Chương 6
“I saw the forecast.”
“We have two weddings, a pharmaceutical conference, and an NFL team arriving Sunday.”
“I saw that too.”
“We cannot turn the property upside down.”
Maya finally opened the folder.
The first complaint was from a banquet server named Eric Dalton.
Date: December 18.
Complaint: unwanted physical contact and verbal intimidation by Victoria Hale.
Outcome: employee transferred to another Hale property.
The second was from a spa attendant.
Verbal abuse.
Outcome: mediation.
Maya looked up.
“What did mediation mean?”
Nobody spoke.
She turned to the operations vice president.
“Cal?”
Cal Peterson shifted in his chair.
“I wasn’t directly involved.”
“You signed the closure form.”
He looked at the folder.
“Oh.”
Maya waited.
Cal cleared his throat.
“I believe Victoria apologized.”
“You believe?”
“It was a while ago.”
“Two years.”
“Yes.”
“What did she apologize for?”
“I’d have to review it.”
Maya closed the folder.
Richard said, “What do you want to do?”
“I want facts.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Facts are exactly why we should issue something now. Silence will become its own story.”
Maya looked at her.
“What’s trending?”
Claire hesitated.
Richard said, “Tell her.”
Claire opened her laptop.
“Most posts are supportive of Maya. A smaller number claim the incident was staged for publicity.”
Maya laughed once.
“Of course.”
“There are also posts alleging prior misconduct by Victoria.”
Maya stopped.
“What kind?”
“Former employees.”
Richard straightened.
Claire rotated the laptop.
A former valet had posted that Victoria once threatened to have him fired.
A banquet server claimed she threw a drink at him.
A woman who said she worked in housekeeping wrote that management searched her locker after Victoria accused her of stealing jewelry.
Lena’s aunt.
Maya read the post twice.
It had been shared thirty-four thousand times.
Richard stood.
“Who is she?”
Maya looked at him.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Her name is Rosa Alvarez.”
“How do you know?”
“I talked to her niece twenty minutes ago.”
Richard stared at Maya.
Claire said, “The press is already requesting interviews.”
“No interviews,” Maya said.
Claire frowned.
“At least today.”
“That gives everyone else the narrative.”
“They already have one.”
Maya tapped the screen.
“The question is whether we lie to catch up.”
Richard sat again.
“We’re not lying.”
“You were about to call last night a private incident involving our leadership community.”
Claire said, “That is standard crisis language.”
“It sounds like a hostage wrote it.”
Cal looked down to hide a smile.
Claire did not.
Maya softened slightly.
“I’m not attacking you. I know what you’re trying to do.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. Protect the company from a story before we know the facts.”
“Correct.”
“I need you to protect the company from facts we’ve ignored.”
Claire leaned back.
Richard watched Maya for a long moment.
Then he turned to counsel.
“Open an independent review.”
Cal said, “Richard.”
Richard did not look at him.
“Five years. Any complaint, report, transfer, resignation, disciplinary action, or security incident involving Victoria or another Hale family member.”
The attorney nodded.
Maya said, “External investigator.”
Richard looked at her.
She held his gaze.
“Internal review won’t be credible.”
“Externally?”
“Yes.”
Claire said, “That signals we think there’s something serious.”
Maya looked at the two complaints in front of her.
“There is.”
By noon, Maya’s photograph was on national news websites.
Not the photograph she would have chosen.
Somebody had taken a still frame from the phone video at the exact moment she looked up from the floor. Her ponytail was crooked. The scratch on her cheek looked worse under the chandelier light. Victoria’s finger was pointed toward her.
The caption beneath one article called Maya a “hotel worker.”
Another called her an “executive.”
A third called her “the mysterious new general manager who turned the tables on an heiress.”
Maya hated all three.
She ate a turkey sandwich at her desk while reviewing weekend staffing.
That was the part nobody online cared about.
The pastry department was short two people.
Three elevators had outstanding maintenance tickets.
A wedding planner wanted permission to hang floral installations from a ceiling rig that engineering had not approved.
The hotel had sold six more suites than were currently available because renovation work on the twelfth floor was behind schedule.
At two fifteen, Maya sat with engineering to discuss whether they could safely return two suites to inventory.
At three, she mediated an argument between banquet operations and sales about a ballroom turnover time.
At four twenty, Luis texted her.
YOU’RE A MEME.
She ignored him.
He sent another.
MOM WOULD HATE THE LIGHTING.
Maya looked at the message longer than she intended.
Their mother had been dead four years.
She had also been merciless about bad photographs.
Maya typed:
She’d hate my hair more.
Luis replied immediately.
CORRECT.
Maya put the phone face down.
There was a knock.
Dean entered.
“You have a minute?”
“Yeah.”
He closed the door.
Maya noticed he had a folder.
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Something I should’ve given you last night.”
He sat.
“This is going to make me look bad.”
“Okay.”
Dean blinked.
“That’s it?”
“You haven’t shown me anything.”
He opened the folder.
Inside was a printed incident report.
Maya read the date.
Fourteen months earlier.
Victoria Hale.
Employee: Jamal Reed.
Department: Banquets.
Allegation: Victoria threw a wineglass after an argument over event access.
Injury: minor laceration to employee’s hand from broken glass.
Maya read the report again.
“Why wasn’t this in the system?”
Dean looked at the floor.
“I was told to reclassify it.”
“By who?”
“Cal Peterson.”
Maya felt the room go quiet around her.
“What was it reclassified as?”
“Guest property damage.”
“Jamal got cut.”
“Yes.”
“Did he receive treatment?”
“First aid.”
“Workers’ comp?”
Dean shook his head.
Maya leaned back.
“Why did you do it?”
He took his time.
“Because Cal told me Richard wanted it handled quietly.”
“Did Richard tell you that?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dean laughed without humor.
May you like
“Because I have two kids in college.”
Maya stared at the report.
