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"You're right," Andrea agreed. "Jed's the one who's giving Freddy ideas. And now that Freddy's mother is dead, there's no one to really look out for him. I don't think Mrs. Sawyer approved of Jed. He never came around when she was alive."
"I'll try to talk to Freddy tomorrow," Norman promised, setting his laptop in its carrying case and zipping it up. "Jed has a lot of influence with him, but that's because we let him. We're all too busy with our own lives and we don't take enough time to really get involved."
After Norman had said his good-byes to Andrea and Michelle, Hannah walked him to the door. She followed him out on the landing, closed the door behind them, and gave him a big hug. "You're a good man, Norman."
"Thanks, but I didn't do that much. Looking up things on-line is simple."
"Not that. I was talking about Freddy. It's really good of you to offer to get involved."
"But you're involved. You always take time to talk to Freddy, even when you're busy. There's no reason why I can't find the time to help him, too."
"That's what I mean. You're a good man." Hannah hugged him again.
Norman's arms tightened around her and he started to grin. "Is this your idea of a reward for good behavior?"
"Maybe. What's wrong with that?"
"Absolutely nothing. I just think I need a little bigger reward." Norman tipped her face up and kissed her.
It was a sweet kiss and Hannah didn't want it to end. It felt good to be this close to Norman. It was comforting, and warm, and nice, and exciting, too. And while her bones didn't melt and her legs didn't tremble in the same way they did when Mike kissed her, she didn't have that little doubt in the back of her mind about how many other women he'd kissed in exactly this way.
"Good night, Norman," Hannah said, when their kiss had ended. "Thank you."
"For the kiss?"
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"Yes. And for being you."
Norman smiled and started down the stairs, but he stopped halfway and turned to look back at her. "I'm glad I'm me, especially tonight. I really don't like the idea of you kissing somebody that's not me."
Mystery Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees E, with rack in middle position.
!/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
3 1/2 cups white sugar
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)
1 can condensed tomato soup (the regular plain
kind, not "Cream Of Tomato " or "Tomato with Basil" or anything else fancy—/ use Campbell's)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg (if you grind your own, use
1 teaspoon instead of 2) 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons salt
2 cups raisins (either golden or regular) 2 cups chopped walnuts (measure after you
chop them) 4l/2 cups flour (no need to sift)
Microwave the butter in your mixing bowl to melt it. Add the sugar, let it cool a bit, and mix in the beaten eggs. Open a can of condensed tomato soup, add that
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to your mixing bowl, and then mix it all up. Stir in the
cinnamon, nutmeg ,baking soda, and sa\t. Then add the
raisins and the walnuts, and stir. Measure the flour and add it in one-cup increments, mixing after each addition.
Let the dough sit for ten minutes or so. Drop the dough by teaspoons onto a greased or Pammed cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to scoop, you can chill it for a few minutes, or dip your teaspoon into a glass of cold water.)
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown on top. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two (no longer or they 'II stick), and then transfer them to a wire rack for complete cooling.
A batch of Mystery Cookies yields about 10 dozen. (I know that's a lot, but they'll be gone before you know it.) They're soft and chewy and a real favorite. (And if you don't tell the kids that they're getting a helping of tomatoes with their cookies, I guarantee they 'II never guess.)
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Chapter Twenty-One
66Tt's eleven-thirty. Aren't you tired?" Hannah asked her
Asisters when she came back into her living room.
"Not me." Michelle shook her head.
"How about you, Andrea?" Hannah turned to her. "You're the one who's sleeping for two."
Andrea laughed. "That's eating for two. There's no such thing as sleeping for two. The baby sleeps whenever he wants to. It doesn't matter whether I'm awake or not."
"Are you sure you're not tired?"
"You sound like Bill. Really, Hannah. I'm not a bit tired."
Michelle looked confused. "But I thought pregnancy was so tiring."
"It is, in the last couple of months. But that's when you're carrying around all that extra weight. I've only gained five pounds so far. My feet get tired if I stand all day, but that's the only part of me that does. I actually have more energy now than I did before I got pregnant."
