At the reception desk, Kacey found out where the manager's office was located and asked to see him. When Mr. Robertson came out to the front desk, he saw Latanya looking forlorn, and he became concerned. He had welcomed Kacey and her friends when they arrived, and knew that Kacey was a family member of the Carlsons, who owned the hotel.
"Is everything all right, Miss Carlson?"
Kacey asked, "May we speak to you in private, please?"
"Of course. Come this way," he replied.
The girls followed him down to the end of the reception desk and through a door. The manager's office was elegantly furnished with large, comfortable leather chairs, and a big desk. Mr. Robertson sat down behind the desk and told the girls to be seated.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your morning," Kacey began, "But I thought that Latanya should get to tell you her side of the story first."
Mr. Robertson looked at the maid and asked, "Latanya? What happened?"
Latanya looked unsure about speaking, but Kacey gave her an encouraging nod.
"Well, Mr. Robertson, I was cleaning rooms up on my floor this morning when a woman came out of 212 and started shouting that she had been robbed. I went to see her, and she said that a diamond ring was missing from her room. She told me that I must have taken it because I have a key. But I didn't take her ring, I swear I didn't!"
Mr. Robertson made a note of the room number and said, "I'll take care of this, Latanya. You go back to work. I'll come up to see you later."
Latanya nodded, "Yes, sir."
As they stood up to leave, Kacey said, "I'm sure there must have been some kind of mistake. Latanya has been doing such a great job on our room. I can't imagine that she'd do such a thing."
Mr. Robertson nodded, "Thank you, Miss Carlson. We'll have Security investigate this at once. There's no need for you to be concerned with it."
"Well, I just wanted to help, that's all."
"I appreciate that, but we'll take care of everything. And please, accept my humble apologies that you had to witness this."
"Oh, no apologies are needed, Mr. Robertson. I heard the woman shouting and saw Latanya crying, and I asked her to tell me what happened. I convinced her to let me bring her down to see you, and to let you know that she didn't take anything from that woman."
"Thank you again, Miss Carlson," he said, seeing them to the door.
Latanya and Kacey went back to the elevator and up to the second floor. Kacey wanted to say something to relieve Latanya's distress.
Kacey asked her, "You mentioned that you're going to school in the fall. Where are you going?"
"Well," Latanya answered quietly, "I had hoped to go to Valderra Community College, but if I lose my job, I may not have enough money. I have only been in the U.S. since January. I come from Haiti. I came to find work and earn money so I can go to school here. I have to pay high tuition because I'm not a state resident until I am here for a full year, so that's why I have to save my money. My family is very poor, and they're depending on me to help support them when I graduate. I hope to bring my younger brothers and sisters here and support them while they are going to college."
"Well, I am sure this will all blow over quickly and you'll keep your job."
The elevator bell rang and the doors slid open. They stepped out and Latanya said, "Thank you for helping me. I don't know many people here. It's great to meet someone nice like you."
"Well, I’m sure that it will all work out okay. I'll keep you in my prayers," Kacey said.
"Thank you!" Latanya said with a little smile, "That means a lot. You can call me Tanya, by the way. That's what my family and friends call me back home. Well, I'd better get back to work now."
"Okay, Tanya. I hope I see you again later. If you need any help, please come to see me or leave a message on our room phone," Kacey said as they waved goodbye.
After Tanya left, Kacey bought some soft drinks and returned to her room.
As she entered, Emma and Ava were seated at a table and eating breakfast.
"What took you so long?" Emma asked, "Your waffles are getting cold!"
Kacey told them about the incident, and they listened intently.
"Wow, that's awful!" Ava remarked.
"Yeah, poor Tanya! Do you think she'll be fired?"
Kacey shrugged, "I hope not. Hotel Security is going to investigate the matter. I hope they find the ring so Tanya will be cleared."
"Me, too," Emma agreed, "I'd hate to see her miss out on going to college because of this."
"Yeah, and it's got to be tough for her being new to this country," Ava pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," Kacey agreed, "I wish there were something I could do to help."
"Maybe they'll find the ring and everything will be okay," Ava said.
