Chapter 15 Maggie
MAGGIE
In the employee dorm, Maggie slept restlessly and woke when the rest of the early shift began to mobilize. This morning, for a change, she was pressed into service to help with housekeeping, as they were short-staffed due to the departure of the housekeeper whose bed she had slept in last night.
It was Christmas Eve, and the hotel was preparing for a big winter storm forecasted to begin in early afternoon and last through the night.
Hester had ordered some extra deliveries from anyone who was willing to deliver at this time of year on short notice, to see them through in case the roads were impassible for a couple of days.
Hester, as usual, was everywhere, a dynamo of focused energy, filling in wherever any of her staff needed an extra hand.
“I have to tell you, Maggie,” Hester said as she and Maggie loaded sheets into the industrial-sized washing machine in the hotel’s laundry.
“I had some doubts about this arrangement, but you’ve been great, hardworking and cheerful, always willing to lend a hand.
After the holiday, I’ll be happy to consider the slate wiped clean between us.
You’d be welcome back as a guest anytime. ”
Maggie looked down, embarrassed. “I know I have a lot to make up for. I really appreciate you giving me the chance to do this.”
“I’d have been running myself ragged without the extra help. By the way, I don’t suppose you might be looking for a more permanent job.”
Maggie laughed. “Not this far out of town, I’m afraid. But really—thank you.”
This buoyant mood got her through the morning, from dealing with a clog in one of the room sinks to a delivery mix-up that involved having to try to find a place in the freezer for twenty giant boxes of frozen cod fillets.
She glanced around for Sam and his daughter whenever she could find a spare moment, but spare moments were a scarce commodity.
She kept replaying their kiss in her head, the softness of Sam’s lips and the way his mouth had opened against hers and the feeling of his hand at the base of her spine.
She wanted desperately to do it again, and she feared doing it again, because if she started, she didn’t know if she’d be able to stop before they went a lot further.
We’re probably lucky we were interrupted, or we would have ended up having the hottest and dampest sex of our lives.
But it didn’t sound bad. In fact, with Sam, it sounded amazing. Her knees wobbled, and with a massive effort of will, she returned her attention to the kitchen inventory she was currently helping with.
By the time her shift ended, she was tired, footsore, and ready for a sit-down break and food, but she was also on top of the world.
Everything had to be fine with Sam, she told herself.
And she was looking forward to the storm.
From inside the lodge, warmth and comfortable, watching snow fall on the Christmas lights outside the giant windows was going to be magical.
She might even bid on something from the charity auction to give Sam and Charlie.
She didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but she planned to do a little bidding anyway.
According to the accompanying signs, the winners would be revealed tonight so the loot could be distributed among the winning guests, to enjoy as a holiday plus.
Maybe she would get them a nice basket of chocolates, or the “pamper yourself” package with warming lotion, soft socks, and scented candles.
Thinking about this brought the mood-dampening reminder that they were no closer to finding out who had taken the items. Maggie guessed from her conversation with Hester that she was no longer under suspicion, however.
Since the security camera was installed, there had been no new thefts.
Maybe it would turn out that there was a perfectly innocuous explanation.
And in the meantime, Maggie was looking forward to a lovely, peaceful Christmas.
Then everything fell apart.
“Maggie?” Hester said, approaching her as Maggie was scribbling bids on a couple of pieces of paper. “Can I see you in the office for a minute?”
Maggie laid the pencil down and turned around. “Yes, of course.”
Hester’s mood was considerably changed from earlier. Far from her previous friendliness, she was now cool, polite, and professional. As Maggie followed her through the lobby, she told herself that people around them weren’t staring; it was only her paranoia.
Did something else go missing? What’s wrong?
She entered Hester’s small office a couple of steps behind, then stopped at the sight of Sam, sitting in front of Hester’s cluttered desk.
He rose quickly to his feet and nodded to both the women.
Maggie gave him a warm smile. His return smile was friendly but reserved, as if they hadn’t just been kissing in the sauna yesterday, and Maggie fought back a wave of sinking dismay.
Something’s been stolen, and they think I did it.
“Where’s your daughter?” Hester asked Sam.
“I don’t know. I think she’s still looking for it. I looked around, but I couldn’t find her.”
Maggie’s sinking stomach swooped and sank further.
“What’s missing?” she asked. Her voice came out too loud, harsh to her own ears.
Sam hesitated. He opened his mouth, then closed it.
“His daughter’s necklace is gone,” Hester said briskly. She moved to the other side of her desk. “It was last seen yesterday morning, while you were still sharing her room.”
“And I said that I didn’t think Maggie took it,” Sam said, his tone sharp. “You had no right to go and accuse her over my protests.”
In spite of the fracturing, unsettled feeling of yet another second chance falling apart beneath her feet, Maggie warmed at his defense.
