Cheddar Late Than Dead


 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Linda Reilly
 Cover and internal design © 2023 by Sourcebooks
 Cover art by Brandon Dorman/Lott Reps
 Sourcebooks, Poisoned Pen Press, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks.
 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks.
 The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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 Published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks
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 Contents
 Front Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Excerpt from No Parm No Foul
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Recipes
 Acknowledgments
 About the Author
 Back Cover
 
 
 This book is for my aunt Deanna, for always being there.
 Love you, Auntie!
 
 
 Chapter One
 The door to Carly’s Grilled Cheese Eatery opened on a whoosh of frigid air. Two women entered, and after shoving the door closed against the January cold, they stomped their boots on the mat. “Oh gosh, it’s adorable in here!” the shorter woman chirped, sweeping her gaze over the exposed brick walls and the cozy booths upholstered in aquamarine vinyl. Wearing fuzzy white earmuffs that matched her ski jacket, she turned to her companion with a pout. “Dawn,” she said in a girlish whine, “why didn’t we come in here sooner?”
 Dawn, who topped her friend’s height by at least half a foot, shoved back the hood of her puffy purple coat. “Because you’ve been on a diet for almost a year, remember?” she said, a touch of tartness in her tone. “You told me not to let you near this place until after your wedding. I was only following orders.”
 Carly Hale, owner of the eatery, flipped over the Sweddar Weather she was preparing and peeked over the grill at the pair. The women, both around her own age, looked familiar. Had they graduated from high school with her? She thought they had, but after sixteen years, their names were eluding her.
 Dawn. Yes! Now Carly remembered them—Dawn Chapin and Klarissa Taddeo. In high school they’d been an inseparable pair. Klarissa, the bubbly one with sparkling blue eyes and loose, titian-colored curls. Dawn, the quieter and more serious of the two, with hazel eyes and sculpted cheekbones, her straight brunette hair barely brushing the tops of her thin shoulders.
 Carly handed over her spatula to her new assistant manager, Valerie Wells. “I want to say hello to these gals. Take over for me?”
 Valerie smiled. “You betcha!”
 Carly had barely made it around to the other side of the counter when Klarissa let out a squeal. “Carly Hale, is that you?” She rushed forward and threw her arms around her, mindless of the remnants of snow she was pressing into Carly’s green knit sweater.
 Carly hugged her in return. “Klarissa, you look great. I haven’t seen you in so long!”
 “I know. It’s been like, forever, hasn’t it?”
 “Hey, Carly.” Dawn leaned in for a brief hug, then brushed wet flakes from her coat sleeves. “Sorry about the snow.”
 “Oh heck, this is Vermont,” Carly said with a smile. “We expect snow to sneak in with our guests. Can I seat you in the booth at the back? It’s close to the heat register so it’s nice and cozy.”
 “We’ll take it!” Klarissa pulled off her earmuffs and slid into the booth. Her curls spilled around her face and onto her shoulder.
 Dawn settled in opposite her friend, then shrugged off her coat and set her gloves down on the bench seat. Carly gave them menus. After taking their orders and delivering their hot chocolates, she went back behind the grill.
 “Old friends of yours?” Valerie asked. Her brunette topknot bounced slightly when she worked, which always seemed to be at warp speed. She slid a grilled cheese onto a plate next to a cup of tomato soup and a pickle.
 Carly tucked her friends’ orders on the strip above the grill. “Yup. I went to high school with them, although I haven’t laid eyes on them since graduation.” Carly delivered the sandwich plate to the elderly man seated at the counter.
 “Thank you kindly,” he said.
 Carly had lucked out the day she interviewed Valerie for the assistant manager position. She’d been looking for a responsible helper, someone who could take over the reins for her when she was out of the restaurant and also feel comfortable in the role. In less than five weeks on the job, the fortysomething Valerie had already proven herself. It was obvious to Carly that a gem had landed in her lap.
 Suzanne Rivers, Carly’s part-time server, came through the swinging door from the kitchen. The mom of a boy in grade school, Suzanne had been with Carly from opening day, nearly a year ago. Another lucky find.
 “More tuna,” Suzanne announced, a covered stainless-steel bowl in her hands. She shoved it into the mini fridge under the counter. “Seems like everyone’s on a protein kick today.”
 “Must be the cold,” Carly said, laughing. Her Farmhouse Cheddar Sleeps with the Fishes, the eatery’s version of a tuna melt, had gained a sudden popularity.
 When Klarissa’s and Dawn’s lunches