A Geek Girl's Guide to Justice (The Geek Girl Mysteries) by Julie Anne Lindsey

Author:Julie Anne Lindsey [Lindsey, Julie Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2016-10-02T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The big room was packed by eleven with standing room only inside the doors and a handful of residents positioned in the hallway.

I wiggled around the crush of bodies at the sweets table, silently rehearsing the main points of my presentation and trying not to knock anyone over with my laptop. “Excuse me. Hello. Pardon me.” I took the empty seat beside the podium and opened my laptop’s lid.

Marcella lifted the microphone. “Welcome. This meeting has two rules.” She lifted a finger into the air. “Only one person is permitted to speak at a time—” another finger went up “—and everyone is treated with respect. I know the squirrels are a sudden point of contention among you, but we’re here to find a path of peace, not start a war.” She turned to face me. “Mia.”

“Thanks.” Feedback from the mic screeched through the room. I adjusted my stance and plugged my laptop into the podium ports. The PowerPoint presentation I’d created while researching local cab companies appeared on the screen behind me.

I peered into the sea of unhappy faces. “Hello.”

They stared and grunted, as if to say, “Why is she standing there? Why isn’t she making me happy?”

“Hi.” I started again. This time, I pressed the button on my laptop and moved on to the slideshow. “I’m Mia Connors. I know many of you. For those I haven’t met, I’m the IT manager here. I’m the one who set up the community Wi-Fi.”

A deep rumble swept through the crowd.

I powered on. “As you’re aware, my attempt to improve life at Horseshoe Falls through technology failed briefly.” I dragged hair off my burning neck.

Marcella passed me a bottle of water. Condensation ran down the sides and over her fingers, as if she’d pulled it directly from an ice bucket.

“Thanks.” I cleared my throat repeatedly before cracking the lid and taking a few easy sips. I set the drink aside and rubbed wet palms on my skirt. “I recently installed a new Wi-Fi network throughout the community. It’s called a mesh network, and it sends signals from place to place until the whole area is covered in Wi-Fi. It worked beautifully until—”

“Squirrels.” A man in fatigues raised one fist in the air. Outdoor Sportsman was embroidered on his ball cap.

“I was going to say ‘the main network cable was damaged,’ but ‘squirrels’ might also be correct. The technicians at Ohio Wiring believe local wildlife had a hand in bringing down the network. They suggested that squirrels chewed through the cable, ending the signal and disabling the network before many of you had a chance to enjoy it.”

A woman in the front row stood with a jolt. She smoothed her skirt against the backs of her thighs. “What are you going to do about it?”

The crowd grew restless. It was the question of the week. The reason we’d come together carrying bad attitudes and picket signs.

I took another sip of water. It was harder to swallow this time.

Fifi stepped onto the stage.

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