Apple Turnover Murder

TOO EASY HOTDISH

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 and ? pounds lean ground meat

(you can use hamburger, pork, chicken, turkey, lean sausage, or venison—any ground meat will do—or you can use any leftover meat cut up in bite-size pieces)

2 cans

(12-ounce)

condensed cream of almost anything soup

(I usually use cream of celery, or mushroom, or chicken, or any combination—I’m not sure I’d use asparagus, but it might be good)

1-pound package frozen potato nuggets

(I used Tater Tots)

1 cup shredded cheese

(I used cheddar, but other cheeses are also good)

Hannah’s 1^stNote: You can put in a thin layer of chopped onions, or a thin layer of vegetables cut in small pieces. Just don’t add too many things or the potatoes and cheese on top will burn before the inside gets done.

Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

Put the ground meat in the bottom of the pan, spreading it out as evenly as you can. Press it down with your impeccably clean hands, or use the back of a metal spatula. (The fat does not drain out of this hotdish and that’s why you should use lean ground meat.)

Spoon the 2 cans of cream-of-whatever soup on top of the meat. Using a rubber spatula, spread the condensed soup over the meat as evenly as possible.

Put the frozen potato nuggets on top of the soup in a single layer. (I’ve substituted hash browns or potatoes O’Brien when I didn’t have Tater Tots in my freezer.) Spread them out as evenly as you can.

Sprinkle on the shredded cheese to top the potatoes.

Hannah’s 2^ndNote: Mary’s recipe is so easy, it’s almost impossible to get it wrong unless you use too much cheese. It’s a case of twice as much cheese is NOT twice as good. Too much melted cheese may act as an insulator, just like the insulation in your attic to keep out the cold Minnesota air in the winter. In this case, it could have the opposite effect. The cheese, when it melts, will spread out like insulation on top of the potatoes and keep the heat of the oven away from your Too Easy Hotdish. (I know. I made that mistake.)

DO NOT COVER your hotdish with anything. Just slip the pan in the oven at 400 degrees F. and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the potatoes on top are browned and crispy. (If you used a glass cake pan, it may bake a little faster.)

Hannah’s 3^rdNote: You may have noticed that this hotdish uses no additional seasonings. Mary says some members of her family like to sprinkle it with Worcestershire sauce, but most people love it just as it is.

Yield: Mary says that accompanied by hot rolls and a tossed green salad, a pan of Too Easy Hotdish will serve 4 teenage boys, or 6 normal adults. (Unless, of course, you invite Mike for a late supper—he must have been really hungry because he ate almost half the pan!)

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Thanks for dinner, Hannah,” Mike said, finishing his last forkful of Too Easy Hotdish. “It was great! Sometimes I feel like a freeloader because you always feed me. I’m going to have to take you out to dinner more often so I can pay you back.”

“It’s not about paybacks,” Hannah said, although she certainly wouldn’t mind going out to dinner more often. She reached out to refill Mike’s coffee cup from the carafe on the table and passed the plate of cookies left from the previous night.

Mike ate one cookie, took another to put down on a napkin, and pulled his notebook from his pocket. “I just finished meeting with Stacey Ramsey, Professor’s Ramsey’s first ex-wife. It turns out she had a very good reason to murder him.”

Hannah could barely believe her ears. She remembered Stacey as a tall, sylph-like girl with long brown hair, far too quiet and shy to ever commit murder. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Her parents were so impressed with Bradford, they wrote him into their will. He was to get half their estate, and Stacey would get the other half.”

“They must have been impressed!”

“It gets worse. Stacey’s parents were killed in an auto accident on Tuesday morning, and they never got around to changing their will after Bradford and Stacey divorced.”

“You’re telling me that Bradford was still in his first ex-in-law’s will?”

“That’s right. Bradford was all set to inherit half of Stacey’s parents’ assets. And according to the family lawyer, that amounted to several million dollars.”

“Several million which should have been Stacey’s alone.”

“Exactly.”

“Did Bradford know that Stacey’s parents had left him half of everything?”

“Yes. The family lawyer spoke to him on the phone Tuesday night. Bradford was supposed to drive to Fergus Falls on Thursday to sign all the documents.”

“But he was dead on Wednesday night, so the documents were never signed?”

“Right. You’re quick, Hannah.”

“Thank you. So what happens to the house and the land now?”

“Everything goes to Stacey since Professor Ramsey is dead. There was a provision in the will stating that if, at the time the will was formally read, either of the two beneficiaries had preceded the other in death, the living beneficiary would inherit the entire estate.”

“Do you think Stacey killed Bradford so that she could keep everything for herself?”

“That would be the logical conclusion, but it didn’t happen. Stacey has an iron clad alibi. She was riding in the back-seat when her parents were killed, and she broke her shoulder. She didn’t get out of the hospital until this morning.”

“How about a new husband, or a boyfriend, or someone who wanted Bradford out of the picture?”

“Good thought, but there isn’t anybody.” Mike picked up his other cookie and took a bite. “How about you? Did you get anywhere?”

“Yes, and no. We discovered that Stephanie and Mayor Bascomb were suspects, but we cleared both of them.”

“Who’s we?”

“I don’t think you want to know that.”

Mike looked as if he might object, but then he shrugged. “Okay. Tell me why Mayor Bascomb and his wife were suspects.”

“Well…it’s like…” Hannah stopped and threw up her hands. “Actually, it’s better if you don’t know that, either.”

“But they both have alibis?”

“Oh yes,” Hannah said, happy that she could answer at least one of Mike’s questions. “Mother saw both of them in the lobby during intermission at the talent show. They were there for the whole time, and then they went back to their seats together.”

“Okay. How about any other suspects?”

“Norman’s checking into any students that Bradford flunked.”

“That’s really unlikely as a motive. Anything else?”