Run: 2026-07-25-01KYCR7TD4M389MW8ABQMH64PY

The bell over the door jangled, and the smell of scalded sugar rolled out onto the sidewalk. "You burned the lemon bars." "I did not burn them. They're caramelized." "Marjorie, they're the color of a roof shingle." "Then don't eat them. Eat a cruller and mind your own kitchen." A long pause. Somewhere in the back, a timer ticked. "You didn't sleep." "I never sleep on Fridays." "You slept fine last Friday. You slept fine every Friday for nine years. Something's got you rattled, and it isn't pastry." "The deposit bag is missing." "Missing how?" "Missing as in it was under the register at nine last night, and this morning it wasn't, and the back door was unlocked, and I'm the only one with a key besides Dale." "Dale wouldn't take a nickel off a dead man." "I know that." "Then why do you look like you're about to confess to something?" "Because I didn't lock the door. I left it open. I left it open on purpose, because someone asked me to, and now I've got two hundred and eighteen dollars gone and no way to explain it to Sheriff Bracken without dragging a very foolish woman into it." "Marjorie." "Pour yourself some coffee. This will take a minute."