Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder Part 18

"I'm sure." Hannah turned at end of Max's access road and into the Cozy Cow parking lot.

"We can't just try try to call Bill first?" to call Bill first?"

"He's got his hands full," Hannah answered. She parked in the darkest corner of the lot and turned to her sister. Andrea looked a lot better and her hands weren't shaking anymore. "Relax, Andrea. Max isn't inside. He couldn't be. Betty or one of the other employees would have found him by now. All we're going to do is look for clues in his office."

"That's true." Andrea managed a shaky smile.

"Then you're coming in with me?"

"I'm certainly not going to sit in the parking lot alone, not with a killer on the loose! And it's not like we're actually breaking in or anything. You've got Max's keys."

"Right." Hannah knew that this wasn't the time to remind Andrea that they'd broken into Max's garage to get those keys. "Grab the flashlights. I don't want to turn on any lights inside. Someone might see them from the road."

Andrea reached into the back for the flashlights. "You're going to owe me a whole batch of cookies for this, Hannah. I'll take the Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights."

"Deal." Hannah grabbed her flashlight from Andrea's hand and got out of the truck. The temperature had dropped in the past hour and she s.h.i.+vered as they walked across the parking lot to the rear door. She glanced down at the keys in the glare from the security lights and blessed Max for labeling them. She selected the one marked "Rear Door," and was about to insert it in the lock when Andrea gasped.

"What?" Hannah turned to look at her sister.

"I just thought of something. What if the dairy has a security system? We could set it off."

"Are you kidding? A security system for a place this big would cost a bundle. Do you really think that Max would spend that kind of money?"

"No, maybe not." Andrea breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Go ahead, Hannah. It was just a thought, that's all."

Hannah didn't mention that she'd thought of the same thing. She'd even glanced at Max's birth date on his driver's license. If there was a keypad by the inside of the rear door, she planned to enter the numbers two, three, and forty-nine. She'd read somewhere that most people used their birth dates as a code for their security systems. If bells started to clang and sirens began to wail, they'd hightail it back to her Suburban and leave as fast as they could.

The key turned, the door opened, and Hannah stepped in. No keypad, no flas.h.i.+ng red lights, no buzzing or clanking or wailing. That was good. It would have been out of character for Max to fork out the extra money for an alarm system, but Hannah hadn't been one hundred percent sure.

"Come on, Andrea." Hannah motioned to her sister. "His office is down this hall and to the right."

Andrea stepped inside rather gingerly. "How do you know that?"

"I took the grand tour when I was in sixth grade. We came out here on a field trip and Max showed us around."

"We didn't get to go when I was in grade school." Andrea sounded a little miffed.

"I know. They stopped the tours right after my cla.s.s went through. I think it had something to do with Dale Hoeschen. He tripped over a box and almost fell into a cream vat."

Andrea grinned. She was clearly in better spirits now. "I knew there was something I didn't like about Dale."

Hannah led the way down the hall and into the main part of the dairy. It was large and cavernous, not a comfortable place to explore at night. Their flashlights were powerful, but the twin beams did nothing to dispel the looming shadows. Hannah was sure that the place would seem very ordinary if they could turn on the overhead lights, but several rows of gla.s.s-block windows peppered the face of the building and she didn't want to take the chance that someone on the highway would notice the light.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Andrea's voice sounded unnaturally loud in the stillness.

"I think so," Hannah replied. "There should be another hallway-there it is." Hannah trained the beam of her flashlight on the entrance to the second hallway. "Max's office should be the second door on the left. Betty's office is the first door."

As they entered the second hallway, Hannah noticed that Betty had posted the delivery schedules on a corkboard right outside her door. The drivers' names were listed and their routes were marked with the times of each delivery. Ron's name was still on his route. Betty must be waiting for instructions from Max before she changed the name of the driver.

Max's office was right where Hannah remembered and it was marked with a bra.s.s nameplate on the door. Hannah opened the door, stepped inside, and played the beam of her flashlight over the walls. There were no outside windows. If they closed the door behind them, they could turn on the lights.

"Come in and shut the door," Hannah called out to her sister.

Andrea stepped in quickly and shut the door. "Good. It's creepy out there."

Hannah agreed. Her knees were still shaking slightly, but she decided to make light of it for her sister's benefit. "That's only because it's so big and dark. You can turn on the lights. There's probably a switch right by the door."

"Are you sure?" Andrea sounded very nervous.

"I'm positive. I checked and there aren't any windows. No one will notice the light if we keep the door closed."

