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"That was the surprising thing. I expected her to beg me to reconsider, or tell me off, but she didn't seem upset at all. She just said she could understand why I had to let her go and she went out the back way smiling."
"That's strange. How about your other employees? Do any of them know about this?" Hannah asked the question even though she thought she already knew the answer.
"I didn't see any point in telling them. I just tightened security the way I promised Reggie I would."
"I've got a tough question for you," Hannah warned him. "Do you think Reggie was mad enough at Rhonda to kill her?"
Jon thought about it for a moment and then he sighed. "I don't like to think so, but I suppose it's possible. Reggie really loved to fly."
"Thanks for being honest with me, Jon. I only have one more question and I don't want you to take it personally. Where were you on Friday night?"
"You think /killed Rhonda?" Jon looked utterly shocked.
"Of course not, but you did have a motive."
"What motive?"
"If things had gone differently, Rhonda could have cost you your business. I've got to put you on my suspect list, but I can cross you off if I know where you were."
"I guess it can't hurt to tell you. I picked Judy up right after I locked up at five, and we drove to Mille Lacs Lake for my mother-in-law's birthday. You can check with Judy. We stayed over that night and drove back early Saturday morning so that I could open at nine."
"Thanks, Jon." Hannah slipped her steno pad back into her purse and stood up to leave. She glanced at his coffee-maker as she passed it and sighed. "The next time you come in The Cookie Jar, the coffee's on me. You could probably bottle that stuff of yours and sell it for rat poison."
Praline Charlottes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees R, with rack in middle position.
11/2 cups melted butter (3 sticks)
1 !/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 !/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (decrease to /6 teaspoon if you
use salted pecans)
11/2 cups finely ground pecans (grind them up in your food processor with the steel blade and measure AFTER grinding)
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)
3 cups flour (no need to sift)
Microwave the butter in your mixing bowl to melt it Add the sugar and vanilla. Stir until blended, and then add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
Grind the pecans in your food processor. (Remember to measure AFTER grinding.) Add them to the bowl
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and mix. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Then add the flour and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
Let the dough sit for a few minutes to firm up. Then form dough into walnut-sized balls and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to form into balls, chill it for a few minutes and try again.)
Flatten the balls with a fork in a crisscross pattern. (If the fork sticks, either spray it with Pom or dip it in flour.)
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until they're golden brown around the edges. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. When they're cool, prepare the frosting.
Praline Frosting
3/4 cup butter (7/6 sticks)
3!/2 cups powdered sugar (not sifted)
2 teaspoons vanilla (or l'/2 teaspoons vanilla
and '/2 teaspoon maple flavoring) l/3 cup cream
!/2 cup finely chopped pecans Approx. 6 dozen pecan halves for decoration
(optional)
Before you start, arrange the cooled cookies on racks or on sheets of waxed paper. Then heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it turns a medium shade of brown (the color of peanut butter). Remove the pan from the heat, and add the vanilla (and the maple flavoring if you use it). Blend in the powdered sugar, the cream, and the finely chopped pecans. Stir the frosting with a spoon until it's well mixed, but don't let it cool completely.
Frost the cookies and place a pecan half (optional) on top of each cookie for decoration. (It's like spread-
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ing butter; you don't have to spread it all the way out to the edges.) If your frosting hardens before you're through, scrape it into a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high in the microwave to soften it so that you can spread it again.
Let the finished cookies rest on racks or on waxed paper until the frosting has hardened (at least an hour). Then store the cookies in a cookie jar or other closed container.
Yield: Approximately 8 dozen, depending on cookie size.
Note: These cookies, unfrosted, make a delicious "tea" cookie with a light, delicate flavor. The only changes you have to make are to roll the dough balls smaller and press them down with the heel of your impeccably clean hand. Bake them for about 8 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden. Andrea says they 're EXCELLENT with hot chocolate.
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Chapter Sixteen
TT Then Hannah got back to Norman's clinic, she still had VV four minutes to wait. She took out her steno pad and jotted a note to speak to Reggie York at the first opportunity. Rhonda's gossip had almost cost him his job and that was certainly a motive for murder. Then she placed Reggie second on her list of suspects, right after Ken Purvis. Since she'd eliminated both Reverend Knudson and Gil Surma as Rhonda's possible dinner companion, Ken was left holding the bag, or rather, the boxes of osso buco.
The sliding glass door that separated the receptionist desk from the waiting room opened and Norman's smiling face appeared. "Oh, good. You're here. We'll be right out."
Hannah heard Norman giving his patient last-minute instructions, something about a soft toothbrush and a special brand of toothpaste, and then the interior door to the waiting room opened. Norman stood aside to let his patient precede him and Hannah smiled as she saw her baby sister. "Hi, Michelle. I didn't know you were here."
"Hi, Hannah. Dr. Rhodes is wonderful. Just look at what he did for me!"
Michelle smiled and Hannah gasped in shock as she saw two gemstones embedded in her sister's front teeth.
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"Isn't it wonderful?" Michelle reached up to tap her front teeth. "This one's red and this one's blue. Now I'm unique and I'm patriotic, too. It's just perfect for the Fourth of July."
Hannah struggled to make a sound, but she was so flustered, she couldn't say a word. Michelle's front teeth were ruined! She took a deep breath, called upon her vocal cords to do their thing and managed to croak out a response. "How could you, Norman?!"
Norman exchanged a glance with Michelle and they both started to laugh. Hannah got up, preparing to storm out of the clinic and banish Norman from her life forever, but Norman grabbed her arm.
"I didn't really do anything, Hannah. They're just temporary."
"What do you mean?"
