“Start in her room?”

            “That’s right,” Copernicus said and Buddy could tell that the cockatiel was pleased with him.  “Good luck.”

            “Thanks,” Buddy said and left the room.  Noise to the ground, Buddy entered the little girl’s room.  Her scent immediately dominated his senses and soon he found the bear’s smell.  He knew it right away since she always had it with her.  It had a mixture of her, the house, and other scents as well.  The unique smell was strongly concentrated by her bed, but it was not a strong as it normally was.  The bear hadn’t been there for a while.  Buddy sniffed the area and found the unique scent all over, but he followed the strongest one.  That one led out of the room and up stairs.  Once upstairs, the scent led him to the kitchen and that was where it ended.  The scent was all over like downstairs, but not as strong as the one he had just followed.  It appeared he was at a dead end.

            The little girl was still watching the picture box, and Mom was in the kitchen.  She looked over at Buddy and said something.  He knew she was warning him away from That Which is Forbidden.  Buddy knew better than to linger close to it.  His search continued into the Master’s bedroom, but that was only a formality.  He wanted all bases covered before he reported back to Copernicus.  The scent was in there, but it was very faint.  It had been a while since the bear had been in the room.  His search of the house had come up empty.  Not a good start to his first solo case.

            “The bear is not here,” Buddy said as he made his report.

            “Not surprising.  So we have to take it up another step.  Where was the scent the strongest?”

            “Her room, up the stairs,” Buddy started to say.  He stopped and thought about it.  There was another area where it was strong.  “That Which is Forbidden.”

            “What did you find in there?”

            “What!  I didn’t look!  I can’t, it’s in the name.  Mom would have to punish me.  Master would not be happy either,” Buddy said and could feel his tail wanting to go in between his legs.  “So I guess we’re stumped.”

            “No, we’re not.  You need to check that trash can.  Do it when Mom is not around.”

            “I can’t, the master!”

            “Buddy, the trail stops there.  We must continue on.  In order to solve this case, it must be checked,” Copernicus told him sternly.   Then after seeing how distressed Buddy was, he said, “Buddy it’s okay.  Just wait until Mom is downstairs and stick your noise in there.  Mom won’t even know.”

            Buddy wanted to think of more reasons why not to, but he couldn’t.  Copernicus was right.  It had to be done.  At least Mom was still upstairs; he wouldn’t have to do it right away.