Run: 2026-10-13-01M4TATD4RDA8NHRVBC6PM6R1F

The bell above the door of Butter & Crumb jingled at six sharp, though the ovens had been warm since four. "You're early. The body's barely cold." "Don't say it like that. Poor Hazel found him behind the flour mill." "With my lavender shortbread crumbs on his coat, apparently. The sheriff asked twice about my recipe." "Twice?" "Twice. As if I'd poison a man who still owed me for three dozen dinner rolls." "Everyone owed you something, that's the trouble. Did you see his shoes?" "Polished. Sunday shoes on a Tuesday." "Exactly. Nobody wears Sunday shoes to buy feed." "Unless he wasn't buying feed. Unless he was meeting someone." Outside, the streetlamp flickered over Main Street, empty except for the sheriff's cruiser idling by the mill. "The scones are burning." "Let them. Did you keep the note he tucked under the register last week?" "The one about the orchard deed? It's in the recipe box, behind the card for plum tart." "Good. Because Sheriff Dill thinks this was an accident." "And you don't?" "I bake for this town, Martha. I know exactly how much sugar it takes to hide something bitter." The timer chimed. Neither of them moved.