No Parm No Foul by Linda Reilly

Author:Linda Reilly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

On her way into the dining room, it occurred to Carly that their compost delivery man, Chip Foster, hadn’t come in yet. Since he normally showed up in the morning, she wondered if there’d been a change in the schedule. If the company didn’t send someone by the end of the day, she’d give them a call.

Aside from Ari being a murder suspect, Carly couldn’t get Evelyn off her mind. Did she fall down those cellar stairs, or was she pushed? Why was her door unlocked, and who left the footprint beneath her window? The timing bothered her too. Was it possible Ferris’s murder and Evelyn’s accident were connected?

Her mind scrolling backward, Carly replayed Evelyn’s departure from the eatery the day before. Evelyn had gathered up her things rather abruptly and offered only a curt goodbye. Carly had chalked it up to her distress over Holly blurting out the news about the footprint. Steve Perlman had just come in as she was leaving, Carly remembered. He’d quickly nabbed her booth before someone else claimed it, although he’d greeted Evelyn politely.

A thought struck her. Steve and Ferris had been in high school together. They’d played on the basketball team. Had Evelyn been teaching at the time? Could she have been their English teacher, maybe known something about them they didn’t want revealed?

If Steve came in today, Carly was definitely going to pin him down. In fact, she had a number of things she wanted to ask him, and this time she wouldn’t let him escape.

Holly arrived promptly at 11:00, looking much cheerier than she had the day before. Was it because the police had homed in on a suspect in her dad’s death—namely Ari? Carly tried not to judge her, but it wasn’t easy. Especially after Grant’s stories of her manipulation of her dad.

After accepting a mug of coffee from Grant, Holly turned to Carly and said, “Portia was so happy to meet you yesterday. She really admires successful women in business. She believes networking with other women is the key to everyone growing their businesses.”

Sounds like a line from a brochure, Carly thought wryly. Was Holly trying to set up Carly for something, like maybe an endorsement of Portia’s specialty salad dressings?

Carly smiled and said carefully, “Well, I enjoyed meeting her too. And she’s right—networking is important in any line of work.”

One early customer came in just then, and Holly took his order with a smile. Carly waited until he’d finished his meal and left to show Holly the latest Balsam Dell Weekly.

“Aren’t these pictures great?” Carly opened the paper and held it up to display the spread from Saturday’s event.

“Yeah, cool.” She blinked several times.

Holly started to turn away when Carly pointed to the page and said, “Gee, isn’t that you with Tyler from the hardware store?”

Holly’s face flushed. “Um, yeah, it looks like us.” She dropped her gaze and then lifted it again. “I’m probably risking my job saying this, but Tyler told me about you going over to where he works and asking him questions.

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