Page 50 of Maneater (The Mavens #1)
With a deep sigh and a look in the mirror in my attached bathroom to school, my features and fix my hair—a mess from running my hands through it—I sit in the desk chair and accept the call. Annette is sitting there, not yet in her office, but at what I believe is her kitchen table.
“I would like to start this by informing you that you were never a suspect of mine.”
My gut drops. Suspect .
“Jesus Christ,” I grumble.
“But as you know, someone has been meticulously messing with the Keys resort. Since you were, in fact, the main champion for this location, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been you, since it would have made you look bad, and that’s so far out of your character.
Not to say that people who sabotage things make the most sense.
But you do have enemies, people who want your job, people who want to make sure you don’t get their jobs, so I didn’t want to broadcast to anyone I was bringing in the Mavens. ”
I open my mouth to say something more, but I’m cut off again when she continues her explanation.
“Josephine Montgomery is an investigator with the Mavens and is there to figure out who is to blame for the problems plaguing the location.”
“So Josie is an investigator?” My mind is reeling, thinking of all the places I’ve seen her, all the places we’ve bumped into one another. Finding the info for the reporter, behind the crime scene, at the sauna…it all makes sense now.
“Yes, and a good one, though I should have known you would unravel that fact. You aren’t great at letting mysteries lie.”
Was this all a sham? Our reconnecting, our hooking up, the flirting, the feelings…
“Did you know I knew her? Before I told you?” There’s a moment of hesitation that makes my nerves rise. “Annette.”
My patience is running thin, and even though I know I can’t, I want to storm out of the office and find Josie, demand answers, and find out if any of this was even real. Since that would be completely idiotic, I focus my interrogation on Annette.
“Yes, I was informed of your previous interactions and history with her early on and was told it wouldn’t be a problem, especially once I told the Mavens you weren’t a suspect in my eyes. She’s been very up front about…a lot of things with her boss regarding your connection.”
Fuck. That might mean that Annette might know I’ve hooked up with her while she was here. That’s so unprofessional. It would be grounds to fire me, and?—
“Calm down, Rowan, you’re not in trouble. These are greatly extenuating circumstances, and we are all very aware of that.” Silence takes over as I continue to go over these new facts, slotting them into what I already knew.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” I ask suddenly, confused and hurt.
“It wasn’t mine to tell,” Annette says with a sigh.
“Oh, come on, I?—”
“My contract with the Mavens indicates I am to keep not only the work that they’re doing for me but their existence to myself, unless it is for a referral, at which point I can only give their name and information.
Telling anyone puts not only the company at risk, but also the investigators themselves.
They uncover sensitive information that, in some cases, has exposed crimes. It wasn’t mine to tell, Rowan.”
I sit there, contemplating.
It appears that Josie’s job involves investigating something, and she does it very much under the radar. From what I’ve read, the company she works for is incredibly successful in its endeavors and achieves impressive results.
“She stole my keycard,” I say, almost petulantly.
Annette shrugs. “I wouldn’t give them access to anything in order to avoid suspicion, but I told them if they could access things on their own, I was fine with it. They’ve been able to hack into most of the systems, but they didn’t have a universal keycard yet.”
I want to be annoyed that she stole mine , especially during a moment of intimacy, but I’m starting to understand it.
And more so, I’m kind of grateful that by stealing the card, Josie was able to help the guest as soon as possible.
“What, so I just move on, pretending I don’t know this?”
“They have a job to do, Rowan. You need to let them do that job, and I’m sure she would rather be the one to tell you about her job when she’s ready.
” There’s a pause before a smile spreads on Annette’s face.
“Though I’m sure you can sweet-talk your way into getting her to spill her secrets to you. ”
My brows furrow, trying to make sense of what she’s saying.
“She uses her looks and her charm to get whatever information she wants out of people. In your case, I would hazard to guess that turnabout is fair play.” There’s a sneaky smile on her lips as she shrugs. “I happen to know that her boss has recently approved her telling you about what she does.”
Turnabout is fair play .
Huh.
I hadn’t thought about that.
Because the truth is, as I sit with this information, I understand why Josie couldn’t tell me what was going on, especially when I realize it’s part of her job not to share that.
That being said, I don’t want secrets between us anymore.
If anything, I want to help her on her mission to figure things out.
I bet with my increased access and her and Rory’s training, we could quickly close this case.
And maybe then you could take an actual break, a real vacation with Josie.
Annette smiles at me then, clearly seeing some kind of resolve on my face, before she nods.
“All right, well, it seems like you have some work to do today. Let me know if you need anything from me. Otherwise, I’ll see you at the board meeting next week.” And then the screen goes black.
I sit back with a small smile and a shake of my head, sighing and also deeply relieved as I begin to formulate my plan.