Chapter 1 Cream Before Crime

A plaza barista, an overeager city AI, and a bow-tied tabby expose a cache-drop ring using a kindness-tracking mural.
Rae runs a coffee kiosk under a rain-bright canopy where the city AI (CORA) narrates everything and a tabby in a crooked bow tie keeps "finding" evidence. When the cat leads her to jewelry and data stashed around the plaza, Rae teams up with a tired-but-true security officer, a mural tech, and a courier to map the pattern hiding in plain sight. Acts of kindness light the mural; thieves use those stars as coordinates. Catching them means beating the algorithm at its own game... with a cat who won't take no for an answer.