Page 35 of Hammer and Hops

“Of course not. I should finish up here in the next couple of hours. Want to meet at my place?”

“Is there any way I can go there now and wait for you?”

“Yes. Of course. Let me think. I’m working with my brother, Jay. Hang on a sec.” I turned to see him waving at me.

“Go do what you gotta do, Casanova.”

I flicked him off before talking to Everett again. “I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes. Does that work?”

“I don’t want to pull you away from work.”

“I’ll meet you there, let you in, get you settled, then I’ll come back and finish up with Jay. It’ll be fine. It’s more important that you’re alright and feel safe.” That was the truth. I'd drop everything to help him. Maybe I was a sucker, but I still cared about him.

“Okay then. See you there.”

Chapter twenty-nine

Danger Will Robinson – Everett

A work crew started cleaning up at the brewery, despite the fact that I still wasn’t even sure how I was going to pay for it. I would find a way, but for now, I needed to see progress. While I was there getting them going, Alfred dropped by, and we hid some extra cameras. I was impressed at his stealth and his equipment.

Afterward, we went to lunch at the Blue Star. That place was jumping. Alfred took selfies of us eating there as well as pictures of the actual food. “I like posting things like that on my Insta.”

“I’ll have you come do some of the brewery when it’s up and running again. If it gets running.”

“Hey. It will. I know it. You’re in the best place and best company to make that happen. Cameron is very popular and you have Queen Gaming behind you, too.”

I couldn’t deny that I liked both of those. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it. Now pull up the app I put on your phone, and let’s see if it’s working.”

I tapped the right app and each camera in turn. “Oh fuck.”

“What?” His eyes grew wide behind his glasses.

“It’s him. He’s creeping around the brewery. Well, maybe not creeping. He’s acting like he’s part of the crew, actually.”

“Let me see.” Alfred got up, circled the table, and squeezed in beside me on the booth. “That him? At the faucet?”

“Yeah.” He was trying to rinse his hands at the automatic handwashing station. I didn’t think the camera that was capturing this footage had been placed well, but I guessed I was wrong. Mitchel tried to turn it on. He was wearing black surgical gloves, and it wouldn’t work for him. Something about the black gloves kept the faucet from correctly sensing the hand.

Finally, he took the gloves off and tucked them in his pocket before rinsing his hands. Then he accidentally touched the front of the counter on the apron of the sink. It was clear where he did it.

“We should be able to lift a print right there. Push that button.” He pointed to my phone. There was a still-capture option, so I tapped it, making it flash for a second. “That will help us pinpoint the spot.”

“Let’s get out there. Shit. He’s trying to break into the grain room.”

“What’s that?”

“Where we store the grains. I order those in but grow the hops. Still, we store everything in there. He could do a lot of damage. That room is fireproofed, so the grain is good, but I don’t want it open until everything is cleaned or we run the risk of contamination.”

“Would he know that?”

“Hell yes. He owns his own brewery, and he’s trying to sabotage me.”

I shot off a text to Cameron, letting him know what was going on before getting in my car. Alfred was right behind me. I didn’t race through town, as much as I wanted to, but I did gun it through my parking lot and didn’t bother to turn the engine off after I parked. I threw the door open and ran inside.

“Mitchel Harlen!”