Andrea located the wall switch and a moment later, bright light flooded down from an overhead fixture. Both sisters breathed a sigh of relief as they gazed around the room. Max's office was huge and it was tastefully decorated with dark gray wall-to-wall carpeting and pale yellow gra.s.s cloth on the walls. There were several framed prints of flowers hanging in strategic positions, and the upholstered furniture, done in a striped pattern of muted coral, dark green, and gold, picked up the colors from the flower prints.

"It's a nice color combination," Andrea commented. "The only thing that doesn't match is Max's desk chair."

Hannah glanced at the old brown leather swivel chair that sat behind the modern, executive-style desk. "I guess Max was going for comfort, not style."

Two smaller chairs faced the front of the desk for visitors and there was a small round table between them. A conversational grouping was arranged at the side of the room and there were three doors: the one they'd just entered, another that Hannah a.s.sumed connected to Betty's office, and a rough-hewn antique door in the center of the back wall.

"What's that door?" Andrea pointed to the only door that didn't match the decor.

"That leads to the old dairy," Hannah told her, "the one in the picture that Max's mother painted. It's the original door and Max told us about it when we took the tour. He said the old dairy was a landmark and he decided to preserve it, even though it cost more money to incorporate it into his expansion plans. He called it his contribution to the history of this area."

Andrea laughed. "And you bought it?"

"Bought what?"

"Max didn't keep the old dairy intact out of the goodness of his heart. He got a huge tax break for preserving a historical landmark. All you have to do is connect one of the original walls to the new construction."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Hannah just shook her head. "Everyone's always said that Max is a shrewd businessman."

Andrea reached down to touch the velvety carpet. "Max must have spent some of the money he saved to buy this carpet. It's the deepest pile they make and it's just like walking on pillows. I wanted it for our bedroom, but I decided that it would be too hard to keep up. It marks every time you step on it. It's hideously expensive, too. For the price you'd think they could make something that's easier to care for."

Hannah spotted a leather-bound appointment book on the credenza near the door and she walked over to page through it. Wednesday's date was marked: TSB Convention. TSB Convention. She recognized Betty's handwriting. There was another note at the top, scrawled in what she a.s.sumed was Max's untidy hand. It said: She recognized Betty's handwriting. There was another note at the top, scrawled in what she a.s.sumed was Max's untidy hand. It said: Meet W. Meet W.

"Look, Hannah." Andrea sounded insistent. "See all the footprints on this carpet?"

Hannah looked down at the carpet and saw footprints in the deep pile. "You're a genius, Andrea. If you hadn't mentioned it, I might have trampled right over them. Follow me and keep to the sides of the room. Let's see if we can find any footprints in front of Max's desk."

Hugging the wall, Hannah moved forward until she was even with the front of Max's desk. Andrea was right behind her, and Hannah pointed to the tracks in front of one of the chairs. "There! That proves someone was in here with Max."

"And we know Max was here. See those marks from the wheels of his chair?"

"I see them," Hannah acknowledged, and then she pointed to another series of tracks. "But I'm more concerned about those."

Andrea studied the indentations in the pile of the carpet. "They're going right to that door."

"The original dairy. Max must have taken his visitor in there. We'd better check it out."

"Why would he take someone in there?"

"He told us that he used it for the storage of old records," Hannah explained. "Come on. Let's see if it's open."

With Andrea following at her heels, Hannah pushed open the door and found the light switch. She gestured toward the shelves of file boxes lining the small brick building. "I guess he's still using it for storage."

"Is that the original safe?" Andrea pointed to the old safe in the corner.

"It must be. It looks old." Hannah walked over to examine the safe door. It was standing open, but it didn't look damaged in any way. "Max must have opened it for some reason."

As Hannah searched through the contents, she kept up a running commentary so that Andrea would know what she was doing. "There's no sign of a robbery or anything like that. Here's a bundle of cash and a jewelry box." Hannah snapped open the box and looked inside. "It's a pair of gold cufflinks. They look like antiques. Maybe they belonged to Max's grandfather. And here's an antique pocket watch and a man's diamond ring. There's a Rolex, too. That must be fairly new. I don't think they made them when Max's father was alive. I didn't notice any kind of a safe in Max's house, so I guess this is where he keeps his personal valuables."

Her eyes were drawn to a few stapled papers on one of the shelves, and Hannah reached out for them. "Here's the speech that Betty typed for Max, just sitting on top of these files. Max must have picked it up from Betty's desk before he came in here."

