Cinnamon Roll Murder

into small pieces with a sharp knife.

Take the cookie dough out of the mixer and stir the small pieces of coconut and white chocolate chips into the dough by hand.

Cover your mixing bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap and press it down over the top of your dough, tucking it in on the sides so that no air gets in.

Refrigerate the Cardamom Cuties cookie dough for two hours (overnight is fine, too) so that it is thoroughly chilled. Chilling the dough makes it much easier to work with.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Take your cookie dough out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray them with Pam or another nonstick baking spray.

Put some brown sugar, a half-cup should do, into a small bowl. You’ll be rolling dough balls in the sugar before baking.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls.

Roll each dough ball in the brown sugar, covering it completely.

Arrange the dough balls on your cookie sheets 2 inches apart. You should be able to get 12 dough balls on each cookie sheet.

Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass, or the flat blade of a metal spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. (Mine took 11 minutes.)

Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets for a minute or two to firm up. Then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. (This is very easy to do if you’ve used parchment paper—all you have to do is slide them off the cookie sheet onto the wire rack by pulling on the edge of the paper.)

Store the Cardamom Cuties in an airtight container or in a covered cookie jar. They should last for at least a week. (But of course they won’t last for a whole week because everyone in your family will love them!)

These cookies freeze beautifully if you stack them like coins in a wrapper, roll them in foil, and place the rolls in freezer bags.

Yield: Approximately 6 dozen cookies, depending on cookie size.

Chapter Ten

The Cardamom Cuties had just come out of the oven and Hannah was indulging herself with a cookie and a cup of coffee when Michelle came through the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the coffee shop. “Norman’s here,” she announced.

Hannah drew a deep breath. She wasn’t exactly sure how to react to Norman now that he was engaged to Doctor Bev. The easy caring relationship they’d shared in the past suffered an abrupt reversal, and she felt as if she were walking on eggshells. Now, instead of saying exactly what was on her mind, she was forced to think before she spoke, and she’d never felt the need to do that with Norman before.

“He wants to see you,” Michelle continued, shrugging slightly. “I said I’d check to see if you were still here.”

Michelle was giving her an out, and Hannah was grateful. But just as her youngest sister had pointed out the previous night, Lake Eden was small and they were bound to run into each other. She closed her eyes for a moment, took another deep breath to try to calm her pounding heart and said, “Send him back.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look as if you really want to see him.”

“I do, and I don’t,” Hannah admitted. “But I don’t want to shut any doors between Norman and me right now. Go ahead and send him back here, Michelle. I’ll handle it.”

Michelle looked a little worried. “Okay if that’s what you want me to do. I’ll go tell him right now.”

When Michelle had gone back into the coffee shop, Hannah poured a cup of coffee for Norman. Her hands were shaking slightly and she spilled a few drops on the counter, but that was no surprise. She was nervous about seeing him. What did he want with her? Was he going to be perfectly friendly and simply ask her about Cuddles and how the cat he loved so much was doing? Or was he going to tell her that he couldn’t endure being ostracized from her, and despite the fact that he had a child with Doctor Bev, he was going to break off their engagement for the second time and banish his ex-ex-fiancee to the Hull Rust Mahoning mine, the only open pit iron ore mine still operating in Minnesota?

Hannah gave a little laugh as she carried Norman’s coffee to the stainless steel work island. She was letting her imagination run away with her. She fetched two Cardamom Cuties for Norman to try and set them on a napkin next to the coffee. Then she sat down on the stool across from his and took a deep breath. She was nervous. There was no denying that. But she had to force herself to calm down, and maintain her composure for whatever came next.

The door between the coffee shop and the kitchen opened, and Norman came in with a grim express on his face. “Hi, Hannah,” he said, sounding every bit as serious as he had on the day he’d told her he had a daughter with Doctor Bev. “It’s good to see you. How’s Cuddles?”

“She’s just fine,” Hannah reassured him. “She’s playing, she’s eating, and she’s adapting very well. Mike saw her last night and she was playing chase with Moishe. If you ask him, I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it. “

“Good. That’s good.”

Hannah stopped and debated what to say next. Should she tell Norman that Cuddles missed him? Or would mentioning that just upset and depress him?

It only took a moment for Hannah to decide. Norman needed to know. “Cuddles still looks out the living room window as if she expects you to come and pick her up.”

Norman blinked several times. “You’re probably right,” he said. “It’s what I used to do.”

“Maybe, if you came out to see her on a regular basis, she’d know what to expect, she’d adjust to the new schedule, and she’d be more content.”

“I can’t do that, Hannah. I was afraid that Cuddles would miss being at home, but ... well ... she can’t be at home any longer. Bev’s allergic. The last time I saw her after seeing Cuddles, she had a full-blown allergy attack. She said it was from the cat dander on my clothes. And now she gets upset when I even mention visiting Cuddles.”

Then maybe you shouldn’t mention it to her, Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. Perhaps Bev really was allergic to cats. “Can’t her doctor prescribe some kind of medication? They have a lot of new allergy drugs on the market.”

“I know, but nothing seems to work for Bev. Every allergy drug she’s tried makes her so groggy and dizzy, she can barely walk across the room. It’s not that she doesn’t want me to see Cuddles. She knows how much I miss her, and she feels really terrible about all this.”

Hannah didn’t believe that for a second. Hannah knew she had cat dander all over her clothes, especially since shedding season for Moishe seemed to be at least eleven and a half months long. Yet the last time Hannah had talked to Doctor Bev at her birthday party in February, Norman’s fiancee hadn’t even sniffled. Perhaps Hannah didn’t have the right to pass judgment when she wasn’t an expert on allergies, but she was almost positive that Doctor Bev’s allergies were fake. She was also almost positive that Doctor Bev had Norman buffaloed into thinking they were real.

“Well,” Hannah said, determined to be cheerful and upbeat. “You don’t have to worry about Cuddles. She’s having a good time with Moishe and you know how well they get along.”

“Oh, I know. They’re best friends. You know ... I miss Moishe, too. I used to love it when you brought him to my place. Remember how they used to sit on the kitty staircase I built, and stare out at the birds in the