Run: 2026-07-25-01KYCRBQMXFJASYTR8KPB56DZW

The bell over the door gave its usual bronchial rattle, and the smell of scalded sugar rolled out to meet the morning. "You burned the caramel again." "I did not burn it. I *darkened* it. There's a difference, and it's the difference between a tart and a triumph." "Margaret, there's smoke coming out of the display case." "That's steam. Mostly." A pause, a scrape of a tray. "Sit down, I've saved you the corner piece. And don't say you're not hungry, you've been standing outside my window for eleven minutes." "I was thinking." "You were watching the hardware store." "...I was thinking about the hardware store." "Because Denny Vale opened it at half five this morning, and Denny Vale has never done an honest thing before eight o'clock in his life." "You noticed that too." "I notice everything before dawn. It's the only hour nobody lies in." A cup settled into a saucer with a small, decisive click. "He bought two bags of flour off me Tuesday. Denny doesn't bake. Denny doesn't even toast." "Flour." "Fifty pounds of it. Paid cash and asked me not to write it in the book." "And did you?" "Of course I wrote it in the book. Eat your tart."