"I'm a real lightweight when it comes to pulling all-nighters, like when I have to study for a test. Maybe I should get pregnant and then I'd have more energy." Michelle noticed the shocked expression on her sisters' faces and she
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giggled. "Just kidding. I want to wait to get pregnant until I'm as old as Hannah."
Hannah groaned. She wasn't sure if that was an insult, but it sure felt like it.
"That's a bad idea. Don't wait that long," Andrea advised.
Hannah groaned again. This time she was sure it was an insult. "Forget about my biological clock. Mother's already got that covered. If we're going to stay up and talk, I'll make us some hot chocolate. Andrea? You can bring Michelle up to speed on everything we learned about the robbery case."
It took a while to make the hot chocolate, because Hannah made it the old-fashioned way with cocoa, milk, and sugar. Once she'd poured it into two mugs and refilled her own mug with no-calorie coffee, she carried them back out to the living room. She caught the tail end of the conversation when she entered the room.
"... like him a lot, but there's someone at school I'm dating." Michelle turned to smile as Hannah set down her mug of hot chocolate and went on. "It's not exclusive, but we're really good friends, if you know what I mean."
"How good?" Andrea asked, taking her mug from Hannah.
Hannah winced as she took her place on the sofa. She'd apparently missed a conversation about Michelle's boyfriends and it sounded as if Andrea was grilling their baby sister.
"Not that good." Michelle looked a bit exasperated. "I'm not sleeping with him, if that's what you're asking."
"Tell me about him. Is he a student?"
"Yes. He's twenty-four, he's going for his M.B.A., and his name is Raj."
It was time for her to step in and Hannah did it with a rush. She wasn't sure how Andrea felt about inter-cultural dating. "Will you ask Raj if his mother has a good recipe for curry? I know most families from India have their own blend of spices and I don't really like the bottled curry powder you can buy in the stores."
Michelle laughed. "Raj's family isn't from India. His full name is Roger Allen Jensen. 'Raj' is just a nickname they got from his initials."
"Oh," Hannah said, feeling slightly foolish. Since she didn't enjoy that feeling, it was time to change the subject and fast. "I still can't believe that Freddy mooned people on the road, and I'm really disturbed about Jed. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that he knows something about the stolen money and he somehow got his hands on it."
"Do you think so?" Michelle asked, looking relieved that the boyfriend discussion was over.
"It makes some kind of sense, especially if you got that ten-dollar bill at the drugstore. Freddy showed me his new sports watch today and I know the drugstore carries watches like that. Freddy told me it cost less than ten dollars and Jed gave him the money to buy it."
"But a lot of people shop at the drugstore," Andrea pointed out
"Wait. There's more. Jed told me he used to work on a maintenance crew at Stillwater Prison. He said he got some back pay, some sort of retroactive raise, but I don't believe it."
"Do you think Jed was a prisoner?" Andrea asked.
"No. Mike checked it out and he wasn't. But he could have met the bank robbers while he was working there and they could have told him where they stashed the money."
Andrea shrugged. "I guess it's not impossible."
"I hope Hannah's right," Michelle said. "Is it illegal to spend stolen money when you're not the one who stole it?"
"I think so, if you know it's stolen." Hannah looked at Andrea. "Do you know?"
"It's got to be. But even if Jed claims he didn't know the money was stolen, it still might be enough to separate him from Freddy, at least for a while."
"That would be good," Michelle said with a sigh. "Lonnie and I tried to explain things to Freddy when we took him
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home, but I don't think we did any good. Freddy still doesn't realize that Jed was the one who got him into trouble in the first place."
Hannah sighed. "That figures. Freddy's always been very loyal and trusting. It'll take a lot to convince him that Jed isn't a good guy. He's honest, though. If he finds out that Jed's been spending stolen money, that might be enough to change his opinion."
"That's a good place to start" Andrea motioned to Hannah. "Hand me my purse, Hannah. My cell phone has free long distance. I'll call Stillwater and see if the two bank robbers are there."
"Now?" Hannah stopped in the act of reaching for Andrea's purse. "But the prison offices will be closed."
"I know and that's just perfect. Whoever answers the phone might not know the rules and they'll give me the information I need."
"But won't they just tell you to call back when the office opens up in the morning?"
