He made it sound like fun. My system disagreed. “I got zapped. Yes.” And now there were glitches on the floors above the ballroom? “Those burned-out circuits might be related. Touching the wall might have deflectedthe flow.”
“Lucky us.” Rick sighed as he checked his tablet. “More glitches to fix.”
I doubted luck was involved. My readings showed there was something off about that energy. That didn’t just happen.
“I’m going to have to wait for Jim to return. You want the second or third floor?”
“Before I go… that glitch Jim told you I was chasing… it was the old elevator.” I held up a hand to stop Rick from interrupting. “You don’t have to tell me; Layla made it pretty clear it’s off-limits. I picked up a dissonance. Perhaps I should have realized when I couldn’t tell where it came from, but I had to check it out.”
“Right.” He crossed his arms. “And you’re mentioning it because?”
“I thought you should know, in case someone complains about it.” No need to tell him about meeting the elevator operator. “I’ll take the second floor.”
“Gotcha,” Rick said as he handed me a toolkit. “And thanks for the heads-up.”
Once I reached the second floor of the west wing, I tried to lose myself in the repairs. I scanned and rewired the affected rooms, but the lingering sense of something being off about that log still bothered me.
It had been tampered with; I was sure of that, even if the only visible proof was ajat the end of a sentence. At first glance, I thought it was a typo. I’d dismissed another strayjin a different log for the same reason. But two of them? In different logs? That couldn’t be a coincidence.
As I replaced broken components, I scanned the logs for any sign of similar typos. By the time the energy flow on the second floor was back to normal, I’d found four more tampered logs.
The typos had to be an oversight, but they hinted atsomething much bigger. Whoever had messed with these logs knew what they were doing.
Chapter Sixteen
SAM
bouncing off the walls
My “Walking on Sunshine,” I-kissed-Adri happy bubble burst the moment I walked into the café, and Mateo greeted me with a frustrated expression.
“What a shitshow of a shift. No clue what’s going on, but the registers needed rebooting twice, the grinder glitched out a few times, and even Gandalf was acting up more than usual. The pressure wasn’t right, and the shots weren’t pulling consistently.”
I grumbled at him and glanced at Gandalf. “It wasn’t just because none of you really…”
Mateo laughed. “I wish. No, that’s not it, Sam, really. Believe me, it’s acting up more than it usually does. Kitchen seems fine, though. Not a peep from Théo.”
“Okay. Pastries, but no coffee.” I crossed my fingers I’d only see Théo filling the displays. “I’ll check it out. You haven’t called the IT department?”
“They were busy and said they’d call back. You might have to chase after them.” There was a spark in Mateo's eyes I wasn’t sure I liked.
I sighed. “I guess I’ll do that… after I check on Gandalf.” Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned anything about Adri. It was just a comment about espresso, but Mateo must have picked up on something.
“Go, rest. I’ll keep you up to date.”
“Sure. Cool.” Mateo yawned, grabbed his coat, and left. I turned to the shop. Zane and Lucy were already wiping the floor and logging into the registers.
I focused my attention on Gandalf. I set up the first shot, and Mateo was right. The pressure didn’t seem to be consistent, and the shot was off. I made a few more; they were all over the place, as if I was a rookie working this machine.
“Come on. What’s wrong with you?” I adjusted the grind size and tested the water flow, but nothing fixed the inconsistency. Every shot was different, and none were good. The grinder was acting up again.
Lucy yelled, “Sam! The register keeps glitching out. The keys… give the wrong output. I type a five, and it gives me any number but five.”
I turned, but Zane put his hand on the register and pointed to the laminated list of rules next to it. “Don’t let Sam touch anything but the coffee machines.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t going to touch it,” I said. “But I can’t describe what I can’t see.”
He hit the five, causing the screen to flash, and a seven appeared. “Right. Time to call IT. Let me know if the other registers do the same.” I dialed IT, surprised when Rick himself answered. “Hey, Rick.”
