Sienna Rae Scouts Honor -

“You found it,” Cora said. Not a question.

Cora blinked. “You’re not going to tell her?”

“You broke the promise,” Sienna said quietly. Not cruel. Just factual. Like reciting the outdoor code. Be careful with fire. Leave no trace.

Sienna closed her notebook. “Then you know what you have to do. You tell Mrs. Albright yourself. Tomorrow. At the meeting.”

She turned and walked home under a cold October moon. The splinter under her nail still ached. But for the first time all week, she wasn’t trying to dig it out.

Cora’s face crumpled. “I was going to pay it back. Before the end-of-year campout. I just needed—”

Sienna found the money on Saturday, stuffed inside a blue duffel behind the shed where they stored the old canoes. She didn’t call the police. She didn’t run to Mrs. Albright. She sat on the damp ground, counted every bill, and then walked to Cora’s apartment.

By Wednesday, she’d ruled out the Brownies. By Friday, she’d cleared the church janitor and the snack-shack volunteer. The trail led back to someone no one wanted to suspect: Cora Mayhew, the assistant troop leader, whose easy smile had always seemed a little too bright for someone folding camping tents.