The phone call from the Vancouver RCMP in the fall of 2024 was disconcerting, to say the least. Uncle Joe Atherton was no scofflaw. The scuttlebutt was that a senior member of the RCMP had been secretly buried under the flagpole at Fairmont Barracks. After decades of mess-hall musings about a secret burial at Fairmont Barracks, retired RCMP Supt. For a variety of reasons — mostly physical distance — I did not pay enough attention to my Uncle Joe while he was alive.