Chương 5
“I know it hurt.”
“Good.”
“I’m going to bed.”
“You always do that too.”
“Goodnight, Luis.”
He smiled despite himself.
“Goodnight, dictator.”
She slept badly.
At six thirty, she woke to the sound of a lawn mower somewhere below her window.
It took several seconds to remember the cut on her face.
Then her phone vibrated.
Richard.
She let it ring twice before answering.
“Morning.”
“Have you seen the video?”
Maya closed her eyes.
“What video?”
“That answers my question.”
She sat up.
Luis had left a sticky note on her bedroom door.
BUY FOOD, TYRANT.
Maya peeled it off.
“How bad?”
“Eight hundred thousand views.”
She stared at the note.
“Which part?”
“The kick. Your statement. Mine.”
“My statement meaning?”
“Your last one.”
She remembered.
I’m the new general manager. And you just assaulted your boss.
Perfect.
She rubbed her forehead.
“Who posted it?”
“Unknown account initially. Several guests reposted it.”
“Do we know if it’s security footage?”
“No. Phone video.”
“Did anyone post the hit?”
“Not yet.”
Maya got out of bed.
“So the public sees her kick my bag, insult me, and then discovers I’m the GM.”
“Yes.”
“And they don’t see what happened before.”
“Correct.”
“That’s a problem.”
Richard was quiet.
“I expected you to say it helps us.”
“It helps a story about rich woman humiliates employee and gets instant karma.”
“That is roughly the current story.”
“It’s not the whole story.”
“She assaulted you.”
“And I don’t want to run a hotel through viral revenge content.”
Richard sighed.
“Corporate communications wants a statement.”
“Tell them to wait.”
“For what?”
“Me.”
“Maya, this is moving quickly.”
“Then they can move quickly after I get there.”
“You’re coming in?”
She looked at the clock.
“I’m the general manager.”
“You start Monday.”
“Apparently I started last night.”
She hung up.
At seven twenty, Maya entered through the employee entrance wearing a navy blazer over a white shirt and trousers that fit better than the charcoal pair from the night before.
The security officer at the desk looked at her face, then at her badge.
“Good morning, Ms. Torres.”
“Morning.”
He buzzed her through.
Then, quietly, “That was a hell of a line.”
Maya stopped.
He looked embarrassed.
“Sorry.”
“What line?”
He grinned.
She already knew.
“Never mind.”
Maya continued down the corridor.
The hotel behind the walls looked nothing like the foyer where Victoria had confronted her.
No chandeliers.
No orchids.
Concrete floors. Fluorescent lights. Laundry carts. Bulletin boards covered with schedules, safety notices, birthday announcements, and a flyer advertising discounted zoo tickets.
Employees looked at Maya, then looked away.
Some smiled.
Some did not.
A dishwasher whispered something in Spanish to another man as she passed.
Maya understood him.
“That’s her.”
She kept walking.
At the staff cafeteria, Lena sat alone with coffee.
Maya stopped.
Lena’s eyes widened.
“Good morning.”
“Morning.”
Maya pointed at the empty chair.
“Can I?”
“Of course.”
Maya sat.
Lena looked at the cut on her lip.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
Lena wrapped both hands around the paper cup.
“I gave a statement.”
“Dean told me.”
“I almost didn’t.”
Maya nodded.
“That would’ve been okay.”
Lena looked skeptical.
“No, it wouldn’t.”
Maya waited.
Lena stared into her coffee.
“She accused my aunt of stealing.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Your aunt worked here?”
“Housekeeping.”
Maya felt something settle unpleasantly in her stomach.
“The earring?”
Lena looked up.
“You know?”
“I heard about it.”
“My aunt quit.”
Maya leaned back.
“Was she the employee who transferred?”
“No.”
That made four.
Lena rubbed her thumb along the cup seam.
“She said she didn’t want to work someplace where somebody could call her a thief and everybody acted like that was normal.”
“Was there an investigation?”
“They searched her locker.”
Maya went still.
“Who ordered that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Victoria present?”
Lena nodded.
“She watched.”
Maya looked toward the cafeteria entrance.
Employees came and went. Someone laughed near the vending machines. A cook complained about a broken toaster.
“Did they search Victoria’s belongings?”
Lena’s expression answered.
Maya closed her eyes for one second.
“Her earring was in her own bag?”
“Gym bag.”
“And your aunt had already quit?”
“Same day.”
“Did anyone apologize?”
Lena gave a small shrug.
“My aunt said a manager called.”
“Which manager?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya nodded.
“Would she talk to me?”
Lena hesitated.
“Maybe.”
“Only if she wants to.”
“Okay.”
Maya stood.
Lena said, “Ms. Torres?”
Maya looked back.
“Are you really going to do something?”
The question was not hopeful.
Hope had expectations.
This was suspicion.
Maya appreciated it.
“I don’t know yet what I can fix,” she said. “But I’m going to find out what happened.”
Lena considered that.
Then nodded once.
Richard was waiting in the executive conference room with two attorneys, the communications director, the vice president of operations, and enough coffee for people preparing to survive an acquisition.
Maya took the empty chair.
The communications director, Claire Boone, slid a tablet toward her.
“Our recommended statement.”
Maya read it.
Halcyon Hospitality is aware of an unfortunate private incident involving members of our leadership community—
She stopped.
“No.”
Claire blinked.
“You haven’t finished.”
“I finished enough.”
Richard rubbed his temple.
Claire turned the tablet back.
“We need neutral language.”
“We need accurate language.”
“Accurate creates liability.”
One of the attorneys said, “Not necessarily.”
Claire glared at him.
Maya looked around the table.
“Who wrote ‘leadership community’?”
Nobody answered.
“Please never write that again.”
The vice president of operations coughed into his hand.
Maya looked at Richard.
“Where are the complaints?”
He slid a thin folder across the table.
Maya did not touch it.
“That’s all?”
“Formal complaints.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Dean told me about more than two incidents in twenty minutes.”
Counsel spoke carefully.
“Informal reports may appear in operational records, emails, manager notes—”
“Then I want those.”
“That requires review.”
“Start.”
Richard said, “Maya.”
She looked at him.
“We also have a business to run.”
May you like
“Yes.”
“Occupancy is ninety-four percent this weekend.”
