Unwrap the candy bars and place them on top of the batter. Make a single layer, and try to cover as much of the batter as you can. You may have to break a couple of the bars to fill in the gaps.

Spoon the remaining batter on top of the candy bars, and use the rubber spatula to smooth it out.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Cool the Brownies Plus in the pan on a metal rack. When they’re thoroughly cool, grasp the edges of the foil and lift the brownies out of the pan. Put them facedown on a cutting board, peel the foil off the back, and cut them into brownie-sized pieces.

Place the squares on a plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar if you wish.

Hannah’s Note: These brownies freeze well if you leave them in one large piece. When they’re cool, just lift them out of the pan, fold the foil over the top, and slip them into a freezer bag. When you want to serve them, let them thaw on the counter, cut them into pieces, and dust with powdered sugar.

Chapter Twelve

“Oh, Hannah! How could you?!” Delores marched into the kitchen, coming close to mowing Hannah down. “Didn’t I raise you better than that?”

“Than what, Mother?” Hannah was ninety-nine percent certain she knew what Delores was talking about. The news must have broken on KCOW Radio, and Delores knew that her eldest daughter had found yet another murder victim.

“You know perfectly well what I mean. You found another body. Everyone in the Tri-County area knows you did. Why you decided to go in that gazebo and look in the Jacuzzi is beyond me!”

“But it’s not beyond me. Andrea and I were going to hop in the Jacuzzi until it was time for our class. She was still exercising, and I got there first.”

“Well…I guess I should be grateful for that!” Delores looked slightly mollified. “At least you’re used to things like that by now. Your sister’s the sensitive type. It would have devastated poor Andrea.”

“Right,” Hannah said. What Delores said was true. Andrea had never been able to handle things that were, to use their mother’s word, unpleasant. But if Andrea had discovered Ronni’s body, would it have been unpleasant for her? Perhaps she would have taken one look at Ronni’s lifeless countenance and let out a cheer of victory.

“Anyway,” Delores sat down on a stool at the workstation. “I know she was in the Jacuzzi. They said all that on KCOW. I want you to tell me something nobody else knows so that I can tell my friends. There’s got to be some advantage to being the mother of…of a body finder!”