“So you’re filling in for her? That’s so nice.” She lowered her voice even further. “No one’s ever nice to Maddie. It makes me really mad. She’s the sweetest girl.”

“Yes, she is,” Mac said, touched by the tiny woman’s loyalty to Maddie. It warmed him to know she had at least one friend on the island.

“Daisy!” Ethel barked. “Are you listening to me?”

Daisy quaked in her sneakers. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Take room 303 from Mac’s list,” Ethel said.

“It must be bad,” Daisy whispered to him. “Maddie always gets the grossest rooms.”

Mac fumed when he heard that. Things were going to change around here after today. “That’s not necessary, Ethel,” he said. “I’ve got it.”

Daisy glanced up at him with an expression of awe and fear. Apparently, no one dared to cross the mighty Ethel. To hell with that. His parents owned the place. She couldn’t intimidate him.

“I want Daisy to do it.”

“I’ll do it.”

Another visual standoff. Again, Mac refused to blink.

“Fine,” Ethel said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Have at it. Get to work, everyone.”

Daisy took pity on him and helped him stock his basket. By the time he had everything he needed to clean the ten rooms on his list, he could barely lift the thing. He watched in amazement as Daisy lifted hers, propped it on her shoulder and headed for the stairs.

By the time he reached the third floor, his back was breaking and sweat rolled down his forehead. How does Maddie do this? The hallway was stifling, and the lack of air-conditioning promised to make for a long, uncomfortable day. He decided to start with what promised to be the worst room on his list—303. On the ring of keys he’d been given, he found the one he needed, took a deep breath and opened the door to hell.

The smell smacked him in the face, making him gag. Someone had puked all over one of the two beds, bottles and cans littered the floor and the bathroom floor was flooded. “Holy DNA,” he muttered as he put a hand over his mouth and nose and rushed in to throw open the windows. As his stomach fought back a retch, his foot skidded on something. He looked down at a discarded condom on the floor. “Oh my God.”

Mac turned to find Daisy standing at the door, looking sympathetic. “Maddie always gets these rooms.”

“Not anymore.”

Daisy glanced over her shoulder as if she was worried that Ethel might appear any second. “I’ll help you.”

“You don’t have to. You’ve got your own rooms to deal with.”

“None of mine come close to this. Maddie’s my friend, and you’re doing her a favor, so let me help you.”