As the evening light faded and Pedro wiped down the last of the tables, he checked his phone again. A new message. A number he didn’t recognize. He opened it, heart hammering. The message was short and jolting. Someone had seen a black and white dog hit by a car—a week ago.
The sender explained they lived just a couple kilometers outside the college. They had reported the accident to the police at the time and then tried to forget about it — until they saw the missing poster today. “Thought you should know,” the message read. Pedro stared at the screen, and his heart plummeted.