"Is my property unsafe?"
He stopped.
Then he turned.
"Not because of your garden."
He left before I could ask anything else.
Chapter 4 — The Secret Beneath the Yard
That evening, Daniel called.
"We found something."
"What?"
"The original complaint wasn't about your garbage."
I sat down.
"Then what was it about?"
"Your backyard."
"What about it?"
"There's an old drainage easement running beneath your property."
I remembered the small concrete channel at the edge of the garden.
It had been there since I bought the house.
Daniel continued.
"According to the city archive, your neighbor's property was supposed to have access to that easement."
"But she never mentioned it."
"Because the easement was abandoned twenty years ago."
I stared at the wall.
"Why would she suddenly care?"
"That's what we're trying to determine."
I looked toward Brenda's house.
Then I remembered the surveyor, the red markings, the garbage, and the false safety complaint.
It suddenly made sense.
If the city declared my backyard unsafe, I could be forced to remove the garden, tear up the soil, and allow access for remediation.
Brenda didn't want my backyard.
She wanted what was underneath it.
Chapter 5 — The Hidden Passage
I searched the county property archive.