Page 9 of The Hotel Nantucket
“Mosaics?”
“They’re the finest examples of Byzantine mosaics outside of Istanbul. They’re magnificent. Have you seen them?”
Oh, please,Grace thinks.How pretentious.
“I haven’t.”
Alessandra says, “Well, when I sayflat broke,I mean I gave my last euro as a donation to enter the church. Fortunately, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was also viewing the mosaics, and it turned out he owned apensionein town. He let me stay for free in exchange for working on the front desk—and my career in hotels was born.”
“So you were in Europe for…eight years, give or take? I notice there are some gaps on this résumé—”
“I wanted to leave Italy while I still felt fondly toward it. And I chose Nantucket because it seems like the most exclusive of the New England summer-resort spots.”
“I’m curious…did Shelly Carpenter fromHotel Confidentialreview any of the hotels on your résumé?”
Alessandra nods. “She apparently stayed at Aguas de Ibiza while I was working there. Her piece was positive, but she gave us only four keys. She had a couple of legitimate complaints. The first was that the bellman took fifteen minutes to deliver her luggage to her room, which was ten minutes too long by her standards—”
“Oh yes, I know.”
“And there was no salt and pepper on her room-service tray even though she’d specifically requested it.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, people got fired. You know that she wears disguises and uses aliases and always shows up at the busiest times, when the staff can’t pay as close attention to every guest as they might otherwise. And sometimes she creates extraordinary circumstances to see how the staff reacts. Rumor has it that when she visited the Pickering House Inn in Wolfeboro, she slashed the tire of her rental car to see how quickly the staff would change it.”
“I didnotknow that,” Lizbet says, slumping a little.
“My advice would be to train the bellmen in basic auto repair, because I’m sure once Shelly Carpenter gets wind of this place opening, she’ll make an appearance.”
“You think so?”
“I can almost guarantee it. She seems to like Nantucket. She reviewed the White Elephant—”
“She gave it four keys.”
“And she reviewed the Nantucket Beach Club and Hotel, which is where I’m interviewing next.”
“You’re interviewing with Mack Petersen?”
“I…am,yes. Mack has basically offered me a position already, but I told him I wanted to keep my options open.”
Oh, come on, Lizbet!Grace thinks.She’s bluffing!
Lizbet runs her finger down the résumé. “These references have only the main numbers for the hotels. Can you provide any names or extensions?”
“As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s a lot of turnover in the hospitality business. My GM in Ibiza retired and bought an olive orchard. My GM in Monaco got throat cancer and died.” She pauses, milking the moment for all its worth. “Alberto. He smoked a pipe.”
When Lizbet makes a sympathetic face, Grace groans. She would bet her robe and hat that there had never been an Alberto!
“If you call the hotels directly, they can pull up my performance records.”
“You have the experience I’m looking for,” Lizbet says. “High-end luxury hotels with a discerning clientele.”
“May I ask what kind of pay you’re offering?”
“We pay twenty-five dollars an hour,” Lizbet says. “Though, because of your experience, I can bump you to twenty-seven fifty and make you the front-desk manager.”
No!Grace thinks. She needs to get this little witchy-witch out of here. Grace blows cold air down the back of Alessandra’s neck.
