Джоанна Флюк - Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder

Read the package instruction for melting the peanut butter chips and follow them. Stir the melted peanut butter chips into the second bowl of batter and mix thoroughly.

Take your pans out of the refrigerator and pour your layer of peanut butter batter over the milk chocolate layer.

Return your pans to the refrigerator.,

Follow the package direction for melting the second cup of milk chocolate chips. Stir the chips smooth, and add the melted milk chocolate chips to your third bowl. Once that has been stirred thoroughly, get your cheesecake pans out of the refrigerator, and add the second milk chocolate chip layer on top of the peanut butter chip layer. Your cheesecake now has a peanut butter layer sandwiched bbe-tween a top and bottom milk chocolate layer.

WARNING: It is very difficult to get smooth, perfectly formed layers in your pan. It’s perfectly all right to swirl the three chocolates together if you prefer to make it that way. Simply use a butter knife from your silverware drawer, dip it all the way down to the first layer, and make a series of circles without lifting your knife until you reach the center of the pan. This will create swirls of chocolate and peanut butter goodness.

Bake your Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake at 350 degrees F. for 55 to 60 minutes. (Mine took the full hour.)

Once your cheesecake has baked, take it out of the oven but DON’T SHUT OFF THE OVEN!

Take the bowl with the topping out of the refrigerator, give it a final stir, and then pour the contents over the top of your baked cheesecake.

Return the cheesecake to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. At the end of that time, your topping should be “set”. (It may even have a crack or two and that is perfect acceptable since you will be covering it with sweetened whipped cream and decorating it.)

After the topping has baked, remove the 2 pans from the oven and set them on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack.

Let your cheesecake cool to room temperature, cover it loosely with foil, and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours before unmolding, decorating and serving.

Note: This cheesecake is good just as it is. Simply unmold it and cut it into slices. If you wish, top it with sweetened whipped cream and any of the topping ingredients listed.

Yield: 8 to 12 slices of rich, creamy, chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake that everyone will love.

Chapter Five

Hannah refilled Andrea’s champagne glass and carried it out to the penthouse garden. She handed it to Andrea, stashed the bottle in the silver ice bucket in the garden, and sat down to join Andrea, Norman, Michelle, and her mother. She had no sooner taken her chair when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” she said, jumping up quickly and heading for the door before anyone else had time to move.

“Come in,” she said when she saw Lonnie, Mike, and Bill standing there. “Andrea’s in the garden with Michelle, Mother, and Norman, but you three can come straight to the kitchen so that I can feed you before you go out there.”

“Great!” Mike declared, giving Hannah a big smile. “I missed dinner and I’m as hungry as a bear.”

“So am I,” Bill admitted. “I would have come the moment Lonnie called Mike in, but I decided to stay away until after they’d interviewed Andrea. I figured if I came here earlier, Andrea would want to tell me all about it, and I knew Mike and Lonnie would want to interview her first.”

“That was smart,” Mike said, giving Bill a little nod before he turned back to Hannah. “What’s for dinner?”

“Stroganoff Light over noodles,” Hannah told him.

“Light?” Mike asked, looking a bit dismayed. “Does that mean low-cal?”

“No, it just means that I made this stroganoff with chicken instead of beef.”

“Oh,” Mike said. “I like chicken. Does this have sour cream and mushrooms like you put in when you make it with beef?”

“Yes, it does.”

“And the noodles are buttered?”

“Yes, they are.”

“All right then.” Mike pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table. “I’m in, Hannah. Bring it on.”

Hannah came close to laughing as she dished up two plates of buttered noodles and covered them with a generous helping of Stroganoff Light. She knew that wouldn’t be enough for Mike, but Bill would probably eat only one helping. “Lonnie?” she turned to him. “Would you like another helping?”

“No, thanks. I’ll just sit here and keep Mike and Bill company so I can join them for dessert.”

“What’s for dessert?” Mike asked Hannah.

“Triple Chocolate Cheesecake.”

“You can count me in!” Mike responded immediately. “I love cheesecake!”

“Sounds good,” Bill agreed. “Did Andrea have some already?”

“She did. Everybody else has already had some.”

It didn’t take Mike and Bill long to finish their main course. Just as she’d expected, Bill had been satisfied with one helping, but Mike had wolfed down two. She poured coffee, served the three men slices of cheesecake, told them that she was going back to the garden and that they should help themselves to more coffee if they wanted it. “Come out when you’re ready to interview Andrea,” she told them. “You can bring her back here to the kitchen and the rest of us will stay in the garden.”

“Thanks, Hannah,” Mike said. “That’ll make everything a lot easier since Bill can’t be here when we interview her.”

Bill nodded. “I know. It just about kills me, but I know procedure.” He turned to Mike. “You will take it easy on her, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Mike assured him. “Just go give her a hug and a kiss and bring her back here. And afterwards, you can take her home and she can tell you everything she wants to tell you.”

* * *

Of course Andrea was delighted to see Bill, and she got up from her chair and went straight into his arms. Delores, Norman, Michelle, and Hannah felt a rush of happiness as Bill and Andrea embraced. It was obvious they loved each other. Hannah was glad to see her sister happy and still in love, but she couldn’t help but wonder whether she’d ever feel that way about anyone again.

“Mike and Lonnie want you to come with Andrea to her interview,” Bill told her.

“Me?” Hannah was surprised. Usually Mike and Lonnie didn’t want her anywhere near their official interviews.

“Yes, I can’t come with Andrea because of my position as sheriff, but you can.”

“Of course I’ll go,” Hannah responded quickly, “but it’s not like I was there when Andrea found him.”

“They know that, but she called you before she called anyone else, so they feel you have something to contribute.”

Still puzzled, Hannah nodded. “Fine with me. I’ll go with Andrea.”

“Come with me, then,” Bill said. “I’ll take both of you to the kitchen and come back here.”

“You won’t be with me?” Andrea asked, sounding a bit frightened.

“No, but Hannah will be there. I can’t be with you, honey. Husbands can’t be with their wives when they’re interviewed in a situation where the wife is . . . a situation like this.”

Andrea didn’t catch Bill’s hesitation, but Hannah did. Bill didn’t want to tell Andrea that she might be a suspect in Mayor Bascomb’s murder.

Hannah noticed that Andrea looked very nervous. “You can help me put on another pot of coffee when we get to the kitchen,” Hannah told her, even though she didn’t need any help to do that.

“Oh. Okay.” Andrea looked a bit more relaxed when she turned to Bill. “Will they let Hannah stay there for my whole interview?”

“Yes, Hannah should be there, since she was the first one to talk to you. They’re going to ask her some questions, too.”