"Then send somebody younger," he said at last.
"I have young people working on the audit. But I wanted the first answer with my own eyes. And I found a man who ought to be leading other people, not being dismissed for picking up money off the floor."
"Mother, that's a lovely sentiment. It isn't a hiring process."
"I know that too," Odessa answered, more sharply than she intended. She softened her tone. "That's why I'm having him evaluated by people who can disagree with me."
She hung up with the feeling that her son had said something worth remembering. Odessa had built the Wexley Group by finding possibility where other investors saw trouble, but that habit had sometimes led her to make decisions too quickly about people she liked. She would not help Marcus by putting him in a position he could not handle. The same woman who had humiliated him had taught her how dangerous an unchecked manager could become.
Celeste arrived at nine with the previous day's findings. She had arranged confidential conversations with former employees at neutral locations, giving each person the choice to speak with counsel present and assuring them that no manager at the Wexley would receive the interview notes. The first former housekeeper described being reprimanded in a public corridor for asking to go home after an injury. A bell captain recalled a family being made to wait outside because their reservation had been booked through a discount website. Another employee said Whitley sometimes asked staff to rewrite guest incident reports before they were forwarded to headquarters.
The interviews did not establish that every allegation was true. One former employee had unresolved disputes with coworkers, and another admitted she had failed to follow a written procedure before receiving discipline. Celeste included those facts in the file. Odessa had insisted on them, because a process that only collected accusations supporting its conclusion would be another form of the injustice she was trying to investigate.
What troubled her most was the pattern among witnesses who had never met one another. They used different words but described the same hierarchy of courtesy: expensive guests received patience and generosity, employees received suspicion, and anyone who looked poor was required to demonstrate that they deserved to enter the building. An elderly woman in a raincoat had not created that culture. She had merely entered it at an hour when the manager was willing to show it plainly.
"The staff are afraid he'll be promoted," Celeste said. "Not just because they'd lose any chance to challenge him. They believe he would take the same practices into other properties."
"Is that what he wants?" Odessa asked.
"Regional director. He's been ordering departments to repaint, repair, and restage the lobby for tomorrow morning. Finance flagged purchases for a celebration that hasn't been authorized."
Odessa pressed her fingertips together. She remembered Daniel warning her that there was a kind of manager who loved the feeling of ownership more than the responsibilities of stewardship. Such people spoke constantly about their hotel, their employees, their lobby, their brand. They could keep a carpet spotless while allowing fear to settle into the walls more deeply than any stain.