"The teeth with the gemstones are attached to a retainer that fits in Michelle's mouth. Her regular teeth aren't affected at all."
"Oh," Hannah said, sinking back down in the chair. "Then they're fakes?"
"I prefer to call them a miracle of modern dentistry, but you can call them fakes. Show her, Michelle."
Hannah watched as Michelle loosened the caps and took them out of her mouth. She smiled and Hannah breathed a big sigh of relief as she saw that her sister's teeth were intact. "Thank goodness for that! I really didn't think you'd do anything permanent, Norman."
"Yes, you did. I saw that fire in your eyes. You were all ready to kick me from here to the next county, maybe even out of the state."
"Well... maybe," Hannah conceded.
"Don't worry, Hannah." Michelle slipped the retainer into a little plastic box and placed it inside her purse. "I'll tell Mother they're fake before I even take them out of the box."
"Good girl. Mother can't stand another shock. Finding Rhonda's body really took the wind out of her sails."
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"I know. She told me." Michelle turned back to Norman. "Are you sure I can't pay you? I've got some money saved."
"Keep your money. We already worked out a payment plan."
"Were they expensive?" Hannah asked. She hadn't bought Michelle's birthday present yet, and she was sure that Andrea would split the cost of the retainer with her.
"They were very expensive, but we worked out a deal." Norman winked at her. "Your sister's on my special time-payment plan. For every 'A' she gets, I deduct fifty dollars from her bill. And every 'B' is worth twenty-five. She tells me she's a good student, so I figure that by the end of her junior year she'll own her retainer free and clear."
Michelle shook her head. "It won't take me that long. I plan to get perfect grades next semester and I'll send you a copy."
"Make sure that you do. And stop by the next time you come home so I can see how they're holding up."
"I will."
"How about lunch? Hannah and I are going over to the cafe."
"Thanks, but I can't. I promised to meet some friends for lunch. 'Bye, Hannah. And thanks again, Dr. Rhodes. These teeth are going to just blow the girls away!"
"More coffee, Hannah?" Rose approached the booth with the pot in her hand. "No, thanks."
"How about that salad? Do you want me to take it away?" "Might as well. I already ate all the good stuff." Rose glanced down at the remains of Hannah's Chicken Caesar and nodded. "I can see that. The only thing left is lettuce. Don't you like romaine?"
"I like it just fine, but I've had enough lettuce to last me for a month. Maybe more than a month."
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"You must be on a diet," Rose guessed, sliding into the other side of the booth. "I noticed it when you came in with Norman. I even said to Hal, Hannah looks thinner"
"You did?" Hannah felt her spirits perk up. They'd hit rock bottom about ten minutes ago, when Norman's pager had gone off and he'd told her that he had to go back to the clinic to handle a dental emergency.
"I'm not even going to say what I have for dessert. No sense in tempting you."
"I'm already tempted. The minute I set foot in here, I started dreaming about your coconut cake."
"Then you're in luck." Rose leaned forward and grinned at her.
"No, I'm not. I can't have it."
"I know that. I was just about to say that Mayor Bascomb took the last piece back to his office. Does that make you feel better?"
"Only if I can get over to his office and mug him before he eats it."
Rose laughed and Hannah knew she was pleased. Her coconut cake was legendary, but she never got tired of hearing people rave about it.
"Mind if I sit for a minute?" Rose asked.
"Not at all," Hannah said. Rose was already sitting, so the question was moot
"Everybody loves that coconut cake. When Irma York was in this morning, she ordered two for Reggie's bachelor party."
Hannah's ears perked up at the mention of Reggie's name. "I didn't know Reggie was getting married."
"Neither did Irma until Friday night. He's been dating this girl in Hawaii. She's a reservations agent for Worldways. When Reggie found out he got promoted on Friday morning, he flew straight to Honolulu to ask her to marry him."
"That's wonderful news," Hannah said and she silently added, in more ways than one. If Reggie had flown to Hawaii on Friday, he couldn't have murdered Rhonda.
"Irma's all excited about going to Hawaii for the wed-
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ding. They're getting free tickets from Worldways since the kids are both employees." Rose glanced at her watch and slid out of the booth. "Lisa's burger should be ready by now. I told Hal to put on extra pickles and mustard, and he's throwing in an order of fries for you to share. People on diets should have more vegetables. I read that in a magazine."
"Here you go, Lisa." Hannah handed her partner the bag from the cafe and gestured toward the kitchen. "Go eat. And then find something to do for an hour. And I don't mean baking, either. You need a break."
"Are you sure?" ,
"I'm sure. You haven't had any time off in a week."
"Okay." Lisa gave her a big grin. "When I'm through with lunch, I'll run down to Kiddie Korner. All the seniors are there and they're helping Tracey's class decorate the float."
"That's nice. Have you seen it yet?"
"I saw it last night. It's going to be spectacular, Hannah. Andrea really had a great idea."
"She did?" Hannah felt her curiosity rise. "What colors are they using?"
Lisa shook her head. "I can't tell you. I've been sworn to secrecy about everything. Andrea and Janice don't want you to know anything about it until the day of the parade."
Hannah gave up. Lisa could keep a secret better than anyone she knew and it was a lost cause.
"Hi, Hannah." Andrea popped through the front door of The Cookie Jar just as Hannah had finished refilling the coffee mugs. "I've got great news. Danielle Watson is back in town. She looks absolutely wonderful, much better than she did when she was married to the coach."
"I'm really glad to hear that." Hannah knew she'd never forget how terrified Danielle had been when everyone in town thought she'd killed her husband. "Is she back for a visit?"