was. And since he appeared to be eating his senior fare without a problem, she crumpled up the tip sheet Doctor Bob had given her and tossed it in the trash. Then she pulled on her gloves and headed out the door.
An icy wind greeted Hannah as she stepped outside, and she shivered as she descended the stairs to the ground floor. It was only the middle of October, but it was time to think about resurrecting her winter parka. Once she'd gone down another flight of stairs to the underground garage, Hannah headed straight for her candy apple red Suburban, the vehicle all the Lake Eden children called the 'cookie truck,' climbed in behind the wheel, started it up, and headed up the ramp toward the exit.
Hannah drove through her condo complex, turned left on Old Lake Road, and took the scenic route to town. Its circuitous course wound around Eden Lake and although it was longer than the interstate by several miles, Hannah preferred it. There was something soothing about driving past Minnesota family farms and groves of maple trees sporting colorful fall leaves. She preferred the scent of cool water and aromatic pine to the exhaust from whatever car she happened to be following on the interstate.
As Hannah waited for the stoplight at the intersection of Old Lake Road and Dairy Avenue, she spotted a perfect telephone pole. Since there was no one behind her, she pulled over at the side of the road and retrieved one of Bill's posters from the back of her truck. It only took a moment to tack it up on the pole and Hannah grinned as she stepped back and faced the larger than life-size picture of her brother-in-law's smiling face. The poster bore the legend 'Bill Todd for Sheriff' in large block letters and Hannah had promised Andrea that she'd put up at least six posters every day.
Ten minutes later, Hannah pulled into the alley and turned in at the small white building that housed her bakery and cookie shop. Once she'd parked in her spot and gone in the back door, she washed her hands and went through the swinging restaurant-style door into the coffee shop, prepared to relieve her young partner, Lisa Herman. She found Lisa on a tall stool behind the counter, surrounded by a crowd of morning cookie buyers.
'Here she is now!' Lisa called out, looking very relieved to see Hannah. 'You can ask her yourself.'
The crowd swiveled toward Hannah and she noticed that Bertie Straub had stationed herself in front as the point man. Bertie was still wearing her bright purple smock from the Cut 'n Curl and the scowl on her face inversely mirrored the gold happy face on the bib of the smock.
'Well, it's about time!' Bertie said, glancing pointedly at her watch. 'We saw that Bill's ahead in the polls. Do you honestly think he's going to win?'
'Of course Bill's going to win!' It was her mother's voice. Hannah turned toward the doorway to see Delores standing there, resplendent in a fashionable royal blue pantsuit and sporting a 'Bill Todd for Sheriff' button on her collar. 'And if you don't vote for him, Bertie Straub, you'll have to deal with me!'
Bertie gave an audible gulp. 'I'm going to vote for him, Delores.'
'I should hope so!' Delores walked over to take Hannah's arm. 'I need to see you in the kitchen, dear.'
Moments later, Hannah's mother was settled at the workstation with a cup of coffee and two Peanut Butter Melts. Hannah sat down on an adjoining stool and waited patiently while Delores ate one cookie in dainty bites.
'Delicious!' her mother declared, wiping her hands on a napkin. 'Have you heard from Norman?'
'Not yet,' Hannah said, hoping this wasn't going to turn into a lecture about her reluctance to commit to one particular man. Hannah liked Norman Rhodes and dated him whenever the opportunity presented itself, but her mother believed that any female who wasn't married by the time she renewed her TV Guide subscription for the second time was doomed. Now that Delores had gone into the antique business with Norman's mother, Carrie, both of them were nudging for nuptials.
'Carrie says he's all tied up with the convention,' Delores went on. 'He's heading up a panel on cosmetic dentistry, you know. It's quite a coup for a practitioner of Norman's age.'
'I know, Mother. Norman told me all about it before he left for Seattle.'
'Maybe not all,' Delores looked a bit smug. 'Did he tell you that Beverly is on his panel?'
'Beverly who?' Hannah asked, even though asking wasn't really necessary since Delores was all primed to tell her.
'Doctor Beverly Thorndike.'
'Oh,' Hannah said, deciding a one-word response was wisest since she had no idea who Doctor Thorndike was.
'Carrie told me they were planning to be married, but Beverly decided she was too young to make that sort of commitment. At least she gave back the ring. But you must know all this so I won't go into it again.'
Hannah nodded, even though she knew nothing about Norman's failed engagement to Beverly Thorndike, female dentist.
'That's not the reason I came in,' Delores said, reaching into her purse to pull out a recipe card. 'I'm sorry I'm late, but here's my recipe for Hawaiian Pot Roast.'
Hannah did her best not to sigh as she reached out and took the handwritten card. Hawaiian Pot Roast was her mother's favorite recipe and Hannah had eaten enough of it to last her a lifetime.
'I was in a rush when I copied it. You can read it, can't you?'
Hannah glanced down at the recipe and nodded.
'It's not too late to get it in the Lake Eden cookbook, is it, dear?'
Hannah wavered. Saying it was too late would be a handy excuse and it was theoretically true, since the deadline Hannah had given to the other contributors had come and gone. But if she said it was too late to her mother, Delores would never let her hear the end of it. In the interest of family peace, Hannah was obliged to include it.
'It's not too late,' Hannah said, earning a smile from her mother.
'Thank you, dear. I know I should have turned it in sooner, but I've been so busy lately with Bill's campaign and the store. And now I'd better run. We're expecting a shipment of Chippewa artifacts and Jon Walker promised he'd stop by to see if he could tell if they're authentic.'
Delores gave a little wave and ducked out the back door. Granny's Attic was the next building over and she could dash across the parking lot. Hannah waited until the door had closed behind her mother and then she glanced down at the recipe. '
Lisa came into the kitchen just in time to hear Hannah's comment. 'Is that Rose's coconut cake recipe?'
'No, it's Mother's Hawaiian Pot Roast.'
'And it's that sweet?'
'Enough to make your teeth ache. Mother wrote it out for me and she wants it in the cookbook. Do you think that I should…'
'No,' Lisa interrupted, shaking her head. 'She'll never forgive you if you don't include it.'
'You're right. I'll reduce the sugar, but I can't make too many changes. If Mother doesn't recognize her own recipe, I'm going to be on her kill-now-and-bury-later list for the rest of my life.'
Chapter Two
The last of the customers had left, the front door of The Cookie Jar was locked, and Hannah and Lisa were in the kitchen, mixing up the cookie dough for the following day. Lisa tore off a strip of plastic wrap to cover a batch of Chocolate-Covered Cherry cookies and glanced up at the clock. 'Hannah?'
'Hmm?' Hannah retrieved the chocolate she'd melted for her batch of Black and Whites and added it to her mixing bowl.
'It's getting late and you've got class tonight. Why don't you go home now?'
Hannah glanced over at her petite partner and smiled. 'You're still a teenager and you're trying to mother
'I'm not trying to mother you. And I won't be a teenager much longer. I'm turning twenty next month.' Lisa drew herself up to her full five feet, two inches, but her stern effect was spoiled by the fact that one bouncing
