Page 102 of Summers at the Saint
Sonja gestured around the room. “Look what they leave me with!”
The room looked like it had been trashed by an octogenarian heavy metal band. Damp towels were piled on the hardwood floor, the trash cans were overflowing, a lamp was knocked over in the corner, and the carpet was strewn with something.
Livvy gasped. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Kitty litter. So nasty.”
“Pretty sure they didn’t pay extra to have a cat in here,” Livvy said, looking around.
“This isn’t even the worst. You don’t want to see the bathroom,” Sonja warned.
“How did it get this bad?”
“They wouldn’t let us in to clean for five days. We knock every day and they say just leave clean towels outside. Nothing we can do.”
Sonja turned and started stripping the bed.
Livvy stepped over and lifted the edge of the pad to examine the mattress. It was obviously new.
“Does this mattress look like all the other mattresses in the rest of the rooms?”
“I guess. I don’t really look except when we change out the mattress pad.” Sonja yanked the pad off the bed and added it to the pile of bed linens on the floor.
Livvy whipped out her phone and took a photo of the mattress label.
“Is it hot in here to you?” she asked, fanning her face.
“Always hot in this wing,” Sonja said, wiping her own dripping brow.
Livvy looked at the thermostat. It was set at sixty-eight degrees.
“Some of the guests complain to us, so we just tell them to pull the drapes shut and make sure the sliding glass doors are closed. But this room, the doors were closed already.”
“What does engineering say?” Livvy asked.
Sonja made a face. “Nothing they can do. Old building, right?”
“Not really. I’m told this wing was built to match the way the hotel originally looked. I think it’s only four years old.”
“If you say so.” Sonja bundled the soiled linens into a large laundry bag. “I gotta get this mess cleaned up. Big turn day and we already had one of our girls call in sick.”
“You have a phone, right?”
Sonja patted the pocket of her uniform.
“Could you take a photo of the mattress labels for the rest of the rooms you clean today? Tell me your number and I’ll give you mine so you can text the photos to me.”
Livvy was leaving when she spotted a short stack of change on the dresser. She leaned in to get a closer look. Four quarters. “Don’t forget your lavish tip,” she told the housekeeper, who crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.
Charlie popped into Traci’s office shortly after noon.
“I have some sad news to share,” the general manager said.
“About Fred?”
“You heard already? I just got off the phone with Ric.”
“I was there when he passed,” Traci said.
