At 6:42 a.m., rain fell steadily over Harbor Street in the small town of Brookhaven, North Carolina. Water streaked across the windows of Harbor Street Bakery, blurring the empty street outside. The early morning quiet wrapped around the building while the warm glow of lights and the smell of fresh bread filled the inside.
Grace Whitaker had owned the bakery for nearly thirty years. She had seen difficult mornings before—runaway teenagers needing coffee, exhausted…