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Lucien eyed Beckett. “What are they up to?”
As she glided past them, Kelly leaned in to whisper, “Jade had a feeling about this particular corner of the backyard.”
Beckett shook his head as he watched Brogan stick her shovel into the soft, mushy ground. “If they find anything, they’ll never let us live it down.”
Lucien grinned. “If I’d known you were approaching this like a competition, I’d have started earlier.”
The longer Brogan dug, the closer the men got.
“She’s digging a sizable hole,” Beckett noted.
Across the lawn, Brogan’s shovel hit something metal. She let out a squeal. “There’s something here.”
“Please don’t let it be the gas line,” Lucien hollered.
“Very funny,” Brogan mumbled, dropping to her knees to brush the damp soil away from the top of the metallic rectangle until she spotted a rusty top. “This has been in the ground a long time.”
Beckett peered into the hole, then bent to one knee, inching closer. He tried to work the object out of the ground. “Here, let’s try this. Change places with me.”
Brogan obliged, getting out of the way. “Why is it so muddy in this area?”
“The woman had an outside water leak,” Jade answered. “See how green the lawn is in this one spot. She probably either never noticed it or chose not to get it fixed.”
Lucien got down on all fours and took over some of the grunt work, digging with his hands. He applied more pressure with his fingers, trying to get the object to wobble back and forth and loosen enough to latch onto it. “Whatever it is, it’s bigger than a jewelry box.”
“We’ve almost got it loose,” Beckett decided as he reached in and gave it one last tug before unlodging it from the muddy ground. The small metal trunk-like box tumbled over onto its top.
“Rusted out pretty good,” Lucien relayed. “But it looks like it’s intact. I don’t see any gaping holes in the sides or bottom. Do you?”
“Nope,” Beckett murmured as he hauled it up and out of the mud. “Does anyone want to hazard a guess what’s in here?”
“Not me,” Kelly said. “I’m afraid to look. We’re not going to open it here, are we?”
Lucien weighed in. “I think we should take it back to the house and have the unveiling there. We should let Brent in on this.”
“Sounds like a plan. If we’d waited another six months, this thing might’ve rotted,” Beckett reasoned. “See how thin the corners are getting.”
After keeping her distance, Jade stepped closer. “And the lid’s warped. See how it buckles in the middle.”
“How did you do that?” Beckett asked, turning to Jade. “How did you know where to dig?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I saw the spot pop into my head when we pulled up.”
“Today? Just now?” Brogan clarified.
“Yep.”
Brogan slung an arm around Jade’s shoulders. “Cool. Remind me to take you on my next treasure hunt.”
Inside Brogan’s den, Brent stared at what used to be a dark green rectangular metal container. Now, the twelve-by-sixteen-inch rusted box rested on a painter’s tarp so it wouldn’t get the coffee table dirty.
On closer inspection, Brent decided it looked like a military-grade issued First Aid kit. It even had a faded U.S. Army emblem above a medical logo with lettering that read “For Emergencies Only.”
Brent glanced around the room. “Tell me again how you found this. It has to be leftover from World War II.”
Brogan traded looks with Jade. “Let’s say we received an anonymous tip and leave it at that.”
“I’m afraid that’s not good enough. You need to be more specific.”
