AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess so,” I answer with a frown as she pushes past me. “Why?”
“Mine’s not working. My room feels like a walk-in freezer,” she says as she looks for the thermostat.
“I’m sure it’s notthatbad,” I shrug.
“You’re welcome to go to my room and experience it for yourself.”
“Wow, that’s a little presumptuous, inviting me up to your room.”
“Oh my god. You are such a pig,” she sighs and shakes her head.
She eventually locates the thermostat panel and growls in frustration. “Yours is also not working.”
“Seriously?”
“You didn’t notice how cold it’s suddenly gotten?”
“No, not really,” I point out.
It’s true. I didn’t notice it at all. Maybe it’s because I like the cold. I’m not one of those people who like the summertime, which is why I moved to New York from my hometown in Florida. The heat is not my favorite thing, and it never has been, either.
“You have to fix it,” she commands.
“Me? I don’t know how to fix a thermostat,” I point out.
She purses her lips and looks at me for a second. “The hotel has a heating system. Maybe it just switched off or something when the last of the staff left. Maybe someone accidentally turned it off.”
“And why would they do that? They know we’re still here.”
“I don’t know,” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “Do you have any better explanations?”
“Well, firstly, we don’t need any explanations. We need a solution,” I say and march over to the low table in the living room. On the table, I have sprawled out all the documents and blueprints of the hotel for my research. I had already inspected a few areas earlier this evening and will carry out the rest of the inspection in the morning.
“What’s all this?” she asks.
“This is how I do all my inspections.”
“With blueprints and floor maps?”
I nod, and she looks at me. I can’t quite figure out whether she’s impressed by my methods or jealous she didn’t think of doing it this way.
“Are you just showing me this to gloat, or do you have a solution in mind?” she asks and crosses her arms.
“The main heating system for the hotel should be here,” I say and press my finger against the blueprint, “in the control room.”
“And what if that’s broken too?” she asks.
“We won’t know until we see for ourselves,” I say and head to the door. I look at her over my shoulder. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” she says absentmindedly and follows me out of the door.
Walking along the long hallway with Kinsley next to me feels more awkward than I thought it would. She doesn’t look at me or say a single word to me. Does she really dislike methatmuch already? Well, I did call her a bitch after all. But she doesn’t strike me as the kind of person whose feelings get hurt so easily.
There’s also a tense atmosphere following us as we make our way down the hallway.
“Why are you so worked up anyway?” I suddenly ask as we reach the lobby. “It’s just a broken thermostat. Surely your room has extra blankets that you can use to keep warm.”
“It’s not that,” she mutters and exhales in frustration. “I heard on the news that a big blizzard is heading this way in the next few days, and it’s one of the worst there has ever been in this area.”
