came down with a big bruise on the side of his head. He told everyone that he hit it on the side of a door, but I knew better.'
'How about Connie Mac? Did she have bruises that morning?'
'You mean. . . from Paul?'
'Yes. I wouldn't blame him if he fought back.'
'I wouldn't either, but he never did. And that wasn't the first time I heard them fight. She'd scream and throw things and he'd just try to calm her down. Paul's really nice, Hannah. I know he's never raised a hand to her.'
'Let's get back to last night. Connie Mac was throwing things at you and you didn't just peg something back at her as you went out the door?'
Janie shook her head. 'No. All I could think about was getting out of there. She wanted to fight and I just wanted to get away from her.'
'Then Connie Mac was still alive when you left?' Janie blinked and then she leaned forward to peer at Hannah intently. 'Still alive? You mean she's.. . dead?'
'As a doornail,' Hannah said, wishing she hadn't told Janie quite so abruptly. 'What time did you leave The Cookie Jar?'
'I don't know. But I was back out at the inn by ten-fifteen. I looked at my alarm clock right before I stuck it in my suitcase.'
Hannah did a little mental arithmetic. Janie must have left The Cookie Jar around nine forty-five. 'Did you lock the back door when you ran out?'
'No, I just slammed it behind me. She was getting ready to throw your rolling pin and I didn't want to get hit with that.'
'I don't blame you. That's a heavy rolling pin. Did you see anyone else around when you drove away?'
'No, but I was pretty upset. If someone was there, I might not have noticed. What happened to her, Hannah? Did she have a stroke or something?'
'Something,' Hannah said, realizing that she had come to the point of no return. Janie had a right to know what had happened to her ex-boss, especially since she was a prime suspect. 'She was murdered, Janie. Somebody bashed her head in.'
Janie gasped sharply. Then she shivered and took a couple of deep breaths. 'Tell me the truth, Hannah. Do they. . . do they think that I killed her?'
'It didn't look good when they couldn't find you. They need to talk to you, Janie.'
'Of course. Will they put me in jail?'
'Over my dead body,' Hannah said, and that comment earned her a small grin. 'I'll take you out to the sheriff's station and we can get your car later. Just tell them everything Connie Mac did and what you did, and everything will be all right.'
'I'll right. I'm scared, but I know I have to do it.'
'Good girl. They might say you have to stay in Lake Eden until they solve the case. If they do, you can bunk in with me. I've got a guest room at my condo.'
'Thanks, Hannah. But are you sure? I mean, I don't want to go back to the inn, but what if I tell them everything and I'm still a suspect? You don't want to. . . to share your place with a murder suspect, do you?'
'Why not? Another one's coming over tonight. It's Norman Rhodes, and you can compare notes.' The words popped out before Hannah could think about them and she sighed contritely. 'I'm sorry, Janie. I shouldn't have said that.'
'I'm glad you did,' Janie said, and she ventured another smile. 'I guess it can't be too bad if you're making jokes about it. On the other hand, you'd joke on your way to the guillotine.'
'True. But just remember that you're only staying in my guest room. I'm actually dating the other prime murder suspect.'
LITTLE SNOWBALLS
Preheat over to 350'F, with rack in the middle position
1 ' cups melted butter (3 sticks, ' pound) ' cup powdered sugar (that's confectioner's sugar) 1 ' teaspoons vanilla ' teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground is best) ' teaspoon salt 3 ' cups flour ( no need to sift) 1 cup finely chopped nuts ***
Melt the butter. Mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Stir in the nuts. (If you work quickly, while the butter is still warm, the dough will be softer and easier to mix.)
Form the dough in to one-inch balls (just pat them into shape with your fingers), and place them on an UNGREASED baking sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Bake them at 350'F for 10 minutes, until they are set but not brown.
Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes and then roll them in powdered sugar. (You must do this while they're still warm.) Place them on a wire rack and let them cool thoroughly.
When the cookies are cool, roll them in powdered sugar a second time. Let them rest for several minutes on the rack, and then store them in a cookie jar or a covered bowl.
*** Mother likes these with chopped walnuts. Andrea prefers pecans. I think they're best with hazelnuts. Tracey adores these when I substitute a cup of flaked coconut for the nuts and form the dough balls around a small piece of a milk chocolate bar or a couple of milk chocolate chips.
-16- Hannah glanced at her watch as she pulled into the parking lot at the community center. Only an hour had passed since she'd driven Janie out to the sheriff's station and let Mike and Bill know, in no uncertain terms, that they'd better treat her with kid gloves. Once she'd made sure that Janie was all right, she'd driven into town and stopped at all the winter sports venues to drop off the cookies that Lisa and Alex had baked. Now the only thing she had left to do was to present Edna with the little snowballs for tonight's dessert.
The sky was leaden gray as Hannah walked across the parking lot and entered the lobby of the community center. The table where Connie Mac had planned to sign her books was deserted, and Hannah wondered what Marge Beeseman would do with two hundred copies of Sweets For Your Sweetie. A few people would buy them simply to support the library, but the huge crowd that Marge had expected wouldn't show up without a celebrity to sign them.
Hannah sighed as she trudged down the stairs to the banquet room, carrying her heavy box of cookies. She had to hold it to the side so that she could see the stairs. If she tripped and fell, Edna's dessert would go rolling down the green carpet like miniature cue balls on a pool table.
'Edna?' she called out as she entered the banquet room. She could tell that Edna had been busy, because all the tables were set and there was the tempting aroma of freshly baked bread in the air. 'I'm here with the dessert.'
Edna rushed out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. Even though she was smiling, she looked tired and out of sorts, and Hannah suspected that baking all those crescent rolls had robbed her of a good night's sleep.
'You baked the cake?' Edna asked, motioning for Han- nah to set the box down on an empty table.
'No, but I've got something just as good.' Hannah opened the box and lifted out one of the crystal buckets filled with cookies. 'These are called Little Snowballs and they're my Grandma Ingrid's recipe.'
Edna's smile grew wider and she nodded so hard, her tightly curled gray hair bounced. 'They're just perfect, Hannah. We can set one on each table and let everyone help themselves.'
'You look tired,' Hannah commented, noticing the dark circles under Edna's eyes. 'Are you going to be all right?'
' 'Course I am, now that you're here. Baking all those rolls was a lot of work, and I don't know how I would've managed dessert. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but if I'd known that that woman would wind up dead, I never would have made all those changes to the menu.'
Hannah grinned. 'I take it you're not too upset about the Cooking Sweetheart's demise?'
'Some sweetheart!' Edna snorted. 'Just look at these things her people delivered for the banquet.'
Hannah glanced over at one of the tables and took in the array of bone china, lace tablecloths, and silver. 'It's pretty.'
'Pretty useless, if you ask me. We can't afford to have those lace tablecloths dry-cleaned, and if you try to wash 'em, they'll fall apart. The silver's got to be polished every time you use it, and that china can't go in the dishwasher. And if that's not enough, just look at these!'
