Inside the bedroom, the sight was worse than anyone expected.
Sofia’s parents lay side by side on the bed. No signs of struggle. No visible injuries. Just two still bodies, breathing shallowly, barely.
The air was thick with gas.
A smoke detector hung uselessly on the wall. Its battery compartment was empty.
They were moved out immediately. Paramedics worked fast, loading them into the ambulance as sirens cut through the night.
From the garden, Sofia reached out toward her mother, her small hand trembling.
“Are they going to wake up?” she asked.
A nurse crouched beside her. “We’re doing everything we can.”
But as the emergency response continued, something caught Morales’s attention.
The main gas valve was wide open. Far more than it should have been.
In the bedroom, the ventilation duct had been blocked with a towel. It was shoved tightly into place from the inside.
Morales looked at his partner.
“This wasn’t an accident,” he said quietly.
Sofia was taken into temporary care, sitting silently in the back of the patrol car as the sky began to lighten. No one told her yet that the night was only the beginning.
At the hospital, her parents were placed in intensive care. Doctors confirmed severe carbon monoxide poisoning. The exposure had lasted hours.
Back at the house, forensic investigators moved carefully through each room.
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