Page 97 of Maneater

“Don’t Rory me. He’s a boy, Josie. We have a mission and not much time to solve it.”

I soften my eyes, the way that always works on any unwitting person, but Rory has seen it so many times, I’m pretty sure she’s immune.

“Just this once, Rory. I promise,” I say, my hands going into a begging motion.

“No! He is not a Maven! I feel like I’ve been really cool with this whole thing,” she says, waving her hand in our direction to indicate us being said whole thing. “But this is too far.”

“Rory—” I start, but Rowan cuts me off.

“What would you need for me to prove I can be an asset?” he asks, and I turn to him with a glare. This will only make it worse. He can promise her the world, and the more he argues, the more Rory is going to get annoyed with him.

“What?” Rory asks.

“I have access to everything. What do you need? My logins? My work phone? My computer? Email? I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“We don’t think you’re a suspect,” I say low, because while access to cameras would be nice, his personal phone isn’t necessary, but Rory ignores me, tipping her head to contemplate his offer.

“You’d give me your logins to things?” Rory asks.

“I want this person caught just as much as Annette does.”

“What do you have access to?” she asks, and Rowan smiles then, wide and panty-dropping. That’s when I realize this is his own version of being a man-eater, some kind of Corporate Ken version I’m strangely very attracted to.

“What do you want access to?” he asks.

“Everything,” Rory says with a sweet smile.

“Then it’s yours. I just need to grab my laptop from my room.” My partner nods, and I sit in awe of the two of them…collaborating? I suppose I should have seen it coming, given that they were cut from the same cloth, after all.

“Perfect. That will give us a few minutes to talk about you fucking the common sense out of my best friend and partner while you’re gone.”

“Rory!” I say, mouth agape, but Rowan just laughs, bending down to press a kiss to my forehead.

“Got it. Chat away, girls. I’ll be back in ten.”

Rory smiles then, finally. “Better make it fifteen, with the way she’s walking a bit bowlegged.”

Even after the door slams behind him, I can hear Rowan’s laugh booming through the hallway.

THIRTY-EIGHT

ROWAN

“We believe that the culprit is an employee,” Rory says the next morning as we sit around a pile of half-eaten room service breakfast and multiple computers. Files and notes are scattered around, and new annotations have been added to the margins to incorporate the new input I brought to the table, both with my own knowledge and the access to the systems I provided.

During the night, Rory and Josie moved from staff room to staff room with me playing lookout to plant as many listening devices as possible, along with a few cameras going in the more trafficked areas. That way, if and when the cameras go out next, they’d have their own to view. I also managed to get Rory a housekeeping dress to make going into other spaces during busier times easier. It was a good feeling to be useful while they did their job.

“So do I,” I agree. “It might even be two people, since the deletion of the camera intel is too close to the acts being carried out. It would be pretty difficult for it to be the sameperson.”

“We’re looking at someone in the security room,” Josie says. “Like Jonas.”

I shake my head, somehow knowing that he isn’t to blame.

“My gut says it’s not him. Too obvious and too messy. He moved his entire family down here for this job, and the first day I was here after the incidents, he told me he was worried someone was setting him up.”

Rory glares at me. “That sounds like the perfect lie from someone who is sabotaging your hotel. Or covering it up.”

I shrug. She has a point, one I can’t reasonably refute. “I’m just giving my insight. I think someone lower in that department than him might be a better option, or even someone who just has a history with computers.” I lift my hands up when Rory glares daggers. “But you guys are the experts.”