“So why did you do it?” asked Keiko.
“No,” said Steve desperately. “I didn’t do this. You have to believe me. I’m not the greatest employee, I know. But I’m not a traitor. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt ISD. I need the health insurance.”
“Guys, I don’t think he did it,” said Leo.
“And your reasoning?” asked Keiko, her tone dripping with morbid curiosity.
Leo shrugged. “If he gets fired, then he can’t see Marco again.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to see Marco again,” I said.
“But if you love someone, you want to see them again,” said Leo reasonably.
I bit my lip. There were many people in my life that I loved, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see them again. The thought of confronting them, seeing the disappointment in their faces… it made my stomach churn.
“Not always true,” I said quietly. “Sometimes, you can’t bear to see someone you love.”
“I don’t actually love Marco,” said Steve. “I just think he’s really hot.” He stared at me and Keiko beseechingly. “I mean, have you seen him?”
“The point is,” said Leo, “is that if he goes to prison, he’ll never see Marco again. So I don’t think he did it.”
“You think Marco’s hotness is reason enough to discount him as a potential saboteur?” said Keiko.
“He is pretty hot,” I admitted.
Keiko shrugged. “I’m too ace to tell.”
“And besides,” said Leo. “Steve didn’t even know about the app.”
The app.
The app that wouldn’t have worked until someone activated the Wi-Fi function on the espresso machine.
I whirled on Leo. “You’ve been using the app to make your coffee, right?”
He nodded.
“When did you start doing that?” I asked.
“This morning,” said Leo. “I saw the QR code and used it to download the app. Then there was a switch to make it work on the coffee machine.”
We all gaped at Leo.
For a few moments, no one could speak.
“You,” I said, aghast. “You turned on the Wi-Fi capabilities. So you could make the app work.”
“Did I?” Leo rubbed at his chin.
“He did it,” cried Keiko. “He did it and he didn’t even know he did it.”
“Whoever sent that coffee machine must have figured someone in the office would be stupid enough to do it,” said Steve.
“Hey,” said Leo, “I’m not stupid. You’re always just yelling at me. Every time something goes wrong, it’s all, ‘Leo, why did you flood the bathrooms again? Leo, did you accidentally hit ‘reply all’ on that thread with the vice president? Leo, why is there bubble gum on the computers?’”
Steve glared at him. “Because you did all those things!”
“There’s no traitor,” I said. “Just a bunch of caffeine addicts and someone who wanted to use an app instead of walking forty feet to the kitchen.” I turned around, looking for Prefect and Centurion. They were nowhere in sight—probably on the phone with the director, trying to sort out how to fix this.
