Run: 2026-09-02-01M1GWTRG7TY1QM7VB5CDE8BTC

The bell over the door chimed, and a gust of October air followed it in. "Whatever you've got left, I'll take. I've been up since dawn filling out police forms." "That bad?" "Second time this week they've wanted to 'go over the timeline.' As if I keep a timeline of who walks past my hardware store." "Coffee's fresh. Sit. You look terrible." "Thanks a lot." A chair scraped against the tile. "They asked me the strangest question, though. Whether Genevieve ever bought arsenic." "You sell arsenic?" "Rat poison. Every hardware store in the county sells rat poison. But she didn't buy any. Not from me." "She bought flour here Tuesday. Smiled like always. Told me the honey buns were for her sister." "The sister that doesn't exist?" "The very one." A tray rattled into the oven. "Funny thing—she paid in exact change. Coins. Who pays in coins anymore?" "Someone who doesn't want a paper trail." "I hadn't thought of that." "Careful. That's how people around here end up giving statements. Or worse—ending up in them." The oven timer ticked. Outside, a police car rolled slowly past the window, and neither of them moved to look.