Then a doctor approached.
“Are you Vanessa Cole’s brother?”
Daniel stood immediately.
“Yes. Is she going to be okay?”
“We’re doing everything we can. But we have reason to suspect that she may have been exposed to a dangerous substance inside her home.”
“What substance?”
“We’re still investigating. Do you have any gas appliances in the house?”
Daniel stared at him.
“There is a gas water heater near the kitchen. Why?”
The doctor exchanged a brief glance with a colleague.
“We need to establish whether there was a problem with the appliance or the ventilation.”
Daniel felt the blood drain from his face.
He suddenly remembered Vanessa’s phone call.
She had said Duke was behaving strangely.
At the time, Daniel had laughed.
Now, he wondered whether the dog had been trying to warn her.
Several hours later, a police officer contacted the family with an update from the house.
Investigators had discovered a serious ventilation problem near the gas water heater. The appliance had not been venting properly, creating a potentially dangerous buildup of combustion gases.
