hannah thought about it she was moving. She grabbed the list and jotted down an entry. She’d never tried those particular bars before, but they ought to work just fine.

Lisa glanced down at the list. She read what Hannah had written and spoke into the receiver again. “I think the only flavor you’re really missing out on is raspberry. How about our new Berried Treasure Bar Cookies? They have a thin layer of chocolate on top, but we’ll chill them for you.” She listened and then she said, “Raspberry is Roger’s favorite? Wonderful! He’s bound to just love them! They’re my very favorite.”

Hannah hid a grin. Lisa didn’t even know what the bar cookies were, but she was claiming they were her favorite.

“Yes, we’ll have them all ready for Mr. Dalworth by two this afternoon. Is there anything else . . . oh! Why . . . yes. We certainly can bake another dozen Red Velvet Surprise Cupcakes. Thank you so much for your order.”

The moment Lisa hung up the phone, Hannah asked the important question. “Did she say why she needed so many bar cookies?”

“Yes. The dome for the penthouse garden is coming in at two-thirty this afternoon, and Roger’s ordered a tent so that she can serve cold drinks and bar cookies to everyone who wants to watch the giant crane hoist it up and put it in place.”

“But . . . how about the crime scene? Doesn’t the sheriff’s department have it roped off?”

“Not anymore. Herb told me they took down the tape last night.”

“So she’s free and clear to play Lady Bountiful.”

“Right. How about closing early today and going to watch the spectacle?”

“Might as well. We won’t get much business when everybody and their cousin finds out that there’s free dessert only a few blocks away.”

There was a knock at the kitchen door, but before either one of them could go to answer it, Andrea burst in. “Did you hear?”

“Hear what?” Hannah asked her sister.

“They’re delivering the dome for the penthouse garden this afternoon. A gigantic crane is going to lift it up and place it on the roof.”

“We heard,” Lisa answered her. “Hannah and I were just discussing whether we should close early.”

“Close,” Andrea advised. “Bill just called to tell me that they’re passing out flyers telling everybody to come to the hotel, that there’ll be free dessert and drinks.”

Hannah exchanged glances with Lisa. “Well, that didn’t take long, did it?”

“What?” Andrea looked puzzled.

“The flyers. Lisa just got off the phone with Doctor Bev.”

Andrea turned to Lisa. “What did she want?”

“Thirty pans of bar cookies at two o’clock this afternoon. Roger’s coming in to pick them up.”

“At least it’s good for your business.”

“That’s true,” Hannah said, “for two reasons. Number one, The Cookie Jar gets paid to bake them. And number two, Doctor Bev can’t claim she made them because everyone in town knows she can’t bake.”

Andrea frowned slightly. “You used to be able to say that same thing about me.”

“But not anymore. Those Apple Cinnamon Whippersnappers of yours are super.”

“And the Chocolate Whippersnappers you made for the Christmas cookie exchange were incredible,” Lisa added. “I brought them home and while I was making dinner, Herb found them. When I went to serve them for dessert, there was one cookie left!”

Andrea laughed, clearly pleased. “The nice thing about whippersnappers is you can make them up out of any cake mix. So far I’ve used chocolate, spice, and lemon. I wonder what I could do with yellow.”

“Pineapple,” Lisa said immediately. “ “Pineapple and coconut. And maybe some kind of nut. Pineapple is Herb’s favorite fruit, and he loves coconut, too. If you could make whippersnappers like that, Herb would eat a whole batch!”

“Well . . . I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t work as long as I made sure the pineapple was drained really well. The coconut would help. That’s dry. I think I’ll experiment a little when I go home tonight.”

Hannah began to smile. Andrea was beginning to think like a baker and it was all due to the cake mix whippersnapper recipes. She thought that they were easy, and they were. But Andrea was learning a thing or two about ingredients as she was experimenting.

“As a matter of fact, Barbara loves pineapple,” Andrea continued. “If I can get them to turn out really well, I might take some to her.”

“Check with Doc Knight,” Hannah warned.

“Oh, I will. And that reminds me . . .” Andrea glanced at Lisa. “Lisa knows what’s happening, doesn’t she?”

“Yes. I told her the morning after Norman and Mike came over for dinner.”

“Both of them?” Andrea looked a bit shocked.