Bad Beer – Everett
Chapter nineteen
Lukas pulled a sample from one of the giant stainless-steel vats. “Check this out, Boss.” He held it up to the light and the color was definitely off. It was too dark and not caramel enough. He handed me the glass.
“Hmm…” I took a whiff, and it smelled a bit sour.
“That’s not all. Taste it.”
I took a sip. And spit it back in the glass. “Ugh. What the hell?” It wasn’t even so much that it was wrong, but it was bad—really bad. I repeated myself, but more seriously, “What the hell?”
“Seems like someone messed with it.”
“Messed with it? How could someone even get in here to do that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’s contaminated. We have to empty this and start over. And clean the vat thoroughly.” That last bit went without saying. Of course it needed decontamination.
“That’s going to set us back weeks.” It took nearly a month to perfect a batch.
That kind of timing was why we had multiple vats going at all times.
This was going to hit my pocketbook big time.
I rubbed my hands through my hair, wanting to pull it out.
“Let’s go look at the security video.” I sure as hell hoped we didn’t see Cameron on it.
He was the only other person who had any kind of access to the building. Was he that sneaky?
The contamination had to have occurred within a two-day window based on the other testing Lukas conducted. And after nearly an hour of looking through recordings, we found absolutely nothing.
“This isn’t working.” But something had to be done. This was out of hand.
I double-checked who placed the fake order, but it didn’t make sense. I really needed help. I shoved back from my desk and blew out a long, exasperated breath.
“Maybe we should talk to the security guy over at Queen’s Gaming. I heard that when they first moved to town, the owner had some kind of issue. Maybe they can help. At least to set up security. And by we, I mean you.” Lukas raised his eyebrow.
“You’re probably not wrong. I’ll give them a call.”