# The Missing Recipe The morning light filtered through the gingham curtains of Sweet Crumbs Bakery, casting checkered shadows across the flour-dusted counter. A tray of cinnamon rolls sat cooling by the register, their glaze still glistening. "You heard about Martha's recipe box, I suppose." "Heard about it? Half the town's talking about nothing else. Forty years of recipes, just vanished from her kitchen." "The night before the county bake-off, no less. Convenient timing, wouldn't you say?" A long pause filled only by the scraping of a spatula against a mixing bowl. "You're not suggesting someone *stole* them?" "I'm suggesting that Martha's brown butter pound cake has won seven years running, and there are folks in this town who'd do just about anything for that blue ribbon." "That's a serious accusation to make over morning coffee." "I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just saying I saw Dolores Finch's car parked on Maple Street at eleven o'clock Tuesday night, and Dolores Finch lives clear across town on Oak." The oven timer chimed. Neither of them moved. "Those scones are going to burn." "Let them. Are you going to help me figure this out or not?"