The Hotel Nantucket 2 (Pages 38 - 91)

 

SPOILERS!!!

All the characters seem to hide something.

The new cleaner, a young man called Chad, who comes from money, claims to have messed up and that is why he needs the money. Chad does not want to talk about it, but whatever he has done involves his friend Paddy and he wants the money for him. His sister Leith won't talk to him because she is furious with him fow what he did to Paddy.

Magda, who is the housekeeper, has received some flowers from a secret admirer, and that admirer is none other than Xavier, the owner. Xavier told Lisbeth that he bought the hotel to impress two women. One is the critic, and it seems that the second one is Magda.

Lisbeth starts to suspects that Alexandra from the front desk is not trustworthy when she discovers that she lied to her about having had a job interview with another hotel on the island. Alexandra is not very forthcoming about her personal matters, but she tells Lisbeth that she is staying with a man she met on the boat. That night after Alexandra leaves on one of the bicycles from the hotel, Lisbeth follows her, but she can't find out where she lives because Alexandra notices her following and confronts her. The spot where Alexandra stopped is where the house that a couple who Lisbeth knows lives. When Lisbeth calls the woman, he says that she is still away but her husband is at home and has been on Nantucket for a month. Now Lisbeth wonders if Alexandra's man is her friend's husband.

The chef that Xavier has hired is Mario Subiaco, a very famous cook, and Lisbeth first meets when on the first day at work she has a run in with JJ, who turns up at the hotel and asks her to marry him. When Lisbeth turns him down and JJ becomes too insistent, the chef, Mario, appears and asks JJ to leave. After that confrontation, Maria seems to have chauvinistic attitudes, which Lisbeth does not appreciate.

The first day of the hotel a woman, Kimber Marsh, and her young children, Wanda and Louie come to the hotel. They tell Edie that they are going to stay a month, which makes Edie's day. Yet, the woman has no credit card as she is going through a divorce and her ex has frozen her cards. Edie agrees to accept cash, and she even upgrades the family to a suite. When Edie tells Lisbeth, the latter is aghast, and Edie realises that she has made a mistake. However, when Lisbeth goes to talk to Kimber, they reach an understanding, and Kimber will pay cash every week and add extra money for the inconvenience.