Chapter 4: The Investigation
Anna visibly paled, her hands gripping the edge of the table. "What do you mean, save my
life? From what?"
"I don't know yet," I admitted, standing up and taking off my white coat. "But animals
have senses that far exceed our own. They can hear frequencies we can't. They can smell
chemical changes in the air, barometric pressure shifts, even changes in our own blood
sugar or heart rate. If Luna is forcing you out of that room every night, it is because she
perceives a deadly threat in that specific room, at that specific time."
I looked at the clock. It was 1:00 PM. I had a two-hour break before my afternoon
surgeries. "Anna, I need to see your house. Specifically, I need to see your bedroom."
Anna was too exhausted and frightened to argue. We packed Luna into her carrier, and I
followed Anna’s car to her home in a quiet, affluent suburb. The house was a beautiful, two-
story colonial structure built in the 1970s, surrounded by ancient oak trees. It looked
peaceful, idyllic.
We stepped inside. The house was immaculate, smelling faintly of lavender and old
wood. We went straight upstairs to the master bedroom. It was a spacious room with a large
bay window, a heavy oak bedframe, and thick, plush carpets.
I stood in the center of the room, closing my eyes and simply listening. I inhaled deeply.
There was no smell of gas, no smoke, no mold. I checked the windows; they were sealed
tight. I looked at the ceiling, checking for water damage. Nothing.
"Where does Luna sleep before she wakes you?" I asked.
"Usually at the foot of the bed," Anna replied, pointing to a folded blanket.
I knelt down by the bed. "And she wakes you around 3:00 or 4:00 AM. What happens in
this house at that time? Does a neighbor leave for work? Does the sprinkler system turn on?
Think hard."
Anna shook her head. "No, nothing. The neighborhood is dead silent. The only thing that
happens is... well, the heat comes on."
I paused. "The heat?"
"Yes," Anna said. "I have a smart thermostat downstairs. To save money, I have the
heating system programmed to drop to 60 degrees during the night while I'm under the
heavy blankets. Then, at exactly 3:00 AM, it kicks back on, raising the house to 70 degrees so
it's warm by the time I wake up at 6:00 AM for work."
My heart began to pound in my chest. I crawled on my hands and knees around the
perimeter of the bed. "Where are the heating vents in this room?"
"There's one right under the bed," Anna said, pointing beneath the heavy oak frame.
"And another by the window."
I grabbed a flashlight from my medical bag and shined it beneath the bed. The metal
grate of the floor vent was old, slightly rusted around the edges. But something else caught
my eye. Right next to the vent, the hardwood floorboards were slightly warped, and there
was a faint, dark discoloration on the wood.
"Anna, where is your furnace located?" I asked urgently.
"In the basement, directly below us. The main exhaust pipe runs up through the wall
right behind the headboard of the bed, out through the roof."
I stood up, the pieces of the puzzle violently snapping into place. It wasn't a ghost. It
wasn't an intruder. It was something entirely invisible, completely silent, and absolutely
deadly.
Chapter 5: The Invisible Killer
"Anna, do you have a carbon monoxide detector in this house?" I asked, my voice tight.
"I have a smoke detector in the hallway," she said, looking confused. "I don't think it
detects carbon monoxide. Why?"
"I need you to grab Luna, go downstairs, step out onto the front porch, and wait for me,"
I instructed, not leaving room for argument.
Once she was outside, I pulled out my phone and dialed the local fire department. I
explained that I was a veterinarian conducting a house call and suspected a severe carbon