Chapter 2 — The Thing Hidden Inside the Tree
Robert walked toward the Christmas tree.
He carefully reached between two branches.
Then pulled out a small gold envelope.
Sophie stopped crying for a moment.
“What’s that?”
Robert held it awkwardly.
Daniel stared.
“You put that in the tree?”
Robert nodded.
Attached to the envelope was the same thin gold ribbon Milo had been pawing at.
One end had been hanging several inches below the branch.
Exactly at cat-eye level.
Daniel looked toward the camera footage.
Then toward Robert.
“Milo wasn’t interested in the ornament.”
Robert lowered his eyes.
“No.”
“He was interested in this.”
“Looks that way.”
Sophie frowned.
“Grandpa put it there?”
Robert nodded.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“So the thing that attracted the cat was something you added to the tree.”
Robert immediately said:
“I didn’t know Milo would—”
Then stopped.
He heard how familiar the sentence sounded.
He had just accused Sophie based on something he did not know.
Now he was trying to explain his own mistake with the same uncertainty.
Daniel asked:
“What is in the envelope?”
Robert hesitated.
“A surprise for Helen.”
Grandma Helen was upstairs wrapping gifts.
She had no idea any of this was happening yet.
Robert had planned a Christmas surprise.
For months, Helen had been talking about one thing:
A family photograph.
Not an old one.
A new one.
Everyone together.
Daniel.
Sophie.
Robert.
Helen.
Daniel’s sister Rachel and her family.
All in one picture.
The problem was that the family had not managed a complete photograph in almost five years.
Somebody was always working.
Traveling.
Sick.
Late.
Or simply unavailable.
Robert secretly hired a photographer for Christmas morning.
The gold envelope contained a printed card:
10:00 A.M. TOMORROW — EVERYBODY TOGETHER. NO EXCUSES.
Robert planned to let Helen discover it inside the tree after dinner.
Sophie looked confused.
“Why hide it?”
Robert smiled faintly.
“Because surprises are supposed to be hidden.”
Daniel looked at the broken ornament.
“Not necessarily behind fragile glass decorations with a cat in the house.”
Robert sighed.
“Point taken.”
But the hidden envelope explained only how the ornament fell.
It did not explain why Robert had become so certain Sophie was guilty.