"Yeah, I hope so," Kacey agreed, but she was thinking about how Tanya wanted to help her younger brothers and sisters to go to college. She silently said a little prayer for Tanya, asking God to help her.
The girls left the hotel by mid-morning and headed for the largest shopping mall in town. They spent the day going from store to store, trying on clothes and buying clothes and gifts for friends and family. They found an Asian restaurant in the mall that looked inviting. After lunch, they shopped for another two hours and then headed back to their hotel to go for a swim.
There were two huge pools at the hotel, complete with tropical gardens, waterfalls, and two smaller, shallow pools for the kids. They had fun going down the twisting water slides and splashing into the water. After swimming, they lay on chaise lounges in the sun to dry off.
"I'm getting hungry! Where can we get a snack?" Emma asked, sitting up on her beach chair.
Ava pointed to a thatched-roof cabana to one side.
"Why not try the Snack Shack? And bring us some lemonade and some grapes or something, too," she said.
Emma nodded and left to get the snacks while Ava and Kacey continued sunbathing.
"Is this seat taken?" a man's voice asked.
The girls looked up to find a handsome young man staring down at them. He had a bright smile and dark eyes.
"I'm afraid so," Kacey answered, "Our friend just went to get something."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he answered in a foreign accent. "My name is Juan," he added, holding out his hand to shake.
Ava shook it and smiled.
"Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm Ava and this is Kacey."
They shook hands also, and then Juan continued, "I just arrived here from Puerto Rico. This hotel is really beautiful, yes?"
"Oh, it's great," Ava admitted.
"I can find a table for the four of us if you ladies would like to join me," he suggested, his bright white teeth gleaming in his tan face.
Kacey said, "Oh, thanks, but we're fine here. Our friend should be back any minute and then we'll be going back to our room."
Juan nodded, "Okay. Well, maybe some other time."
"Yeah, sure," Ava replied politely. He gave them a wave and left.
Ava turned to Kacey, asking, "Was he just being polite, do you think, or trying to pick up one of us?"
She grinned, "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's just being polite."
Ava nodded, "Well, if I didn't already have Rick as my boyfriend, I might have liked to spend some time with Juan. He seems nice."
"And he's cute!" Kacey added.
Emma returned with their snacks of drinks and fresh fruit. She sat back down on her own beach chair and dug into her ice cream sundae.
"An ice cream sundae?" Ava asked incredulously.
"Sure, why not?" Emma mumbled with her mouth full. "It'll cool me off."
"Yeah, but we'll probably be eating dinner in a couple of hours. If you want to cool off, jump in the pool!"
She glanced at the scintillating blue water and shook her head.
"No thanks."
Ava rolled her eyes at Kacey, who just smiled. After their snacks, the girls decided to go back to their room for a while.
&nbs
p; As they were changing clothes, Emma went through her carry-on luggage, looking for a top to wear, and noticed that her camera was missing. She looked in her beach bag, in her purse, the closet, and chest of drawers.
She found Kacey in the bathroom fixing her hair, and asked her, "Did you see my camera?"
"No," Kacey said, shaking her head, "When did you use it last?"
"Well, I know I brought it with me in my luggage, but it's not there."
She asked Ava the same question, and Ava replied, "No. But why did you bring a camera? You've got a cell phone!"
Emma tilted her head to one side, "I know, but my camera takes better pictures. It's got a better zoom lens and a sharper focus. And it takes better pictures in dim light. But I can't find it anywhere."
Ava joined her in the search.
As Kacey was putting on her make-up, she searched her make-up bag for her necklace, and couldn't find it.
She went through all her bags, then started looking in drawers.
"We already checked all the drawers," Ava said.
"What?" asked Kacey.
"The camera's not in the drawers. We already looked," Ava explained.
"But I'm not looking for that. I'm trying to find my necklace...you know, the gold cross on a chain that Aunt Mary gave me last fall?"
"It's missing too?" Ava asked as she stared intently at Kacey.
"Maybe I dropped it somewhere," Kacey said as she went down on her knees and searched under the beds.
The girls went through everything in their rooms, including the bedding, but couldn't find the camera or the necklace.
Ava stood in the center of the room with her hands on her hips and announced,
"I think we've been robbed!"