Run: 2026-03-18-01KM09582328CBT51Y4K1HW72Z

The bell over Sweet Pea Bakery jingled as Nora set a tray of lemon scones on the cooling rack. Outside, Main Street gleamed after a night rain, and inside the air was warm with butter, sugar, and coffee. “Tell me you saved me one of those before the town council arrives.” Nora slid a wrapped scone across the counter. “Only because I like you better than the council.” “High praise.” A rustle came from the back room, followed by a suspicious thump. Nora frowned. “Did you hear that?” “Mice don’t usually knock.” Nora reached beneath the counter and pulled out the rolling pin her grandmother had insisted was a perfectly respectable weapon. “If it’s the same mouse that’s been stealing currants, I’m charging rent.” The back door creaked open by an inch, then wider. A gust of flour drifted out, white as fog. “That’s not a mouse.” “No, it’s not.” In the doorway stood Mrs. Bell, the town’s retired judge, clutching Nora’s antique recipe tin as if it might explode. “I may have found something in your storeroom,” she said. Nora took the tin, her fingers tightening on the dented lid. “Found it where?” Mrs. Bell glanced over her shoulder, then lowered her voice. “Under the flour sacks. And before you ask, no, it wasn’t there yesterday.”