Hannah set the speech aside and opened one of the files. There were legal papers inside and it looked like a loan agreement. Her eyes widened as she read the name. "I found the loan papers that Norman's parents signed. They're stamped 'Paid In Full' and Max initialed it. Hold on a second and let me look through some of these files. I want to see if there's anyone else we know."

"Here's one for Frank Birchum." Hannah glanced at the contents of another folder. "And his papers are stamped 'Foreclosed.' The Birchums moved away about six years ago, didn't they?"

Andrea didn't answer and Hannah frowned. "Andrea? You knew the Birchums, didn't you? They lived right next to the fire station, and Frank used to own the lumberyard before the Hedins took it over. Do you remember when they left town?"

There was no answer and Hannah turned to see what her sister was doing. Andrea was standing near the door and she seemed rooted to the spot. There was a glazed look in her eyes and she was staring off into the far corner of the room.

"Andrea?" Hannah walked over to take her sister's arm. She gave it a gentle shake, but Andrea didn't seem to notice. "You're scaring me, Andrea. Talk to me!"

But Andrea didn't say a word. She just shuddered and stared off into the far corner with an expression of horror on her face. Hannah swiveled around and looked in the direction of her sister's fixated gaze. No wonder Andrea was speechless. There was a pair of feet sticking out from behind one of the shelves of file boxes!

"Stay right here." Hannah realized how unnecessary that warning was, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. "I'll go over and check it out."

Even though Hannah expected the worst, the sight that greeted her was still a shock. It was Max, and he was on his back. There was a hole, very similar to the one she'd seen in Ron's Cozy Cow Dairy s.h.i.+rt, in the center of Max's chest. And his eyes were wide-open and staring up at nothing, just as Ron's had been.

Max was dead. Hannah didn't need a doctor to tell her that. The blood on his s.h.i.+rt had dried thoroughly, and Hannah a.s.sumed that he'd been dead for quite a while, probably since shortly after his meeting on Wednesday morning.

Hannah walked back to her sister and took her arm. There wasn't any pleasant way to tell her. "It's Max and he's dead. Let's go and find Bill."

"Bill." Andrea managed to choke out his name.

"Right. Come on, Andrea. I'll drive out to the accident scene and we'll find him. How about Tracey? Do you need to get home to her?"

Andrea shook her head. It was a jerky, almost automatic kind of motion, but Hannah was relieved. At least she was responding. "With Lucy. Overnight. At the farm."

"Good." Hannah understood what Andrea was trying to say. Lucy Dunwright was Andrea's friend, and her daughter, Karen, was Tracey's age. Tracey was spending the night with Karen at the family farm.

Hannah glanced over at the safe and made one of her snap decisions, the kind that frequently got her into trouble. This was a crime scene and all of Max's papers would be taken as evidence. Hannah knew that she shouldn't touch anything, but Norman had told them how embarra.s.sed his mother would be if anyone found out about the loan papers they'd signed with Max. Their loan had been paid off more than five years ago. The date was right on the papers. It had nothing to do with the crime and there was no reason why anyone else had to know about it.

It only took a second to grab the file and stuff it inside the front of her jacket. Hannah collected her flashlight and then she went over to take Andrea's hand. "Come on, Andrea. We're leaving now."

Andrea was in shock and the sooner they got out of here, the better. Hannah pulled her into Max's office and guided her around the perimeter of the carpet and out the door. They walked back the way they'd come, across the large open s.p.a.ce and out the back entrance. Hannah led the way to her Suburban and opened the pa.s.senger door. She tucked Andrea inside, walked around, and slid in.

"Eat another cookie, Andrea." Hannah plunked the bag on her sister's lap. "It'll help."

Andrea reached into the bag and took out a cookie. She stared at it for a second and then she took a bite. Hannah started the engine and drove out of the parking lot, turning onto the highway and heading for the interstate. Bill shouldn't be that hard to find. She could hear sirens in the distance and all she had to do was head toward the sound.

They'd driven about five miles when Andrea made a strange chortling sound. Hannah turned to stare at her and reached out to pat her arm. "Just take it easy, Andrea. I can see flas.h.i.+ng lights up ahead. We'll be there in a minute."

Andrea nodded, and then she made the sound again. Hannah realized that it was a chuckle, and as she listened, it turned into a fairly normal-sounding giggle. "What is it, Andrea? You're not getting hysterical on me, are you?"

"No." Andrea giggled again. "I really do feel much better. I hate to say it, but maybe you're right. It could be the chocolate."