“You reported the necklace missing, and I said I’d take it from there,” Hester said. She looked back at Maggie, and her cool demeanor softened a little. “Maggie, I’d like to believe you didn’t do it—”
“I didn’t!” Maggie’s voice cracked. She had no idea how to defend herself, no way she could think of to clear her name. Even if she managed to find the missing necklace, which surely Charlie had dropped or mislaid, she couldn’t prove that she hadn’t had it all along.
This is it. This is the end.
“—but I have to consider all the possibilities, and a guest having a valuable belonging disappear while we have a known thief on staff is something I can’t ignore.”
“What about Maggie’s rights?” Sam asked, heated. “You agreed to let her make amends. I agreed to vouch for her. And I’m still vouching for her.”
Maggie swallowed a lump in her throat.
“I’m not doing anything until we know for sure,” Hester said. “Sam, I’d like to talk to your daughter. Can you find her, please?”
“Yeah. I don’t know where she got off to. She’s not answering her texts. The last time I saw her, we were looking in the lobby for the necklace in case she dropped it there.” Sam looked like he was about to say something else, then stopped.
“Let me know when you find her. I need to get back to work. We have a major winter storm hitting in the next hour, and I need to make sure we won’t be completely cut off.
” Hester grimaced. “Maggie, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but I’m going to need you to stay with Sam for the rest of today, or until the necklace turns up. ”
Maggie nodded wordlessly. At any other time, she would have appreciated the opportunity. Now she felt as if she was under surveillance—which was more or less true. At least Hester hadn’t insisted that she stay in her room.
They left Hester’s office together. Sam said quietly, “I’m sorry about all of this. I didn’t realize she’d accuse you when I reported the necklace missing.”
“I swear I didn’t take it.”
“I believe you.”
But there was still that undercurrent of—something else. It wasn’t accusation. Maggie nerved herself to ask, “What else were you going to say to Hester in there?”
Sam huffed out a breath. After a pause, he said, “I don’t think Charlie is telling the whole truth about the necklace.
I don’t know what actually happened to it, but she says she left it beside the sink and it disappeared from our room.
I don’t think that’s the real story. She doesn’t want me to know what actually happened, and I’m not sure why. ”
“Why do you think she’d lie?”
“I don’t know. Because she’s protecting someone else, maybe? Or protecting herself. I just don’t know. She understands she’s supposed to take good care of that necklace. She wouldn’t deliberately lose or damage it ...” He trailed off.
“What?” Maggie asked. The look on his face alarmed her.
“I need to find Charlie.” He pulled out his phone. “Please go check her room.”
Maggie was about to say she didn’t have a key, but then realized that she did. Yesterday had been so busy and confusing that when she moved her things, she had forgotten to give the room key back to the hotel. The key with the heart-shaped head was still in her pocket.
However, a moment later she was back downstairs. “She’s not there.”
“I didn’t think she would be.” Sam looked completely alarmed. Outside the big front windows, snow had begun to fall. “I can’t reach her.”
“Maybe she’s ignoring you, or her phone ran out of battery?”
“I think she’s out of range of the wifi.
I don’t think she’s in the hotel. Damn it!
” He lashed out and kicked a stack of logs beside the fireplace.
The show of temper was so unusual from Sam, always so tightly controlled, that Maggie was briefly startled into silence.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. ”
Maggie cautiously placed a hand on his arm. The muscles were rigid. “Where do you think she went?”
“She took a ski trip yesterday with some other young people from the lodge. I think she lost the necklace somewhere along the trail. For her whole life, I’ve warned her to take care of that necklace.
And now she’s taken that so much to heart that she thinks her life is less important than a stupid shiny string of rocks! ”
“I .... think you’re right,” Maggie said slowly. “I found her crying in the room yesterday. She was talking about her mom. I just thought she was upset because it’s Christmastime and she misses having a mom, but it seemed like more than that.”
“She’s out there somewhere.” Sam stared out at the snow. “I’ll get a search party together. There can’t be too many places—”
“No, listen.” Maggie gripped his arm firmly. Conviction settled on her. “I can find her.”
Breaking out of his fugue of worry and self-recrimination, Sam turned to look at her directly. “How?”
“Remember what you said yesterday, that we couldn’t really get lost, because I could scout the way home? I have wings, Sam. From the air, from high enough up, she’ll stand out like a beacon in that pink coat.”
Sam gazed at her for a few seconds. “Your arrangement with Hester depends on not shifting,” he said quietly.
“I know. But what does that matter, if Charlie is in danger? So Hester will kick me out.” Maggie squared her shoulders.
“It won’t be the first time I’ve been fired.
You get a backup team of searchers together here, and I’ll go scout ahead.
I hope that soon I’ll be able to bring your daughter back to you. ”
Sam was absolutely still; then, to Maggie’s shock, he swept her in his arms and kissed her, hard.
Once again she felt herself melting under his touch, her always-restless magpie utterly stilled.
When the kiss broke, Sam kept hold of her for a moment longer. “Bring yourself back safe too,” he said, staring at her.
No one had ever worried about her before.
“I’m going to try,” Maggie said.