Chapter 17 - What Buddy Really SmelledEvelyn returned to Chicago furious.
Preston would not speak to Sophie.
He would not see her.
He would not use her again.
Detective Bennett agreed.
But the claim forced them to reexamine the wedding video.
Buddy hadn't randomly attacked Preston's pocket.
What had attracted him?
Dogs could smell food.
Perfume.
Another animal.
Sophie's belongings.
The torn tuxedo pocket had been collected as evidence.
Inside the remaining lining, forensics found tiny blue fibers.
Wool.
Diane recognized the color.
Buddy's ribbon.
But why would Sophie's ribbon fibers be inside Preston's pocket?
Then Sophie remembered.
“I lost part of it.”
“When?”
“In Aunt Victoria's room.”
She had found the extra ribbon but dropped a small cut section near the vanity.
Preston must have picked it up.
“Why?”
Evelyn asked Sophie whether anything had been wrapped in the ribbon.
The little girl thought.
Then her eyes widened.
“My key.”
“What key?”
“Grandpa's.”
Evelyn stared.
Sophie had carried an old brass key on a ribbon for nearly a year.
Charles gave it to her when she was a toddler.
She called it Grandpa's treasure key.
No one knew what it opened.
After Daniel died, Sophie found it among keepsakes and began wearing it occasionally.
For the wedding, Evelyn told her not to wear a random brass key with her dress.
Sophie tied it into Buddy's spare ribbon instead.
Then left it in Victoria's room.
“When you found the ribbon…”
“The key was gone.”
Evelyn's pulse increased.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I forgot.”
Of course.
She was eight.
Then everyone started accusing her of stealing a necklace.
Preston hadn't been in Victoria's suite only for the audit drive.
He found Charles's key.
And pocketed it.
Buddy smelled Sophie's ribbon on him.
Maybe Preston had touched the dog earlier.
Maybe Buddy simply recognized the scent.
But the dog wasn't searching for diamonds.
He was trying to get back something belonging to Sophie.
“What does the key open?” Detective Bennett asked.
Diane didn't know.
Adam, reached by phone, did.
“A safe-deposit box.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
Charles had opened it after Adam's first disappearance.
Thomas Bennett helped.
The box contained original records proving Richard Hale's fraud.
“Dad kept the key for thirty years?”
“Yes.”
“And gave it to Sophie?”
“Probably without remembering what it opened.”
Diane shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Charles remembered everything.”
“Then why give it to a toddler?”
Diane smiled sadly.
“Because nobody steals a toy from a child.”
The irony hurt.
Preston did.
Detective Bennett obtained a warrant to search Preston's belongings again.
The brass key wasn't found.
He had moved it.
When asked, Preston refused to answer.
Instead, through his attorney, he repeated:
Sophie knows where it is.
Evelyn nearly exploded.
“She doesn't.”
But maybe she did.
Sophie remembered Preston taking her ribbon.
“He said it fell.”
“What exactly happened?”
After Sophie found Preston in the bridal suite, he approached her.
He picked up the ribbon from the floor.
“Is this yours?”
Sophie said yes.
He handed the ribbon back.
But the key was no longer attached.
Sophie didn't notice.
“Did he say anything else?”
“He asked if Grandpa gave me other keys.”
Everyone froze.
“What did you say?”
“I said maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I have his old key box.”
Diane looked at Evelyn.
Charles collected antique keys.
A wooden box containing dozens sat at Evelyn's house.
Preston thought there might be duplicates.
“Did you tell him where?”
Sophie nodded.
“My room.”
Evelyn's blood turned cold.
Preston knew where they lived.
He had attended family dinners there.
“If the key isn't in his belongings…”
“He gave it to someone,” Detective Bennett said.
Arthur Dean?
No.
He had been forced into cooperation.
Someone else.
Preston's investigation discovered payments to a private security consultant named Marcus Shaw.
Shaw had attended the wedding.
Listed as a guest from Preston's side.
No one remembered seeing him after the necklace fell.
Hotel cameras did.
At 9:18 p.m., during the chaos, Marcus exited through the parking garage.
He drove directly toward Evanston.
Toward Evelyn's house.
Police raced there.
The front door was intact.
No forced entry.
Inside, Sophie's bedroom had been searched.
Drawers open.
Toys moved.
The wooden key box sat on the floor.
Empty.
Evelyn's hands shook.
Someone had entered her child's room while she was being accused of theft across town.
“Is anything else missing?” Detective Bennett asked.
Evelyn looked.
Family photographs remained.
Jewelry untouched.
Only keys.
Then Sophie pointed.
“My bear.”
A stuffed brown bear lay facedown.
She picked it up.
The seam had been cut.
Something removed.
Evelyn frowned.
“What was inside?”
Sophie started crying.
“Daddy's letter.”
Evelyn froze.
Daniel had written Sophie several letters before he died, knowing his injuries from the crash might become fatal.
Evelyn thought she knew all of them.
“What letter?”
“Grandpa's.”
Sophie wiped her cheeks.
“Daddy said I couldn't open it until I was ten.”
Evelyn's heart pounded.
Daniel had hidden something from her.
“Where did he get it?”
“Grandpa gave it to him.”
Preston wasn't merely searching Charles's history.
He had learned Evelyn's late husband possessed something too.
The deeper mystery hadn't ended with Charles.
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It had passed to Daniel.
And then to Sophie.
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