Wedding Cake Murder (38 page)

“You’ve convinced me!” Hannah said, giving Ross a little hug. “You did a super job following up on everything and I really appreciate it. I’ll take Helene Stone off my suspect list. And thanks to you, I can now narrow the time of death by a half hour since Dick said there was no one in the kitchen and no one in the walk-in cooler when he got the hors d’oeuvres.”

“One other thing,” Ross said, “I remembered what you said about the bottle of red wine and the glasses on the kitchen counter when you went in the next morning. I asked Dick if he noticed them on the counter, and he said no, he doesn’t usually go in the kitchen when no one’s there, and he had to look around for a plate. He found a clean one on the kitchen counter and he’s sure he would have noticed if there’d been an open bottle of wine and glasses.”

“Interesting,” Hannah said. “It took some time to open the bottle and pour two glasses.”

“And Chef Duquesne’s glass was half empty,” Michelle pointed out. “That means he’d taken time to drink half a glass of wine.”

“To
sip
half a glass of wine,” Hannah corrected her. “I don’t think Chef Duquesne would have tossed back a half a glass of red wine. It’s just not in character for him.”

“You’re right,” Ross said. “And that means we can tentatively shorten the time of death by another fifteen or twenty minutes.”

“Right,” Hannah agreed. “And Dick said he didn’t meet anyone coming down from the second floor or anyone walking in the halls. That could add another five or ten minutes. Thanks to you, Ross, we can shorten Doc’s time of death by a whole hour. And that means Chef Duquesne was killed between one and three in the morning.”

Hannah smiled in her sleep. She was on a lovely beach with Ross and it was their honeymoon. The sun was warm, the gentle sea breeze caressed her skin, and she knew she’d never been this happy before in her life. She was with the man she loved. Her husband. And everything was so perfect, she had trouble believing that it was real.

They were relaxing together in a tropical paradise. Jamaica, Aruba, she wasn’t sure exactly where, but it was delightful and she intended to enjoy every moment with her new husband. She was so happy and so relaxed that her eyes had fluttered closed, and now both of them were napping on the sparkling white sand of the beach.

The sun was so warm. The breeze held a hint of moisture from the azure-blue sea. She sighed as she breathed in the unique and wonderful scent of the tropics. Cinnamon, rich and pungent. Nutmeg that added depth to the mixture. A hint of cardamom, a smidgen of allspice, perhaps even a trace of ginger to carry her away in her tropical dream.

The fruits on the breeze were redolent with a ripe and mouthwatering scent. So wonderful. So unusual. There were some she could not identify, a mystery of the island. But there was one scent in particular that was marvelously aromatic, tauntingly addictive, and both irresistible and awe-inspiring. It was a scent that made her want to jump up and search it out so that she could taste it.

Did her love smell it? Hannah reached out to touch his hand. It was warm, loving, and . . . furry!

“Moishe!” she exclaimed, opening her eyes to find him snuggled into the pillow beside her.

“Rrrowww!” Moishe yowled and jumped down to the floor. He raced across the bedroom rug and launched himself up to the top of her dresser where he stared at her accusingly.

“Sorry,” Hannah apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was dreaming about Ross and a tropical island, and he had fur on his hand.”

Moishe was still staring. Obviously, her explanation hadn’t registered with him. “I
said
I was sorry.”

As she watched, Moishe gave the kitty equivalent of a shrug. He stared at her for a moment, and then he settled himself between the lamp and her hairbrush, and began to take his morning bath.

Hannah felt better, now that Moishe was purring. She gave a little sigh of relief and went on with her explanation. “You see, Ross and I were on a tropical beach and we fell asleep. I was smelling the most marvelous aroma and . . .” She aborted her explanation in mid-thought and sniffed the air again. The scent was still there!

“Michelle’s baking,” she stated the obvious to her feline roommate. “And it smells incredibly wonderful. Let’s go find out what it is.”

Hannah reached for her slippers at the same time that Moishe jumped down from the dresser. She pulled on her slippers, he padded over to watch her put on her comfortable old robe, the one she’d found at the Helping Hands thrift store, and cat and cat-lover walked down the hallway and through the living room to the kitchen.

“What is it?” Hannah asked, almost causing Michelle, who was standing by the oven, to drop the pan she’d just taken from the interior.

“Blue Banana Muffins,” Michelle told her, placing the muffin pan on the wire rack sitting on the counter. “I’m trying an experiment.”

“Blue Bananas?”

“That’s just the name I made up for them. It’s like your Blue Apple Muffins. Bananas and blueberries with a streusel topping.”

