The towel blocking the vent had not fallen by chance. The boiler had been tampered with. Valves forced into positions they should not have been in.
One technician shook his head slowly.
“This doesn’t happen on its own,” he said. “Someone did this.”
When Morales spoke with Sofia later that morning in a child care room, she answered softly, swinging her legs above the floor.
“Yesterday,” she said, “Dad was very nervous. He was yelling on the phone.”
“What did he say?” Morales asked.
“He said he couldn’t pay anymore,” she replied. “And someone told him he had until today.”
“Did you see who he was talking to?”
“No.”
“Has anyone been coming to your house lately?”
Sofia nodded.
“For a month now,” she said. “Men come at night. Mom says it’s grown-up stuff.”
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