Chapter 5 #2
I turn for the door and find Jett standing off to the side surveying the situation.
His gaze takes in the atrium, the halls beyond that lead to ballrooms, and The Greenhouse.
I’m about to walk by him, but he catches my forearm in his big hand.
He leans down and his breath is heavy and warm on my skin. “Where is the control room?”
I pull back far enough to look up at him. “Control room?”
He lifts his chin. “Electronics. Surveillance. Cameras ... the room where the shit is controlled. Where is it?”
The control room is out of my jurisdiction, but Mr. Donnelly did take me on a tour of the inner workings of the manor when I first started. Still, I don’t know this man. He will be Mr. Donnelly’s brother-in-law eventually. “Why?”
He points to the ceiling and motions around. “Because I can make this stop. Unless you want to listen to squealing tones. Everyone looks like they’re having a great time planning their five-star reviews.”
He’s right, and Mr. Donnelly isn’t here. We can figure out why the alarm tripped later. “Follow me.”
Instead of heading for the back door to call the alarm company, I go straight for a door tucked around the corner from the bank of elevators. A plate that reads Employees Only hangs on the antique wood, and I press the code on the lock that lets us right in.
The Manor at Winslet was built during the gold rush. I’m surprised it has a basement, but the original owner came from royal money and was used to castles and estates in England. He built this estate planning to expand his wealth into a new frontier.
He barely finished the place when he realized he wasn’t going to hit gold and moved back to England.
Aside from running new wires and utilities, Devon didn’t touch the basement during the renovations other than using it for storage and other systems. Or as Jett calls them, control rooms.
Our steps echo off the stone steps and low ceilings. I’ve only been down here twice since I started, and both times I was thoroughly creeped out. And I’ve seen some stuff. It takes a lot to creep me out.
“It’s around the next corner.” I flip the lights on as we go until we finally get to a door at the end of the hall. I turn to Jett. “I think most of the systems are based here.”
I open the door and light up the room. Jett moves in behind me to look around.
I step aside so he can find what he’s looking for. “I hope you’re okay running up that hill and walking steps after surgery.”
“It’s been months. I’m fine.” He walks over to an electrical panel on the old stone walls. It’s black, glossy, and lit up like the Fourth of July. Lights flash from the top to the bottom.
“Here we go,” Jett mutters and flips open the smokey glass door to scan what’s inside.
I begin to wonder if this is a mistake. “Maybe I should have asked you this before, but do you know what you’re doing?”
He throws me a frown. “I’ll choose not to be offended by that since you have no idea who I am.”
“Remember, my goal is to not get fired,” I remind him.
Jett produces a pocketknife with more gadgets than I can count and starts to unscrew the front of the panel.
I move and grab his forearm to stop him. “Okay, now I am regretting this. Are you really sure you know what you’re doing?”
He glances down at me with a smirk. It’s cocky and matches the errant curl that graces his forehead. “If you keep questioning me, I’ll tell you to relax again.”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s just mean.”
“What can I say? The truth hurts.”
I cross my arms and glare up at him. “If we’re being blatantly honest, then you’d better not mess this up.”
He doesn’t look at me as he focuses on what he’s doing. “Noted. But seriously, it’s an alarm system, not a bomb. Not that I couldn’t take care of that too.”
I don’t have time to demand to know what that means, and Jett doesn’t waste any more time. The cover is off the panel revealing a jumbled maze of wires. He pulls out a smaller screwdriver on his pocketknife and starts to poke around.
I take a step back. If he wants to risk his life by playing with live wires, I can’t do anything more to save him. It’s clear he has his strength back. There’s no way I could tackle him today.
“Here we go.” Jett twists a screw a few times so the wires beneath it loosen. And just like that, the faint sound of alarms that we could still hear down here in the dungeon go silent.
Relief floods through me. “You did it.”
He turns to me and snaps his pocket tool closed. “The fact that you questioned me hurts my feelings.”
I start for the door, and he follows. “You told me to relax twice. We’re not even close to being even.”
I jog up the stairs, and Jett follows. When we get to the main floor of the atrium, the guests seem to have settled down, and Felicity is still assuring everyone it was all a false alarm. Devon and Harlow rush around the corner and we meet them in the middle of the atrium.
Devon doesn’t waste any time. “I just got off the phone with the security company. They confirmed this has nothing to do with the smoke alarms and have checked every camera in the place. There’s no threat on my property that would warrant an email, let alone every bell and whistle.
They have no clue what tripped the alarm and couldn’t get it to turn off.
I have no fucking idea why it’s off now. ”
I look around the atrium. “I was in the gardens when the alarm sounded. Jett was able to turn them off. Guests were starting to panic, so I thought it was the best thing to do since there didn’t seem to be an actual emergency.”
Harlow turns to her brother. “How did you get them off?”
Jett shrugs. “Someone’s got to save the day. I haven’t played around with wires for a long time. It was like the good old days ... sort of. An alarm is lame comparatively.”
I turn to Jett. “What in the world did you used to do?”
He doesn’t have a chance to answer. Devon focuses on his current emergency and drags a hand through his hair.
“I appreciate it, and I’m glad you had fun, but I have bigger shit to worry about right now.
I need to make sure my systems are working the way they’re supposed to.
I can’t have false alarms going off left and right. ”
“Let me know if you need me to look at anything else. I killed the wire going to the alarm. I did it without killing the power, so be careful when you have it looked at,” Jett says.
Harlow gasps. “You could have been electrocuted!”
Jett turns to Devon. “Is she always like this?”
“Apparently only to those she gives a kidney. Thanks for killing the sirens. I’ve got someone on the way to figure out what happened.” Devon exhales, drags a hand through his hair, and turns to Harlow. “What a day. First your family meeting, and then this.”
“Yeah,” Jett agrees. “It’s been a day.”
I have no idea what’s gone on with Jett’s day. What I do know is I’m not avoiding him any longer. I broke the ice and dove in headfirst.