It started with the neighbor’s dog squeezing under Walter’s fence and ripping up a neat circle of lawn like he was on a mission. Claws flashed, dirt flew, and the ground gave a dull, hollow thud no one expected. Walter’s first thought was pipes. His second was worse. The dog kept digging and then stopped, paw poised over a patch of clay, as if he knew something the rest of them didn’t.

Walter waved the neighbor over. She tugged at the leash, but the dog would not budge. He looked at the soil, then at them, then back again. A thin corner of metal peeked out like the edge of a secret. The sound it made when Walter tapped it was not a rock. It rang like a lid.

They had seen police there before. Officers had searched last fall with flashlights and clipboards. They checked the sheds, the flower beds, the alley. Nothing turned up. Tonight the air felt heavy, and even the birds went quiet. What they found was the last thing anyone expected…