Cinnamon Roll Murder

wasn’t worth it.”

“Let me,” Delores said, shushing Michelle. “Think about it, dear. Norman didn’t have to give up Cuddles to a stranger because the minute he mentioned it, you took her. He might have had second thoughts if you hadn’t volunteered so quickly.”

“And how about the birthday party?” Andrea reminded her. “Norman didn’t have to find somebody else to make a dessert for Bev’s birthday party, because you told Mike you would. Norman might have realized exactly how upset you were if you’d refused to bake something for Bev.”

“Your problem is you’re just too understanding,” Michelle accused her. “Last night you told me you thought Bev was just saying she was allergic to cats to keep Norman from seeing you. Isn’t that right?”

“Well ... yes. I do suspect that she isn’t as allergic as she tells Norman she is.”

“Then why didn’t you act on that suspicion?” Delores asked. “You could have set some kind of trap for her and proved that she was faking it. You let her get away with it. Norman thinks she’s allergic to cats. He might have thought twice about believing anything Bev told him if you’d set a trap to prove that her cat allergy was fake.”

“I thought about doing that.”

“But you didn’t do it,” Andrea pointed out. “Do you really think Norman’s going to be happy with Bev?”

“Well ... no. No, I don’t. But he’s doing the right thing.”

“Is he?” Andrea asked.

“Yes. I told you all before. Norman wants to be a part of his daughter’s life.”

“How do you know she’s his daughter?” Michelle spoke up again.

“Bev was pregnant when they split up in Seattle, but she didn’t tell Norman about it.”

“Let me get this straight.” Delores took over again. “You do suspect that Bev is lying about her cat allergy to keep Norman from you. But you don’t suspect that Bev is lying about her daughter’s paternity to keep Norman from you.”

“Well ... when you put it like that ...” Hannah’s voice trailed off.

“You say you’re going to miss Norman a lot if you don’t get to see him very often,” Andrea said.

“It’s true. I will miss him.” Hannah blinked away the tears that threatened to form in her eyes.

“But don’t you see what you’re doing?” Michelle asked. “You’re making things easy for Bev by not confronting her. Because you’re polite and you don’t want to make waves, you’re shoving Norman straight into her arms.”

“If you really care for Norman as much as you say you do, you’ll fight for him!” Andrea said.

“But ... I don’t know what I can do at this point.”

“We do,” Delores informed her. “The way we see it, you have two choices. You can either fight for Norman, or you can roll over and give up.”

“But I wasn’t trying to roll over and give up. I was just trying to be nice.”

“There are times to be nice, and times to stand up for what you really want from life. Did I raise my daughter to be a spineless quitter?”

“You did not!” Hannah said. And as she said it, she felt a giant weight slide off her shoulders. “You certainly did not!”

“Atta girl!” Delores said, reaching out to touch Hannah’s cheek. Then she picked up Hannah’s dessert fork, cut off a generous bite of flourless chocolate cake, and handed it to her. “Have some chocolate. And after we finish our desserts, we’ll tell you all our ideas for giving Doctor Bev the boot.”

PUCKER UP LEMON CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Hannah’s 1st Note: I think it’s possible to make this cake by hand, but it will take a strong arm to do it. Lisa and I use an electric stand mixer. Some people may still have a food grinder in their kitchen cabinet. If you do, get it out and use it. If you don’t, use a food processor and the steel blade.

1 large lemon (choose one with perfect skin—you’ll be using that, too!)

1 cup golden raisins (Regular raisins will also work.)

cup pecans

2 cups all-purpose flour (Don’t pack it down. Just scoop it out and level off the top of your measur- ing cup with a table knife.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and ? cups white (granulated) sugar

? cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound) softened butter

1 teaspoon lemon extract (Use vanilla if you don’t have lemon.)

? cup whole milk

2 large eggs

? cup whole milk (This brings the milk total up to one cup.)

Grease and lightly flour a 9-inch by 13-inch rectangular cake pan. (Alternatively, you can spray it with baking spray, the kind with flour in it.)

Wash the outside of your lemon. Then juice it and save the juice. (You’ll use it in the cake topping.) Pick out the seeds and throw them away, then cut the pulp and rind into 8 pieces.

If you have a food grinder, grind the lemon pulp and rind with the raisins and the pecans. If you don’t have a grinder, simply put the lemon pulp and rind into the bowl of your food processor, and add the raisins and the pecans. Process them with an on and off motion until they’re chopped as finely as they’d be if you’d used a food grinder.

Set the ground lemon, raisin, and pecan mixture aside in a bowl on the counter.

Measure out one cup of flour and put it in the bowl of your electric mixer. Add the salt, baking soda, and white sugar. Mix them together at LOW speed.

Add the second cup of flour. Mix that in at LOW speed.

Add the softened butter, the lemon extract, and the ? cup of whole milk. Beat at LOW speed until the flour is well moistened. Then turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH speed.

Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Turn the mixer on LOW and add the eggs, one at a time, beating all the while. Then beat in the rest of the whole milk. Once the eggs and the milk are incorporated, turn the mixer up to MEDIUM HIGH.

Beat for 2 minutes. Then shut off the mixer, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. You’re going to finish this cake by hand.