Robert looked like a man watching his own grave being dug.
“Mine.”
The lobby went still.
Robert raised both hands. “My login must have been left open. Someone used it. That system is shared during busy shifts.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“So either you deleted complaints while I was standing here,” he said, “or you left confidential employee files unsecured in a hotel that charges nine hundred dollars a night.”
Robert had no answer.
Patricia began to cry.
It came quickly, too quickly, as if she kept tears ready for emergencies.
“I have children,” she said. “I can’t lose this job over one misunderstanding.”
Ethan looked at Lily sleeping on his shoulder.
Then back at Patricia.
“Having children did not give you the right to humiliate another parent tonight.”
Patricia covered her mouth.
Karla muttered, “This is insane.”
“No,” Lupita said.
Everyone turned to her.
She set the towels down on a side table with careful hands.
