Chapter 19
Trevor lit a candle and made his way down a narrow staircase to the basement, the smell of must making his nose twitch. The furnace was in the far corner near the electrical box, and as he moved toward it, a bright red tag on the exhaust pipe caught his eye.
WARNING: Cracked Heat Exchanger. Carbon Monoxide Hazard.
It was handwritten in thick black marker, signed with a scribble, and fastened to the furnace with a zip tie. He’d never seen anything like it.
He pried open the panel on the furnace. It was older, with a cylindrical heat exchanger, and he moved to a small workbench to locate some basic tools. Within minutes he was inspecting it in the candle’s light. Sure enough, there was a crack.
“Son of a gun,” he whispered. They wouldn’t be getting any heat out of this furnace today. Carbon monoxide from the burning fuel would flow right out of the crack and into the cabin, killing anyone who slept in the house.
He laid on his back and stared up at the foreboding red tag. Who would leave something like this, instead of fixing the problem? It was potentially deadly and just sitting here waiting for someone to turn the gas back on and adjust the thermostat.
He ran his finger over the crack while his mind considered the possibilities, then inhaled quickly when his finger was sliced open by a sharp metal edge.
What the hell?
A cracked heat exchanger shouldn’t have a sharp edge like that. No, the “crack” in this cylinder was only made to look like it was naturally occurring. In fact, it had been deliberately punctured with some kind of sharp tool.
Trevor sucked on his bleeding finger and made his way back upstairs. Olivia was standing in the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
“Any luck on the furnace?” she asked.
“No.” He told her about the sabotaged heat exchanger and explained what it meant. “Someone did this on purpose, to fill this place with carbon monoxide.”
“Why would someone do that?” she asked.
“The only reason I can think of is murder.”
She stared at him several beats too long, the color seeming to drain from her face.
“Olivia, are you okay?”
Her eyelids fluttered and he moved to grab her, catching her just as she went limp and passed out.