Andrea shook her head. "They might tell somebody else that, but not me. I've got a perfect reason for calling right now and they're going to fall over backwards getting me what I need. Now will you please hand me my purse?"
Hannah gave Andrea her purse, watched as her sister took out her cell phone, listened as she got the right number from directory assistance, and came very close to crossing her fingers as Andrea began to speak to someone at the prison. If Andrea could verify that the bank robbers were in Stillwater Prison, they'd be one step closer to proving that Jed was trafficking in stolen money.
"I'm really sorry to call so late, but I'm trying to balance my mother's checkbook and I noticed she sent a check to a man by the name of Loren Urlanski." Andrea paused and winked at them. "That's right. Urlanski. He's supposedly an inmate at Stillwater and my mother made a contribution to his appeal fund. Since it's a fairly large check, I wanted to make sure that Mr. Urlanski is really an inmate." Andrea
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paused again and then she smiled. "Of course. I'll be happy to hold while you check."
"You did it!" Michelle whispered, gazing at Andrea in awe.
Andrea shook her head. "Not quite yet. But he said he'd check the computer."
Hannah just shook her head. Andrea could lie like a trooper when the occasion warranted.
"Yes, I'm here," Andrea said, speaking into the phone again. "He's not? Are you sure?" She paused to make a note in her book and then she continued. "How about David Aspen? My mother also contributed to his appeal fund. Could you check that name for me?"
Hannah grabbed Andrea's pen as she waited and scribbled a note to her sister. It said, Transferred? Dead? Paroled? Andrea glanced at it and turned back to the phone. "He's not, either? That's exactly what I was afraid of. How about if they were transferred? Or if they died? Or if they're out on parole? Is there any way your computer can tell that?"
Hannah held her breath as she waited for the answer. If neither bank robber had been an inmate at Stillwater, their theory was a washout.
"I see. Well, thank you so much for checking. I really appreciate it. I'll turn these canceled checks over to the proper authorities in the morning. Obviously somebody is running one of those scams that targets the elderly."
Hannah waited until Andrea hung up and then she started to laugh. "The elderly? If Mother had heard that, you wouldn't have a chance to get elderly."
"You're right. She'd kill me." Andrea grinned from ear to ear. "But she's never going to find out about it... right?"
"Right," Michelle said.
"Absolutely," Hannah agreed. "Thanks for checking on it, Andrea. You were incredible."
"Anytime. What do you want me to do next?"
"I don't know." Hannah sighed deeply. "My theory about Jed is blown. If the two bank robbers were never at Still-
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water, Jed couldn't have met them there. It's a shame. I really wanted him to be the one who was passing that stolen money."
"Me, too," Michelle said. "He's a jerk."
"I know, but I guess not every jerk is a criminal." Hannah picked up her notebook and paged through it "We're spinning our wheels with this bank robbery thing, especially when we can't prove it has anything to do with Jed or with Rhonda's murder. Maybe we'd better tell Bill and Mike what we know and drop it."
When her alarm went off the next morning, Hannah had to squelch the urge to throw it across the room. The only thing that stopped her was that she didn't have the energy to lift her hand. It had been almost one in the morning by the time Bill had come to collect Andrea and close to one-thirty by the time she'd gotten Michelle settled in the guest room. It would be a two-pots-of-coffee morning before she was alert enough to drive to work.
"That new pillow had better come in soon," Hannah grumbled, rubbing her neck as she crawled out of bed. She'd ended up with the foam pillow again because she'd been too tired to dislodge Moishe from hers.
After a quick shower that eased some of the pain in her neck, Hannah dressed in cotton pants and a short-sleeved top. She slipped her feet into a pair of moccasins and padded to the kitchen with Moishe, who was following on the trail of his breakfast. Once she'd filled his food bowl and given him fresh water, Hannah poured her first cup of coffee, grabbed her master file of recipes, and sat down at the table to page through it while she woke up. Today was the day before the Fourth, and she still hadn't decided what type of dessert to bring to the potluck picnic and barbecue.
Long minutes passed while Hannah paged and sipped. When the hands of her apple-shaped kitchen clock approached five o'clock, the tune she'd decided to leave for work, she was no closer to deciding which dessert to bring than she'd