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"You mean for her son?"
"Right. And Amalia's not buying it. She thinks he's too old for her granddaughter."
"He is. She just graduated from high school and thereV got to be at least a fifteen-year difference. And the fact that he's a tax accountant tacks on another ten years."
"You're right," Hannah said, remembering the ill-fated evening when Delores had set her up with Babs's son. To say that it had been boring would be kind. "What else did you find out? When you came in, you were grinning like the Cheshire cat"
"Let's go in the back," Andrea suggested, picking up her glass of orange juice and leading the way. She was mum until she'd taken a stool at the workstation and then she grinned proudly. "I got the autopsy report from Doc Knight this morning."
"You mean you saw Bill's copy?"
"No, he doesn't have it yet. I had to drop off a sample for Doc Knight and I asked him about it."
"A sample?"
"You know, a sample. I couldn't give him one yesterday and it's all Mother's fault. Remember how she always said to go before we left the house?"
Hannah caught on immediately. "So you did, and then you couldn't give him a sample?"
"That's right. It was a good thing, though. I asked him about Rhonda, just making conversation, and he said he thinks she was killed between eight and nine on Friday night. And then he talked about stomach contents. Your lemon pie was there and so was the osso buco."
Hannah was surprised. "Doc Knight actually identified it as osso buco?"
"No, but the ingredients were right."
"How do you know?" Hannah was puzzled. "You've never made it, have you?"
Andrea shook her head. "I looked it up in a cookbook."
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"You have a cookbook? "
"Of course I do. My friends got together and gave me a whole set for a wedding present. The only ingredient that didn't fit was ripe olives."
Hannah made a mental note of that. "Did Doc Knight think Rhonda had anything else to eat?"
"No, but she drank some red wine. That was when he started talking about some other tests he'd run and I stopped listening because I was getting a little queasy."
Hannah shoved a rack of cooled Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies closer to her sister. "Have a couple of cookies. The chocolate will settle your stomach. And while you're at it, bag up a half-dozen for Claire Rodgers."
"You're going to Beau Monde?"
"Yes. Lisa offered to take over for me until my two-o'clock catering gig."
"Your diet's working and you're buying smaller clothes?" Andrea guessed.
"Not exactly. Claire bought three lemon pies on Friday and I need to find out if she gave one to Rhonda."
"I'm coming along," Andrea announced, taking a cookie for herself and bagging another half-dozen for Claire. "Claire left a message on my machine that my maternity clothes came in. You can talk to her while I try them on."
Hannah groaned. Andrea wasn't exactly speedy when it came to trying on clothes. On the other hand, Claire would be delighted at the prospect of a big sale, so she might be more forthcoming about answering questions.
"How long are you free for?"
"Until one-thirty," Hannah answered, trying not to wince at her sister's sentence structure. When they were still in high school, she'd tried to break Andrea's habit of tacking on a final preposition, but her grammar lessons hadn't had any appreciable effect.
"Then you've got a couple of hours. When we're through at Claire's, let's run out to Rhonda's apartment building and
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interview her neighbors. I checked the mailboxes and almost everyone's retired. They should be home in the middle of the day."
"Okay," Hannah agreed. Interviewing Rhonda's neighbors wouldn't be at all dangerous and Andrea was good with people.
"When we get through, I'll help you with your catering. I can pour coffee while you do the rest."
Hannah smiled. Catering was always easier with two people. "All right, but it's only fair to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"My first job is at Trudi's Fabrics."
"What's wrong with that? I like Trudi Schuman."
"So do I, but she's hosting a Lake Eden Quilting Society meeting and your mother-in-law will be there."
"Oh." Andrea rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. She didn't get along well with Regina Todd. Bill's mother was constantly complaining that Andrea should quit her job and be a stay-at-home mother and wife. "It should be all right, Hannah. I'll wear one of my new maternity outfits and that'll win her over. She's crazy about Tracey, but she really wants a grandson."
"All right, if you can handle it." Hannah pushed away a mental picture of Regina haranguing Andrea about quitting her job and Andrea spilling scalding coffee on Regina's hand. "It shouldn't take more than a half hour. When we're through, I'll drop you back here and load up for my three o'clock."
"Where's that one?"
Hannah was so pleased by Andrea's question, she almost forgot to answer. Were her years of correcting her sister's grammar finally paying off? Or had Andrea merely forgotten to add the final, unnecessary at? "It's in the library at the community center. Marge Beeseman is holding her monthly Friends of the Library meeting."
"I'll help you with that. Tracey needs a new book and I have to stop by the library anyway. She didn't like the last one Bill read to her out of."
Cinnamon Crisps
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., with rack in middle position.
2 cups melted butter (4 sticks)
2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
1 cup white sugar (granulated)
2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork) 2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (critical!)
1 teaspoon salt
4 !/4 cups white flour (not sifted)
Dough-ball rolling mixture:
!/2 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Melt the butter. Add the sugars and mix. Let the mixture cool to room temperature while you beat the eggs, and then stir them in. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well. Add flour in increments, mixing after each addition.