I tucked it under my arm and turned off the garage light.

At eight o’clock, the sun finally dropped below the horizon, leaving the Lakewood house in deep shadow.

I stood in the home office off the kitchen and turned on my small brass desk lamp.

Daniel and Ava still weren’t home.

I pulled my heavy metal fireproof box from the bottom shelf of the storage closet.

It scraped against the wooden floorboards as I dragged it out.

I carried it to the middle of the room and set it down on the carpet beneath my desk.