The Scent Keeper

Using the computer in the school library, Emmeline decides to do a Google search for “Nightingale.” Several dead-ends lead her to a business story dated 10 years earlier about an inventor named John Hartfell who created a machine he dubbed Nightingale; the newspaper photo showed the machine, and Emmeline remembers it as her father’s machine from the cabin. The article reveals how the machine, which promised to preserve scents, turned into a debacle when the scents began to fade, leading to a firestorm of lawsuits. The article identifies John’s wife and business partner, Victoria Wingate. Facing catastrophic lawsuits, John disappeared along with his daughter. Emmeline prints out the article, but she is confronted by one of the meaner kids as she tries to exit the library. Desperate to keep the print-out, she kicks him in the groin and heads out of the school, hiking the entire eight miles back to the resort.

The news article shakes Emmeline. Her entire life appears to be a lie. Her father, believed to be a hero, was a liar, a failure, a crank, and worst of all a kidnapper. She ends up at Fisher’s house where his mother, a gentle and pale woman, invites Emmeline to stay for dinner if she calls Colette and Henry first.