When the cookies have baked, take them out of the oven and set them on cold stovetop burners or on wire racks to cool. Leave them on the cookie sheets for 1 to 2 minutes.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: If you remove the cookies from the cookie sheets right away, they may break into pieces. The reason you cool them on the sheets for a minute or two first is so they will “set” and not crumble when you move them.
After the cookies have cooled slightly, remove them from the cookie sheets to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you used parchment paper, just pull it off the cookie sheet and onto the rack. The cookies can finish cooling on the paper and you can peel them off later.
Yield: approximately 10 dozen crunchy, buttery, citrus-infused sugar cookies that children and adults will love.
Michelle’s Note: I bet that you can’t eat just one!
Chapter Twelve
Michelle had agreed to come with Hannah and thirty minutes later, they were entering Howie Levine’s law office. The person Hannah wanted to see was Lorna Kusak and, as she’d explained to Michelle, if Howie had decided not to go to lunch today, it would be extremely helpful if Michelle could ask Howie a few questions about legal procedure to keep him busy while Hannah talked to Lorna.
“Oh, my!” Hannah exclaimed as they entered Howie’s outer office. It had been completely redecorated and it was gorgeous.
“Hi, Hannah,” Lorna, who did double duty as Howie’s receptionist as well as his legal secretary, greeted her. Lorna then turned to Hannah’s sister, “Hello, Michelle. I thought you were still in college.”
“I was, but I’m doing work-study here in Lake Eden. I’m taking over as director of the Lake Eden Players for their Thanksgiving play.”
“That’s great! Everybody was afraid that it wouldn’t happen now that Tori’s gone.” Lorna sighed heavily, and then she turned back to Hannah. “You’re late.”
“What?”
“I said, you’re late. Mike was here when we opened this morning at nine.”
It was Hannah’s turn to sigh. “I should have figured he’d beat me to it. I suppose he asked you about Tori’s new will.”
Lorna shook her head. “Nope. He said he needed to talk to Howie. and when Howie got here a couple of minutes later, he took Mike into his office and shut the door.”
“So you didn’t hear their conversation?” Michelle asked her.
“No, but Howie buzzed me on the intercom and asked me to bring in a copy of Tori’s new will.”
“Did you type it up?” Hannah asked, hoping that Lorna was privy to its contents.
“Yes. It’s a computer form and all I have to do is fill in the blanks and print it out.”
“Did Howie make out Tori’s previous will?” Michelle asked her.
“Oh, yes. She came in right after she moved to town. I prepared that one, too.”
“Since there’s a new will and that other one is now null and void, can you tell us what was in it?” Hannah asked her.
Lorna shook her head. “I wish I could, but I can’t. That will is now the will of record.”
“You mean Tori never got in here to sign the new will?” Michelle guessed.
“That’s right. She had an appointment to sign all the paperwork at ten o’clock on the day after she was murdered.”
“Who was the new beneficiary?” Hannah asked her.
“That’s a somewhat tricky ethical question,” Lorna said. “But since Tori’s revised will is now null and void, I don’t think I could be faulted for telling you what Tori intended.”
“Please tell us,” Hannah said, taking out the bag she’d brought with the Citrus Sugar Cookies inside. “And before I forget, I brought you some of the new cookies I made.”
“Ooooh!” Lorna took the bag and looked inside. Then her eyes narrowed. “You’re not trying to bribe me with cookies, are you, Hannah?”
“Of course not! I’m just delivering a little gift to a friend and neighbor of mine.”
Lorna began to smile. “Well . . . since you put it that way, I don’t see how I could object. And I’m even more certain that it wouldn’t be unethical to tell you that Tori’s new will, the one she didn’t sign, divided her inheritance between the drama department at Jordan High and the Lake Eden Players.”
“Oh, boy!” Michelle said, looking shocked. “Do you think anybody in town knew that?”
Lorna shook her head. “They didn’t know it from me. And I’m ninety-nine percent certain they didn’t know it from Howie. Unless Tori told someone that she’d changed her will, nobody knew it except Tori, Howie, and me.”
Michelle and Hannah exchanged meaningful glances and Hannah knew that both of them were thinking the same thing. There were two other people who knew about the new will before Tori had been murdered. And those two people were Tricia and Mayor Bascomb.
*
Hannah had dropped Michelle off at the Jordan High auditorium where the Lake Eden Players rehearsed. She’d intended to go straight back to The Cookie Jar, but she decided to drop by the antique shop that Delores owned with Carrie Rhodes Flensburg before she returned to work. She parked behind The Cookie Jar and hurried across the parking lot to the antique store.
“Hi, Mother,” she called out as she followed the narrow path past the stored antiques in the back storage room and entered the store.
“Hello, Hannah!” Luanne Hanks called out. Luanne was Delores and Carrie’s assistant and Hannah doubted that her mother or Carrie could have made a success of their business without her.
“Is Mother here?” Hannah asked, arriving at the counter in the front of the store where Luanne was studying a page in a ledger.
“She’s up in the break room with Carrie. Go on up, Hannah. I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you.”
“I will,” Hannah said with a smile. “What are you doing, Luanne?”
“Figuring out the profit margin on the antiques I bought at the estate sale last weekend. I don’t want your mother and Carrie to price them too low.”