Though he had no collar and clearly no owner, Benny was a local favorite. The coffee shop staff left him bowls of water, the florist once knit him a scarf for winter, and even the grumpy old postman slipped him crusts of bread when no one was looking.

He was gentle. He never barked or begged. He simply wandered the streets with purpose—and always ended up by the storm drain.

No one thought much of it. Maybe he’d dropped something there once, or liked the cool air from below. Until one rainy Wednesday afternoon changed everything.

It began a few days earlier.