Run: 2026-07-01-01KWE8Q30G987JR6BK7WE03X6Y

The bell above the door jingled as Mabel wiped flour from her hands onto her apron, glancing up at the woman lingering by the pastry case. "You're back." "I never left, really. Just haven't had the nerve to ask." "Ask what?" "About the necklace. The one they found in Henry's coat pocket." Mabel's hands stilled on the counter. "Who told you about that?" "Sheriff Dunmore mentioned it. Said it belonged to Clara Whitfield. Said it went missing the same week she did." "That was thirty years ago. Why does it matter now?" "Because Henry died Tuesday. And that necklace was in his coat when they found him." The scent of cinnamon rolls drifted between them, sweet and warm, entirely at odds with the chill creeping into the room. "You think he had something to do with her disappearing?" "I think somebody wants us to think that." Mabel set down her rolling pin, eyes narrowing. "You always did have a suspicious mind, Josephine." "And you always changed the subject when Clara's name came up." "That's because talking about the dead doesn't bring them back." "No. But it might tell us who put them there." The kitchen timer buzzed, sharp and sudden, neither of them moving to silence it.