Chapter 4 - THE DOG WHO REMEMBERED
Bruno had belonged to Dante for five years.
He was a trained protection dog, powerful and disciplined, with a scar across his muzzle from an injury suffered before Dante acquired him.
He rarely tolerated strangers.
But he had accepted Sophie immediately.
That should have been strange enough.
What troubled Dante more was the way Bruno reacted to the hidden passage.
The dog didn't merely growl.
He recognized something.
A scent.
A sound.
A memory.
The next morning, Dante summoned Bruno's former trainer.
His name was Patrick O'Connell.
A retired police canine instructor with a weathered face and an Irish accent.
Patrick examined the dog.
Then asked to see the tunnel.
Bruno entered the corridor cautiously.
His ears lifted.
He sniffed the floor.
Then moved toward the hidden door.
Patrick watched.
"He's tracking someone familiar."
Dante frowned.
"Familiar?"
Patrick nodded.
"Possibly someone he's encountered before."
I stood nearby holding Sophie's hand.
"Could it be Miguel?"
Patrick looked at me.
"I can't tell you that."
He knelt beside Bruno.
"But this dog isn't acting like he's following a completely unknown scent."
Dante asked Patrick to review Bruno's training history.
The records showed something unexpected.
Before Dante acquired him, Bruno had spent six months in a private security program.
The program had been operated by a contractor named Victor Salcedo.
I knew that name.
My husband had once mentioned a Victor who worked in refrigeration.
A man he disliked.
A man he said was "too interested in things that weren't his business."
I looked at Dante.
"Victor Salcedo."
His expression changed.
"You know him?"
I nodded.
"Miguel worked with him."
Dante went still.
They reviewed old employment records.
Victor had been a subcontractor for several Moretti-owned warehouses.
He had also been present near the Brooklyn bakery on the morning Miguel disappeared.
And three years later, he was listed as a consultant to the estate's security division.
The consultant who had recommended Marcus Hale.
Dante stared at the file.
His jaw tightened.
That evening, Sophie asked if she could visit the garden.
I hesitated.
Dante had increased security around the house.
The cottage remained closed.
We were staying in guest rooms near Teresa's suite.
But Sophie was tired of being indoors.
Dante looked at her.
"Would you like Bruno to come?"
Her face brightened.
"Yes, please."
He smiled faintly.
"Then he can accompany you."
We walked through the rose garden.
Bruno stayed beside Sophie.
She held his leash with both hands while I remained close.
For a few minutes, everything felt ordinary.
Then Sophie stopped.
"Mama?"
"Yes?"
"The knocking man smelled like Daddy."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
She looked up.
"Like the old jacket."
Miguel had owned a brown leather jacket.
It smelled of cedar soap and the peppermint gum he always carried.
Sophie used to sleep with it after his death.
I swallowed.
"Sweetheart, what do you mean?"
She frowned.
"He smelled like Daddy's jacket."
May you like
Then she looked toward the old boathouse.
"And he said he was sorry."