"Chocolate helps." Hannah stated her theory again, about how the caffeine and the endorphins in chocolate calmed nerves, heightened awareness, and provided a sense of well-being. And then her thoughts turned to Bill and how furious he'd be when she told him that they'd broken into Max's house, searched the dairy, and found Max's body.

"Andrea?" Hannah turned to her sister. "I think I need a dose of my own medicine. Hand me one of those cookies."

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights Preheat oven to 350 F, rack in the middle position.

1 cup melted b.u.t.ter (2 sticks) (2 sticks)2 cups white sugar2 eggs teaspoon baking powder teaspoon baking soda teaspoon salt2 teaspoons vanilla1 cup cocoa powder3 cups flour (not sifted) (not sifted)2 small, 10-oz. jars of maraschino cherries *** ***1 pkg. chocolate chips (6 oz. pkg.-2 cups) (6 oz. pkg.-2 cups) cup condensed sweetened milkMelt b.u.t.ter and mix in sugar. Let mixture cool and add eggs. Mix it thoroughly and then add baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and cocoa, stirring after each addition. Add flour and mix well. (Dough will be stiff and a bit crumbly.) (Dough will be stiff and a bit crumbly.)Drain cherries and remove stems, reserving juice.Pat dough into walnut-sized b.a.l.l.s with your fingers. Place on greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press down in center with thumb to make a deep indentation. (If the health board's around, use the bowl of a small spoon!) (If the health board's around, use the bowl of a small spoon!) Place one cherry in each indentation. Place one cherry in each indentation.In a saucepan over simmering water (double boiler) (double boiler) combine the chocolate chips and the condensed milk. Heat on low until the chips are melted. combine the chocolate chips and the condensed milk. Heat on low until the chips are melted. (You can also do this in the microwave, but you'll have to keep zapping it to keep it from hardening.) (You can also do this in the microwave, but you'll have to keep zapping it to keep it from hardening.)Add approx. 1/8 cup of the reserved cherry juice and stir to a thick sauce. If sauce is too thick, add more juice in small increments. (Test it with a teaspoon. If it doesn't glob off, it's too thick.) (Test it with a teaspoon. If it doesn't glob off, it's too thick.)Spoon the sauce over the center of each cookie just enough to cover each cherry. Make sure it doesn't drip down the sides.Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to rack to finish cooling.Yield: 7 to 8 dozen, depending on cookie size.A plate of these should be in every psychiatrist's office-two Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights will lift anyone out of a depression.

Chapter Twenty.

Hannah poured two gla.s.ses of chilled wine from the green jug in the bottom of her refrigerator and carried them into the living room. Her sister was seated on the couch, still looking rattled, but the color had come back to her cheeks. Moishe was nestled in her arms, and Hannah could hear him purring as Andrea absently stroked his head. Her resident feline was uncanny. He seemed to sense that Andrea was in need of comfort and he was doing his best imitation of a lap cat. Hannah handed one of the gla.s.ses to Andrea and said, "Here. Drink this."

"What is it?" Andrea eyed the stemmed gla.s.s suspiciously.

"White wine. Don't ask about the label. I'm sure you've never heard of it."

Andrea reached for the gla.s.s and expertly sloshed the liquid in a tight circle. "Nice liquor line." Then she took a small sip. "Light and somewhat fruity with an undertone of oak. It's not a true Chardonnay, but it's very interesting. I like it."

Hannah just smiled and kept her comments to herself. If Andrea knew that the wine had come from the Lake Eden CostMart, and a gallon barely put a dent in a ten dollar bill, she'd decide that it was pure vinegar.

"I think it's domestic." Andrea took another sip. "Am I right?"

Hannah decided it was time to switch to another subject. "You were incredible with Bill. I still can't believe that he isn't mad at me."

"Bill can't stand it when I cry." Andrea gave a smug smile. "He just falls apart when my lip starts to quiver."

"And you can quiver on command?"

"Of course." Andrea's smile grew wider. "I learned how to quiver right after Mother bought me my first bra. It always works with the guys."

"You're amazing," Hannah said with real admiration. Because of her practice at dealing with doting men, Andrea had managed to avoid the lecture that they'd both deserved.

Hannah had done her best to explain things to Bill. She'd told him that they were so worried about Max, they'd simply had to check on him. And then, when they'd found Max's Cadillac half-packed for his trip to the Tri-State b.u.t.termakers' Convention, they'd had no choice but to use his key to search his office at the dairy, the last place that anyone had seen him.