Chương 12
“That sounds like your problem.”
Victoria shook her head.
“She hates me.”
“Yes.”
“She’ll hang up.”
“Probably.”
“Then what is the point?”
Maya looked at her.
“Staying on the phone long enough to discover an apology doesn’t control the person who receives it.”
Victoria said nothing.
Maya left.
That afternoon, Harriet called.
“We found twenty-seven incidents.”
Maya sat down slowly.
“How many credible?”
“Too early to characterize.”
“Twenty-seven.”
“Over five years.”
“How many physical?”
“Four with direct evidence. Seven with conflicting accounts. The remainder verbal, access interference, threats, or managerial overrides.”
Maya stared at her office door.
“Richard knows?”
“I’m telling you first because you are the property GM and several involve current staff.”
“Cal?”
“Central to nine.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“Anyone else?”
“Yes.”
“How many senior leaders?”
“Four.”
Maya almost laughed.
The hotel had eight senior executives.
“What do you need from me?”
“Do not fire anyone else.”
“Why?”
“Preservation and anti-retaliation concerns.”
“Fine.”
“And Maya?”
“Yes?”
“One complaint involves Richard.”
Her body went still.
“What kind?”
“Not violence.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you when I can substantiate it.”
“Harriet.”
“No.”
“You can’t drop that into my head and then—”
“I can, and I just did.”
Maya stood and walked to the window.
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s not realistic.”
“I didn’t say don’t think about it. I said don’t act.”
Maya stared down at the hotel entrance.
Richard’s car was arriving.
Perfect.
Three minutes later, he knocked.
Maya looked at him through the glass.
For the first time since she had met him, she wondered whether every version of Richard Hale she knew had been curated.
She opened the door.
“Come in.”
He sat.
“You met Victoria.”
Maya’s attention sharpened.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“That was fast.”
“She said you told her to call Rosa.”
“I did.”
Richard looked stunned.
“That seems unwise.”
“It probably is.”
“Maya.”
“She asked what she could do.”
“And you told her to contact a former employee involved in an active investigation?”
Maya stopped.
Damn.
He was right.
Maya sat back.
“That was stupid.”
Richard blinked.
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
He looked almost disappointed not to have an argument.
Maya grabbed her phone.
“I’ll tell Harriet.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to confess every mistake instantly.”
Maya paused.
“That is an extremely interesting sentence.”
Richard realized it too late.
The room changed.
Maya set down the phone.
“Is there anything you need to tell me?”
Richard’s expression became unreadable.
“About?”
“Anything.”
He watched her.
“Harriet talked to you.”
Maya said nothing.
“What did she say?”
“Not much.”
Richard stood and walked to the window.
Maya waited.
Finally he said, “There was an employee seven years ago.”
“That’s outside the five-year review.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Her name was Denise Walker. Director of rooms.”
Maya knew the name from archived management records.
“She left suddenly.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard rubbed the back of his neck.
“She and I had an affair.”
Maya did not move.
Richard continued.
“My wife had been dead two years.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“I know.”
“Were you her supervisor?”
“Yes.”
“Directly?”
“Ultimately.”
“Did anyone know?”
“Cal.”
Of course.
Maya looked at the ceiling.
“Did Denise file a complaint?”
“No.”
“Then what is Harriet investigating?”
Richard looked at her.
“She wanted a promotion.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn’t ready.”
“According to who?”
“Me.”
“After the affair?”
“Yes.”
Maya leaned back.
“What happened?”
“She accused me of punishing her.”
“Were you?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Maya looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“I believe I wasn’t.”
Better.
“What happened next?”
“She resigned.”
“Severance?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Richard named a figure.
Maya stared.
“That’s not severance. That’s silence.”
“It was negotiated.”
“With an NDA?”
“Yes.”
Maya stood.
“You let me walk into this company without telling me?”
“It was seven years ago.”
“You hired me to fix a culture problem.”
“I hired you to fix operations.”
“Same hotel.”
Richard’s voice sharpened.
“I did not assault anyone.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You’re looking at me like I’m the same as Victoria.”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I’m looking at you like I’m starting to understand where Victoria learned that private consequences are preferable to public accountability.”
Richard’s face went white.
“That’s unfair.”
“Probably.”
Maya picked up the incident folder.
“But not irrelevant.”
He stared at her.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Richard said, “What do you want me to do?”
Maya laughed.
The sound surprised her.
“What?”
“You keep asking me that.”
“You’re the general manager.”
“You’re her father.”
He looked away.
Maya’s anger rose.
“Stop outsourcing this.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Cal handled Rosa. Managers handled Jamal. Lawyers handled Denise. Now you want me to handle Victoria.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to know before I tell you.”
The sentence hung between them.
Richard looked genuinely lost.
Maya hated that she felt sympathy.
She hated even more that sympathy did not erase anger.
He sat.
For the first time, he looked old.
Not forty-eight.
Just tired in a way money could not disguise.
“I thought providing for people was enough.”
Maya said nothing.
“I thought if employees had good benefits and managers had authority and Victoria had opportunities, then my job was to build the structure.”
“Structures teach people what you tolerate.”
“I know that now.”
“Do you?”
He looked at her.
“I’m trying.”
Maya sat again.
That was not satisfying.
It was probably true.
Tuesday brought another problem.
Jamal Reed arrived at the hotel with an attorney.
He wanted compensation.
He also wanted his personnel file corrected.
That second request mattered more to Maya.
His file described him as confrontational and unreliable.
The performance notes had begun three weeks after the wineglass incident.
His attorney laid copies on the table.
“Before the incident, excellent reviews.”
Maya read them.
“Afterward,” the attorney continued, “attendance concerns, attitude concerns, teamwork concerns.”
May you like
Jamal sat beside her.
He was thirty-one and looked less angry than exhausted.