“It smells successful to me,” Hannah said, taking a seat at her kitchen table. “The scent woke me up from a really great dream. I was napping on a beach on a tropical island with Ross on our honeymoon. The scent of your muffins is probably why I dreamed it in the first place.”

“That sounds like a great dream. I’m sorry my muffins woke you up.”

“That’s okay. Who knows what could have come next? Hurricane, shark attack, whatever. I can hardly wait to taste one. They smell fantastic. Of course I’m a little too sleepy to judge anything right now.”

“Here you go.” Michelle poured a cup of coffee and set it down in front of Hannah.

Hannah took a sip of the strong, hot brew and smiled. “You’re a lifesaver, Michelle.”

“That’s good, just as long as I don’t have to save you from that hurricane or that shark.”

Michelle poured a cup of coffee for herself and took the chair across from Hannah. The two sisters sat in companionable silence for several minutes, sipping their coffee.

“You said your muffins were an experiment?” Hannah asked when she was capable of rational thought.

“Yes. I’m trying to use frozen bananas.”

“Do you mean the chocolate-covered ones?”

“No. Just frozen bananas.”

“Where do you buy frozen bananas?”

“You don’t. You freeze them yourself. Suzi does it all the time.”

It was too early to figure that out. Hannah got up, fetched the carafe of coffee, and brought it over to the table. She poured herself a second cup, took a sip, and turned to her youngest sister again. “Who’s Suzi?”

“Jessie’s mother. Jessie’s one of my housemates at college and her mother lives in Phoenix. Jessie says Suzi’s been freezing bananas for years.”

“Overripe bananas?” Hannah asked, remembering an article she’d read.

“No. That’s the beauty of it. Suzi buys bananas when they’re on sale and she buys a lot of them. She chooses only bananas that are perfectly ripe. Then she peels them, puts them in freezer bags, and freezes them for up to six months. Maybe longer, but Suzi’s never last that long!”

“Interesting.” Hannah breathed in the scent again. “Are your muffins cool enough to eat?”

“Maybe not, but I’m willing to try one if you are.”

“I’m willing. They smell really good!”

“They are. Jessie brought some from home the last time she went to visit her mother. They don’t taste like regular banana muffins.”

Hannah’s mouth was watering as Michelle got up and returned with a muffin for each of them. “I think they’re a lot better than any banana muffins I’ve ever tasted. Let’s see what you think.”

Hannah removed the cupcake paper and split the muffin in half. She picked up one half, juggled it a bit from hand to hand, and then she took a bite. “Yummy!” she said after she’d swallowed. “They don’t have that perfume-like smell that always reminds me of fruit gone bad.”

“I know. That’s what I’ve always noticed about banana bread and I tried to make it once with bananas that weren’t overripe. That’s when I discovered that you can’t do it. The bananas won’t mush up unless the peel has a lot of black spots.”

“I know,” Hannah said, taking another bite of her muffin. “I even tried to do it with a food processor, but the bananas wouldn’t liquefy the way they’re supposed to for banana bread or muffins.”

“Well, these do. I think it’s because they’re peeled and then they’re frozen. All you have to do is thaw them and they liquefy. And the taste is different.”

“It certainly is!” Hannah was thoughtful as she took another bite. “Perfectly ripe frozen bananas would work for everything from muffins, to banana bread, to banana pudding.”

“So you like these muffins?” Michelle asked.

“I love them! I like them so much that if there was a muffin challenge, we’d make them for the judges!”

BLUE BANANA MUFFINS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Before you begin: take 2 medium-sized frozen bananas out of the freezer.
(See the instructions at the bottom of recipe for freezing bananas.)
Remove them from the bag and put them in a bowl on the counter to thaw.

The Muffin Batter:

¾ cup melted butter
(1 and ½ sticks, 6 ounces)

1 cup white
(granulated)
sugar

2 beaten eggs
(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg
(freshly grated is best)

½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
(no need to thaw if they’re frozen)

2 cups plus one Tablespoon all-purpose flour
(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

½ cup milk

1 cup thawed frozen banana

The Crumb Topping:

½ cup white
(granulated)
sugar

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

¼ cup softened butter
(½ stick, 2 ounces)

Grease the
bottoms only
of a 12-cup muffin pan
(or line the cups with double cupcake papers—that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar.)

Mix the melted butter with the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until they’re thoroughly combined.

Add the eggs and beat on low until they’re incorporated.

Sprinkle in the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat them in at LOW speed.

Put one Tablespoon of flour in a baggie with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries and leave them in the bag for now.

Add half of the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour and the milk, and mix thoroughly.