LITMIR.BIZ

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abruptly burst into cheers and applause, she felt her face grow warm with shame and embarrassment. Being the center of attention left her little choice but to accept the apology as gracefully as possible, so she nodded. “Everyone has good days and bad days.”

      “Oh, that’s so generous of you,” Tessa said as the women dispersed and filed out of the room. “And please don’t be embarrassed.” She motioned toward the group. “That was just their way of confirming that I’ve worked through my crisis.”

      Well, whoop-de-do, good for you. The instant the sarcastic thought popped into her head, Charlotte’s conscience whispered, Shame on you. And she was ashamed. After all, who was she to criticize another person’s way of handling a crisis? Judge not, lest ye be judged…different strokes for different folks.

      Forcing a smile, Charlotte said, “I’ll get to work, then,” and she headed for the bathroom.

      Once in the bathroom, all she could do was stare. Every available surface in the small room was covered with beauty products or jewelry. She’d cleaned a lot of homes over the years and had worked for many women who were obsessed with youth and beauty, but she’d never seen such a collection in one place before, enough to fill a whole suitcase. Why anyone would want to haul all of that stuff around was beyond Charlotte’s comprehension.

      “Sorry about all of that,” Tessa said, entering the bathroom. “Here—why don’t I just get some of it out of your way.” She walked to the sink countertop, picked up a velvet jewelry bag, and began gathering up the jewelry. “I know it’s silly, but I just can’t bear to go anywhere without all of my things. My daughter calls it my bling-bling.” She laughed. “I call it my security blanket.”

      Whatever floats your boat. Charlotte winced the instant the flip words popped into her head. What on earth was wrong with her today? She’d always believed in “be ye kind, one to another,” and all she could do was think ugly thoughts. With a sigh and a silent prayer for a better attitude, she picked up a lone earring that Tessa had missed.

      “You missed this one,” she said. Staring at it, she paused to admire it before handing it to Tessa. Normally she preferred stud earrings to dangling ones. The stud earrings were much more practical for her line of work. But the earring was gorgeous. Light as a feather and made of hammered gold, it was shaped into a triangle that dangled from a post that was faced with a much smaller identical version of the triangle. The pyramid shape of the earring reminded her of the type of jewelry displayed in the King Tut exhibit when it had visited the New Orleans Museum of Arts years ago.

      “This is just beautiful,” she murmured, picturing in her mind how it might look on herself. “It’s so simply elegant,” she said, handing it to Tessa. “Not too large or gaudy, but not so small as to be insignificant.”

      “Yes, it is elegant, isn’t it? That particular pair is my favorite—an anniversary gift from my husband last year.” She blinked several times as if to hold back tears, then said, “I had hoped to wear them to our banquet tonight.” Tessa frowned, then sighed. “Problem is, I can’t find but one of them. At first I thought it might have been stolen by that maid that they fired, but since nothing else was missing I decided that I must have either accidentally left it at home or, Lord forbid, I lost it. Anyway, I’ve looked everywhere.” She waved her hand to include the bathroom and bedroom. “Like I told the other maid who cleaned yesterday, if you happen to find it, I’d be ever so grateful.”

      “I’ll keep an eye out for it,” Charlotte assured her.

      “Thanks,” Tessa replied.

      When Tessa left the room, Charlotte sprayed window cleaner on the mirror behind the sink. But her thoughts drifted back to what Carrie had told her about having to fire one of the maids for stealing. Maybe the maid who was fired had stolen Tessa’s earring. But no, stealing just one earring didn’t make any sense.

      With a shrug, Charlotte exchanged the window cleaner for an all-purpose cleaner, and sprayed the countertop and sink.

      Several minutes later, Charlotte was just finishing up the bathtub-shower combination when Tessa stuck her head in the doorway.

      “Ah—excuse me, Charlotte.”

      Charlotte gave the edge of the tub a final swipe, then turned to face Tessa.

      Tessa had changed blouses and was holding the one that she’d changed out of.

      “Two things. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve changed my mind. I feel a migraine coming on, and the only way to get rid of it is to take my meds and sleep it off. Would it be too much trouble for you to come back a little later? A couple of hours or so should do the trick.”

      Charlotte’s gut reaction was that the woman was lying through her teeth. Though she’d never experienced migraines herself, she knew they could be painfully debilitating, and nothing about the way Tessa looked even hinted that she was in pain. Why lie though?

      Gathering every ounce of control she could muster to keep her irritation in check, she simply nodded. “I’ll be back later then, and I hope your headache gets better.”

      “And the second thing—” Tessa held up the blouse she’d changed out of. “Could you please see that this gets cleaned?”

      “Sure,” Charlotte answered, taking the blouse.

      “The dye in the new scarves I just bought bled through,” Tessa explained. “I ordered more—silk this time—before I left home, but I had to leave before they were ready. A friend of mine is supposed to bring them, but—” She shrugged. “I don’t have them yet.”

      Charlotte glanced down at the blouse. Just as Tessa had said, there was a faint red tint beneath the collar where the scarf had bled through.

      “Thank you,” Tessa murmured.

      Once Charlotte had gathered her cleaning supplies, she left the room. In the hallway she checked her watch. If she hurried, she’d have time to clean one more room before lunchtime.

      The room next to Tessa’s clearly had a DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging on the outside doorknob, so Charlotte went to the next room and knocked. “Housekeeping,” she called out. After waiting a moment and getting no response, she pulled out her entry key. Just as she was about to insert it into the lock the door swung open.

      The dark-haired woman standing in the doorway was probably in her late thirties or early forties, and was dressed in slacks and a silk blouse. “May I help you?” she asked.

      “I’m the maid, and I’ve come to clean your room.”

      The woman nodded. “Good. Come on in. I can use some clean towels and washcloths, and some extra packets of decaf coffee for the coffeemaker. Will it bother you if I continue working?” She motioned toward a desk that contained a laptop and several stacks of file folders.

      Charlotte shook her head. “Oh, no, ma’am, not at all.”

      Once Charlotte had gathered the necessary supplies from the cart, she headed for the bathroom. She had just finished wiping down the mirror, sink, and countertop when she heard the phone ring in the other room.

      The woman immediately answered the call. “This is Margaret.” A moment passed then she said, “Oh, hi, Tessa. It’s good to hear from you.”

      Normally Charlotte preferred minding her own business, and though many times she’d been put in the position of eavesdropping, she usually tried to ignore it. But hearing Tessa’s name gave her pause. After all, what were the odds that the caller was yet another woman named Tessa in the same small hotel? Of course it was possible that the call had originated from outside the hotel. Even so she figured the chances of the caller being yet another woman named Tessa were slim. With a shrug she poured disinfectant into the toilet.

      “Now, now, Tessa, just calm down,” Margaret told her. “Are you sure she overheard you? Okay, okay, don’t cry. I’m coming. Just give me a second to shut off the laptop. And if it makes you feel any better, I was able to pick up that package for you before I left.

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