“No, but almost all the homeowners do it. It could be nasty if you got locked outside by accident in the winter.”
“True,” Hannah said and then she was silent. She wasn’t about to give away Norman’s hiding place until she knew more about why Mike needed that information.
“So do you know where he hides it?”
“Yes. Why do you want to know?”
“One of Norman’s neighbors was driving by on her way to work the early shift at DelRay this morning, and she saw a light flick off upstairs. She knew that Norman was gone, so she called the station to report it.”
“That was nice of her.”
“Yes, it was. It’s probably a light on a timer or something like that, but I’m driving out there to check it out. I’ll jimmy a window or something if I have to, but it’d be a lot easier if I had a key.”
“Of course it would. I’ve got a key here, but it’ll be a lot faster if you drive straight out there and use Norman’s hidden key. There’s a concrete statue of a moose under the pine tree to the left of the front door. The key’s in its mouth.”
“Wow!” Mike was clearly impressed. “That’s a great hiding place. I never would have thought to look there. Most people hide their keys under flowerpots on the front porch, or they’ve got one of those silly little rocks that’s hollowed out to hold a key.”
Hannah frowned. Mike had just described the rock she had in her planter by the front door. “Do criminals know about those rocks?”
“Sure they do. And just in case they’re not smart enough to figure it out, all they have to do is flip the rock over and it says,
“Not anymore.”
“Good. Thanks for the information, Hannah. I’ll check out Norman’s house right away.”
“I’ll be leaving for work in just a couple of minutes. Will you call me on my cell phone if there’s anything wrong?”
“Sure, but you’ll have to remember to turn it on.”
“I’ll turn it on,” she promised, more than a little amused. She had a habit of turning off her cell phone when she didn’t want to receive calls and forgetting to turn it back on again.
“Do you want to go out for a burger tonight after I finish my shift?”
An outsider to their complicated relationship might have thought that Mike was following the old adage,
“That sounds nice,” she responded. “What time?”
“I’ll pick you up at your place at six, and we’ll run out to the Corner Tavern. They’ve got a new burger with peanut butter and peppers inside. It comes with something called an onion bouquet, and I want to try it.”
Hannah said goodbye, and when she hung up the receiver, she was smiling. She was still smiling after she’d taken the Chocolate Crack out of the oven, sprinkled the top with chocolate chips, and spread them out into a frosting with a spatula. When she’d first met Mike, she’d suspected that he was a meat and potatoes man, a typical Midwesterner who hadn’t strayed far from the cuisine his parents and grandparents had enjoyed. And then he’d met her and his world had changed, although the jury was still out on whether it was for the better, or the worse.
It had all started with the Jalapeno Brownies she’d baked for him and left on his desk at the sheriff’s station in retaliation for saying that someone else’s brownies were the best he’d ever tasted. But like many attempts to retaliate, this one had turned out to be a joke…on her! Mike had loved the brownies and Hannah credited them for opening up his eyes to the exciting possibilities of unorthodox food combinations. On the other hand, her fiery hot brownies could have permanently shocked his taste buds into complete passivity, leaving him completely open to sampling any gastronomic innovation, worthy or not.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
1 box salted soda crackers. (
2 sticks salted butter
1 cup white
sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
? cup salted nut pieces
Line a 10-inch by 15-inch cookie sheet with heavy-duty foil. If you have a jellyroll pan, that’s perfect. If you don’t, turn up the edges of the foil to form sides.
Spray the foil with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.
Cover the pan completely with a single layer of soda crackers, salt side up.
Combine the butter with the white sugar and vanilla in a heavy saucepan. Bring it to a full boil over medium high heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly.
Pour the mixture over the soda crackers as evenly as you can.
Hannah’s Note: I start by pouring the mixture in lines from top to bottom over the length of the pan. Then I turn it and pour more lines over the width of the pan. Once the whole pan is crosshatched with the hot toffee mixture, I pour any that’s left where it’s needed. If it doesn’t cover the soda crackers completely, don’t worry—it’ll spread out quite a bit in the oven.
Sprinkle the salted nut pieces over the top.
Slide the pan into the oven and bake the cookies at 350 degrees F. for ten
Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
When the cookies have thoroughly cooled, peel off the foil and break them into random-sized pieces.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
1 box graham crackers.
2 sticks salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Line a 10-inch by 15-inch cookie sheet with heavy-duty foil. If you have a jellyroll pan, that’s perfect. If you don’t, turn up the edges of the foil to form sides.
