Free Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke Page A

And they sound really delicious.”
    “Then you’ll bake both kinds for my party?”
    “Of course we will. I think they’ll go very well with champagne, and I’ll bake a test batch so you can taste them.”
    “Wonderful!” Delores looked pleased. “I have thirty-seven acceptances so far, and I just know more will come in next week. I think you’d better plan for a hundred. If any cookies are left over, you can serve them here at The Cookie Jar.”
    “I don’t think there’ll be many left. If these taste as scrumptious as I think they’ll be, we’d better make double.”
    Delores began to get up from her stool. “I’d better get back …”
    “Just a minute, Mother,” Hannah interrupted before Delores could rise to her feet. “I really need your help.”
    “Of course.” Delores settled back down again. “What is it, dear?”
    “It’s about Bob and Claire’s party after church on Sunday. Grandma Knudson wants me to make some kind of tropical cookie since they’re sailing to Hawaii, and I’m thinking about a cookie with coconut and chocolate chips.”
    “Chocolate chips aren’t really tropical, dear.”
    “I know that, but chocolate goes so well with coconut.”
    “That’s true.” Delores thought about it for a moment. “Why don’t you make half of your coconut cookies with chocolate and the other half with candied papaya. You could chop it up and mix it in like you did the time you ran out of raisins and you wanted to make Oatmeal Raisin Crisps.”
    “Good idea, Mother! I’d forgotten all about those cookies.”
    “Well, they were excellent. You really ought to make them again.”
    “I will. Any other suggestions for the bon voyage party?”
    “Yes. I think you should put a macadamia nut on top of each cookie. That’s so Hawaiian. And you could serve them on your father’s surfboard. The top is almost flat like a big plate.”
    “Dad had a surfboard?” Hannah was amazed. She just couldn’t imagine the father she’d always thought of as non-athletic on a surfboard.
    “It’s just decorative, dear, one of those touristy mementos they sell in the shops at the airport. As I remember, it had palm trees and waves painted all over it. Your father hung it on the wall in the living room for a couple of years after we were first married.”
    “And you still have it?”
    “Yes. It’s up in the attic where it’s been ever since your father decided to take it off the wall. You can go up there and get it if you want it.”
    Hannah made up her mind almost instantly. “I want it. It’ll make a perfect cookie platter, and I can sanitize it by covering it with plastic wrap. How about you, Mother? Didn’t you bring any souvenirs home from Hawaii?”
    “Yes, but they didn’t last long. They sold macadamia nuts at the airport, and I just loved the chocolate-covered ones. That was before anyone had them here, and I brought back six boxes. And that gives me another idea. Why don’t you call Florence and see if she can order some? You could use plain macadamia nuts on the papaya cookies and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts on the others.”
    “That’s perfect! For someone who doesn’t bake, you have great ideas.”
    “Thank you, dear. I’m glad I could be of some help.” Delores rose to her feet, and this time Hannah didn’t stop her. “I’ll see you on Saturday, dear. If you’d like to stay for dinner, I can make Hawaiian Pot Roast or E-Z Lasagna.”
    Hannah’s stomach roiled at the thought of eating her mother’s E-Z Lasagna or Hawaiian Pot Roast. It wasn’t that they were bad. It was just that they were the only two entrees Delores ever made. Every week, when she went to her mother’s house for their mother-daughter dinner, she had one or the other. There was no way she could face either one again on the weekend.
    “Hannah?”
    Her mother was waiting for an answer and Hannah put on her most regretful expression. “I’m sorry, Mother, but I have plans for Saturday