The Scent Keeper

Emmeline is uneasy. The magazine article appears to suggest she is her mother’s “secret weapon” (250) to expand Inspire’s portfolio. Disturbed, she seeks the refuge of her office where she falls into a deep sleep. When she awakens, she smells the cabin—specifically, her father’s pipe smoke. She follows the scent to a small backroom lab where she meets Rene, an older researcher in charge of developing scents for things that are disappearing, like typewriter ribbons, virgin forest rains, and in this case pipe smoke. Rene tells Emmeline he knew her father and introduced him to Victoria.

When Emmeline returns to her office, she feels suddenly unable to focus on her newest project, a scent for a car dealership. Distressed, she leaves the building and heads to a park. There, in the window of kiosk, she catches sight of herself and sees how closely she now resembles her mother. Panicked, she goes to the bar where she found Fisher. He is there, working behind the bar. Fisher sees Emmeline but says nothing. When a man at the bar makes an inappropriate remark to Emmeline, Fisher steps in and confronts the man. Given his show of temper against a customer, Fisher is told by his boss to leave and not come back until he can control his anger.