Page 113 of Love Is Brewing

“Fuck,” he said. “Thanks. I’ll deal with it.”

“Do you think it’s him?”

“I’m not sure what to think,” he said, “other than the facts. And he’s been around when a lot of other issues happened too.”

“Sounds like you’ve got your answer then.”

“Yeah,” he said and hung up with his brother.

How the hell could he have been so wrong and missed this?

Skip was off today since he worked yesterday and clocked out at five. At four, the card was swiped.

“Well?” Kyle asked.

“Mason and Ben rescheduled,” he said.

“Shit,” Kyle said. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t blame them. I’d do the same. But it looks like Skip’s card was swiped around four yesterday. An hour before his shift ended.”

“He’s off today,” Kyle said.

“I’m going to call him in around ten,” he said.

“Are you going to fire him?” Kyle asked.

“I have to,” he said. “You can leave. Thanks for sticking around.”

“Are you sure?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got shit to do and get in order first.”

He was going to have to talk to HR to make sure everything was taken care of, but decided to text Phoebe first.

Maybe he needed a nice encouraging voice.

If he ever reached out to West or Braylon they’d start to tell him what to do rather than ask. Rather than walk him through things to figure out on his own.

Maybe that was why he fought so hard to prove he could do it.

Phoebe would understand and he could trust her.

“You’re calling early,” she said when she answered. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” he said. He told her what happened and what was discovered.

“I’m sorry it happened again, but at least you know who did it.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Didn’t even need a camera for it. The cards let me see it all.”

“Back up,” she said. “You don’t have him on camera doing it? Even going into the room?”

He sighed. “You’re going to get all lawyer on me, aren’t you?”

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s my job. All you’ve got is his card being swiped. Nothing more. That proves it was used to access the room but not thathewas the one to do it.”

“So I’m back to square one?” he asked, running his hands through his hair. “I’d rather think one of my most loyal employees stabbed me in the back and tried to make trouble than I still don’t know what is going on.”