THE CHRISTMAS SIGN AT THE LOCKED GATE : A little girl was punished for a broken ornament. The man who came home in the storm knew who had broken it—and why.

The Christmas angel had belonged to Gabriel's father, Walter Mercer, who died the previous spring. It had stood atop the family tree for forty-two years: porcelain face, silver wings, a hollow gold-painted body that rattled when shaken. Walter had been a carpenter before the furniture company became successful, and he made a point of putting the angel on the tree himself.

"Cheap as anything," he used to say, smiling at the expensive ornaments around it. "That's why I trust it."

Now the angel lay in a velvet-lined box in Evelyn's sitting room. Its face was intact. A crack ran around the base, where someone had pried it open with a narrow blade.

Gabriel photographed it before touching anything. "You told me Rosie smashed it."

Evelyn kept arranging Christmas cards on the mantel. "Children don't always tell you how they did something."

"Its face isn't broken."

"The sentimental value is broken."

"Who opened the base?"

She set down a card. "You sound like your father when he was looking for reasons to distrust me."

That answer told Gabriel more than she intended. He carried the box to his study and called Nora. By midnight she had found the refund account: a small consulting firm registered to Daniel. The money from Rosie's returned presents had been used to pay an overdue property tax bill on a lakeside cottage Daniel claimed he'd sold.

"There's more," Nora said. "Your father changed his estate instructions two weeks before he died. The attorney's office says the original inventory is missing."

"Find out who collected it."

"Daniel signed for the sealed envelope."

Gabriel looked at the angel. Its hollow body contained a folded scrap of tissue paper and a small metal key. On the tissue, in Walter's blocky handwriting, were the words: THE FIRST ACCOUNT ISN'T THE REAL ONE.

The key bore a number: 17.

At breakfast, Rosie entered the dining room holding Gabriel's hand. The table had been reset for Christmas Eve brunch, though no one seemed hungry. Celeste had a perfect smile and Owen had dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Rosie, dear," Evelyn said, "come apologize to everyone for yesterday."

Gabriel pulled out a chair for his daughter. "She's not apologizing for what you did."

"I was speaking to the child."

"So was I."

Owen suddenly pushed back his plate. "She didn't break the angel."

Celeste's fork stopped halfway to her mouth.

"Sit down," she said.

"I saw Dad take it from the tree."

Daniel stared at his son. "Careful."

"You told me to say Rosie climbed up and dropped it. But she was in the kitchen with Mrs. Alvarez."

Rosie looked at Owen, astonished. He stared at his hands.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Celeste grabbed his wrist. "He's confused."

Gabriel put his phone on the table. "Then let's hear what everyone remembers separately."

Daniel stood. "This is absurd. You return after abandoning us with the business and suddenly you're a detective."

"I left my daughter with family. That was my mistake."

The front bell rang. Nora had sent a courier with a copy of Walter's old insurance schedule. Attached was a photograph of the angel from three years earlier. Its base had the same hairline crack.

"It was opened before Rosie ever touched it," Gabriel said.

Evelyn's face lost color for the first time.

Later, while Gabriel helped Rosie put fresh socks on her sore feet, she told him what had happened on the night of the accusation. She had heard voices above the garage. Daniel was saying, "The key isn't there." Evelyn answered, "Then ask the girl what she saw." Someone else, a woman Rosie didn't recognize, had said, "Walter left more than one copy."

"Did you see her?" Gabriel asked.

"Only her shoes. Green shoes with shiny buckles."

At noon, Gabriel found a locked cabinet in Walter's workshop. Key 17 opened it. Inside lay an empty envelope marked CHRISTMAS, a bank statement from an institution Gabriel had never heard of, and a photograph of Walter beside a woman wearing green shoes.