“Good. Meet me tomorrow evening at four thirty by the concierge. I’ll even throw in dinner.”
“Is this a date?”
He paused as though considering her question. “Maybe this is just me taking your advice.”
“Okay.” She found she couldn’t stop grinning as he went back to fixing the computer. “How long do you think you need to fix this?”
“Not long.” He glanced at his watch.
She saw a customer wander into the store and went over to assist her.
* * *
Reed watched her go. The computer was actually an easy fix. A memory stick was loose in its housing. All it took was a screwdriver to pry it out and reset it firmly. He rebooted the computer and nodded at Kenzie who gave him a brief smile before turning back to the customer.
He wanted to linger to watch her work, but he had a meeting with Miss E., Lydia and the chief financial officer.
He found his way through the maze of corridors and offices behind the administration area to the conference room. He sat down at the end of the table.
“Glad you’re here, Reed,” Miss E. said. For such a tiny woman she had a presence that filled the room.
Lydia looked uncomfortable as she squirmed trying to find a position that wouldn’t put a strain on the baby or her back. Her face was drawn and tired. She looked ready to burst, but Reed knew she had another week or two before the baby’s birth.
Martin deWitt had been CFO for Jasper Biggins, the original owner of the Mariposa. He was a tall, slim, impeccably dressed man with black hair threaded with gray. A small mustache over his lips gave him an air of sophistication as he spread open file folders and tapped his laptop, bringing the screen to life.
“We have a problem,” Martin deWitt said.
Miss E. nodded intently. Reed simply waited. The winning of the hotel and casino had been so unexpected and new he didn’t feel like an owner yet.
“Explain the problem,” Miss E. urged.
“As you know, to expedite gambling in the casino, customers purchase cash cards, like debit cards or pre-paid credit cards, for a certain amount of money that can be used with the slot machines. The cards keep track of their winnings and any perks they win. A customer buys ten dollars, which is put on the plastic card and entered into the slot machine, and an amount, say a quarter, is deducted from the balance on the card each time the customer places a bet and loses.”
Reed nodded. He understood the logistics of slot machines.
Mr. deWitt looked around the conference table. “The system works well enough, but there have been a few complaints over the years. Yesterday, a big complaint was made when a customer purchased a card in the amount of ten thousand dollars and when she went to use it, it was short five hundred dollars.”
“Did someone make a mistake?” Lydia asked.
Martin looked troubled. “I think it’s more than just a mistake. Most complaints are handled by the floor managers, but this one came to me. Five hundred dollars is a lot of money to lose on a mistake.”
“How did we handle it?” Miss E. asked.
“To make up the difference, we gave him a card for five hundred dollars and it came up short twenty-five. ”
Which shouldn’t have happened. This was a big problem. “What do you think is going on?” Reed turned over the problem in his mind. This could simply be a computer fix, or was the problem something bigger?
“I’m not sure, but I’ve tried a small experiment. I loaded different amounts onto twenty-four cards and they all came up five percent short. Which means that every time a customer loads money onto a card, it’s five percent short. The house is getting the money, but the customer isn’t getting what they paid for.”
“I don’t like this at all,” Miss E. said. “The reputation of this hotel could be irreparably damaged.”
Reed studied Martin, his mind working furiously. “Do you know how long this has been going on?”
“I’ve just started looking into it, but after talking to some of the cashiers, I found there have been complaints going on for a couple years, at least. The problem is that no one in the casino, except for several of the croupiers, has been with the hotel longer than a couple years.” Martin opened a file and glanced through it. “Most customers only put ten, twenty-five or fifty dollars on a card and probably never notice that the cards are short by five percent. For those who do discover they’ve been shorted, a complimentary meal takes care of the difference. But five hundred dollars is a whole different matter.”
“How do we fix it?” Lydia clenched her hands tightly in front of her, looking worried.
“It could just be a simple glitch in the software,” Reed offered, “which can be fixed. The problem would be taking the whole system off-line, which could hurt our bottom line.”
“How long do you think it will take?” Miss E. asked.
Reed shook his head. “I could find the error immediately, or it could be weeks. There’s a lot of code to go through.” Though he could probably write a program that would help him narrow it down.
“We could have some unhappy customers,” Lydia said.
Miss E. waved her hand. “We’ll give them Hendrix’s brownies for free. They’ll be fine.”
Lydia smiled. “And maybe a free drink. Or a discount coupon for a dinner.”
Martin seemed to relax. Reed could tell he’d expected a very different response.
“I’ll fix the glitch,” Reed said. “There’s no need for anyone to panic.”
Miss E. stood up. “Then we’ll leave this in your very capable hands, Reed.”
Not until later, when Reed had returned to his office in the IT department, did he have a thought. If the casino was taking in the full amount, but the cards were short, where was the missing money going? He would need to talk to Martin deWitt again.
* * *
The bowling alley was noisy with the sound of bowling balls rolling down the alleys and the thunder of falling pins. In the background Lady Gaga belted out a song. Kenzie had never been in a bowling alley before. All the lanes except for a few at one end were occupied with what appeared to be teams.
“Why bowling?” she asked as she tied the laces of the bowling shoes Reed rented for her.
“I used to hold bowling parties with my employees.”
How interesting. He didn’t seem like a bowler, but she was learning that there was as much predictable about him as was unpredictable. He was a hot, sexy mystery. One she was longing to get to the bottom of. “Why?”
“So we could bond and work better as a team.” He hefted a bowling ball out of its bag. His ball was a fancy dark red with veins of black and white threaded across the surface. It was so highly polished she could see her reflection in it before he dropped it in the ball stand to the left of their lane.
“Are you bonding with me?”
He jiggled his eyebrows. “We’re here to have fun.”
How he was able to look goofy and seductive at the same time was beyond her. “I thought we would do something that took us out of our comfort zones.”
“You’ve never seen me bowl.”
He helped her choose a black ball for herself that fit her grip and she carried it back to their lane. The group next to them erupted into cheers. Kenzie eyed them curiously.