A fluffy ball of fur named Mitzi was the first to sniff out the intruder, alerting the unsuspecting residents of Seagull Lane to the grim discovery.

The frenzied yipping went on for several minutes before the noise dug its way into Rory Anderson's brain. When she realized the barking was coming from her own backyard, she abandoned the computer program she was working on and headed outside to see what the fuss was about.

As soon as she stepped out the back door, a white Pomeranian who lived down the street bounded toward her. Rory stooped down to address the dog. "What's wrong, Mitzi? What's got you so excited?"

The pint-sized Pom raced back and forth between the plot of earth she'd been digging in and the human who'd answered her call. Rory followed Mitzi to the flowerbed, but before she had time to examine it, Mrs. Maldonado poked her head around the partially-open gate leading to the front yard and the street beyond. After delivering the dog into the arms of her grateful owner, Rory walked across the lawn to see what the furry digger found so interesting.

She took one look at the flowerbed and knew someone other than Mitzi had been in her backyard. Along with the cigarette butts that littered the churned-up dirt, the wheelbarrow and shovel her gardener left behind had moved. She eyed the colony of weeds near the fence. Strange. There weren't as many of the little green monsters as she remembered.

Rory's gaze swept the L-shaped yard from the gate, past the back door of the single-story stucco house, all the way around the corner to the detached garage. Nothing else seemed to have been disturbed.

Using azaleas, camellias, and a host of plants Rory couldn't name, her gardener had painted a landscape worthy of a magazine cover. The only eyesore was the flowerbed the Pomeranian had been rummaging around in, an area Javier had cleared out right before he was called away on a family emergency. When he left two weeks ago, he assured her he'd return to finish the project. Maybe the crisis had finally passed and he'd stopped by as promised, although she doubted the cigarette butts were his. She couldn't recall ever seeing him smoke.

When Rory bent down to inspect the flowerbed, she caught sight of something twinkling in the dirt. She knelt down on the grass and plunged her hand into the cool earth, clearing away the soil from around the sparkling object.

An involuntary cry of alarm sprang from her lips. Her tennis shoes slid on the damp grass as Rory leapt to her feet and gaped at the finger sticking out of the dirt. She closed her eyes and said to herself over and over again: It's not real. It's all in your mind. Once she'd convinced herself the finger was a vision caused by too many hours at the computer, she opened her eyes and stared down at the ground again.

The finger was still there.

Rory shaded her eyes from the spring sun and peered around her backyard, hoping to find a teenage prankster lurking behind a bush. When no one popped out to claim responsibility, she fought back a wave of nausea. The cereal she'd eaten for breakfast rose in her throat. She swallowed hard.

Rory stared, mesmerized, at the finger. She dropped to her knees next to the flowerbed and mustered the courage to bend down for a closer examination of the misplaced digit.

Heart pounding so hard she half expected it to leap out of her chest, Rory removed a chunk of weeds from around the finger, exposing a well-manicured nail. Gingerly, she brushed away the dirt. More of the finger came into view. She avoided touching the skin as she removed more dirt, unearthing a hand, then a jacket-clad forearm. A diamond ring with a stone as large as a Hershey's Kiss glittered in the sunlight.

Rory sat back on her haunches, pushed her long brown hair behind her ears, and took a deep breath to counteract another wave of nausea. She remained rooted to the spot, her brain frozen, unable to process the situation. Gradually, her mind cleared and the panic subsided. As calmly as she could, she stood up and backed away from the makeshift gravesite, brushed the dirt off her jeans, and reached for the cell phone clipped to her belt.

After dialing 9-1-1, Rory cleaned her hands at a faucet near the back door and posted herself next to her charge, determined to stand guard until the police arrived. She longed to get as far away from the site as possible but, having found the body, she now felt responsible for it.

She avoided looking at the arm as she paced the grass in front of the flowerbed, zipping and unzipping the hooded sweatshirt she wore over a short-sleeved T-shirt, periodically glancing at the time on her cell phone. A patrol car should have been here by now. After all, Vista Beach was only a mile wide and two miles long where it hugged the coast just south of LAX. They should be able to dash from one end to the other in a matter of minutes.

Standing on her toes, Rory peeked over the fence that separated the front yard from the back. Birds twittered in the trees. A gray tabby wandered by. She moved over to the open gate for a better view of Seagull Lane. The only sign of human activity on the narrow street was the drone of a lawnmower down the block. She turned back to the flowerbed and resumed her pacing.

Burglary, vandalism, identity theft, and the odd home invasion robbery were the extent of the crimes in her quiet town. She doubted the police department had the resources to deal with the problem that now confronted them. Perhaps they were consulting with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, as neighboring cities had done in similar situations, and that's why no one had arrived yet.

Rory stopped mid-zip when another possible reason for the delay popped into her mind: Chief Redmond Marshall wanted to respond to the call personally. She never knew what to say to the man. Guilt swept through her every time she saw the scar on his neck, a daily reminder of the fire that killed the chief's wife and young daughter almost thirty years ago when Rory was barely two years old.

Rory sensed movement behind her and turned to find a squirrel sitting five feet away. They locked eyes for a moment before she motioned with her hands for it to leave. After successfully shooing the inquisitive animal away, her gaze strayed to the flowerbed. She moved around its edge, ducking her six-foot frame under an overhanging branch to examine the area in more detail. Putting her hands in the pockets of her hoodie so she wouldn't inadvertently disturb the scene, she leaned down to inspect the jacket sleeve. Even with a button missing and soil embedded in the fabric, she could tell the garment was expensive. Several spots that looked like Phthalo Blue acrylic paint captured her interest. With her butt in the air and nose to the dirt, Rory studied the hand while she waited for the police to arrive.

The dainty fingers and gigantic ring seemed vaguely familiar, but she had no idea where she'd seen them before. Most of the paint spots on the back of the hand were mere specks except for the splotches on the index and middle fingers that had originally attracted her attention. A thin strip of something black peeked out from under the arm.

Rory leaned in for a better view. She felt herself falling forward. Horrified, she groped around for something to stop her descent. With her nose almost touching the partially exposed body and the scent of damp earth filling her nostrils, her flailing...