leetcode-211-Add and Search Word - Data structure design

#include <iostream>
#include <string.h>
using namespace std;
class WordDictionary {
public:
    struct node {
        bool end;
        node *child[26];
        node() {
            end = false;
            memset(child, 0, sizeof(child));
        }
    };
    WordDictionary() {
        root = NULL;
    }
    // Adds a word into the data structure.
    void addWord(string word) {
        if (!root) {
            root = new node();
        }
        int counter = 0;
        node *current = root;
        while (counter != word.length()) {
            if (!current->child[word[counter] - 'a']) {
                current->child[word[counter] - 'a'] = new node();
            }
            current = current->child[word[counter] - 'a'];
            counter++;
        }
        current->end = true;
    }
    bool search(node *start, string word) {
        if (!start) {
            return false;
        }
        if (word.length() == 0 && start->end) {
            return true;
        }
        if (word.length() == 0 && !start->end) {
            return false;
        }
        if (word[0] == '.') {
            for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++) {
                if (start->child[i]) {
                    if (search(start->child[i], word.c_str() + 1)) {
                        return true;
                    }
                }
            }
            return false;
        }
        if (start->child[word[0] - 'a']) {
            return search(start->child[word[0] - 'a'], word.c_str() + 1);
        }
        return false;
    }
    // Returns if the word is in the data structure. A word could
    // contain the dot character '.' to represent any one letter.
    bool search(string word) {
        return search(root, word);
    }
private:
    node *root;
};

// Your WordDictionary object will be instantiated and called as such:
// WordDictionary wordDictionary;
// wordDictionary.addWord("word");
// wordDictionary.search("pattern");
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
     WordDictionary wordDictionary;
     wordDictionary.addWord("aa");
     wordDictionary.addWord("wef");
     cout << wordDictionary.search(".") << endl;
    // insert code here...
    std::cout << "Hello, World!\n";
    return 0;
}