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Page 66 of Maneater (The Mavens #1)

FORTY-FOUR

JOSIE

“It’s her,” Rowan says after we show him all of our newly discovered evidence. Rory and I give each other a disbelieving look before I give him a small smile and shake my head. “Seriously? You two don’t think it’s her?”

I shrug and feel the urge to pat his hand.

“We’ve done this a lot, Rowan. Trust us.

She’s involved, don’t get me wrong, the same as Carter is.

But it’s not her.” He sits back in disbelief, but I continue to explain our reasoning.

“That clip of her before the fire? She was angry. She told our perp not to do it. It’s not her, but she knows who it is.

She also didn’t come forward to tell on him, so there’s loyalty there, some connection.

I’d go as far as to say our perp is doing it for her. ”

His eyes go wide at that. “For her? Why would someone sabotage a hotel for someone?”

“People have done crazier things to get someone’s attention.”

“You think he’s trying to get her attention?”

I shrug. I have nothing substantial to go on for that theory, but I have a hunch. Nevertheless, I explain what little I do have. “Many of the sabotages have occurred in the spa,” I remind him.

It’s still fresh on his mind, of course, since when he walked in, he told us that part of why he was busy so long was because a massage table collapsed as an employee was prepping it for a guest. When he looked at it, he found it was missing three screws, the exact three that would’ve made it almost inevitable to collapse during a service.

Thankfully, there was no service at the time, and no one was hurt, but it was another clear case of sabotage.

Rowan shakes his head and lets out a sigh. “That’s one way to get someone’s attention, I suppose.”

I smile and grab a french fry from the room service container he brought up, chewing thoughtfully before speaking again.

“We need to talk to her,” Rory says, beginning to pace the room. This is her least favorite part of a mission: when we’re close, but not there, and there’s just one piece missing before we can solve our problem.

“Good luck with that, because every time Tanya sees you, she looks like she hopes you choke,” Rowan says with a laugh.

I roll my eyes, but then I look over at him, taking in my man, all broad shoulders and rumpled hair, and I grin.

“Why do I feel like I am absolutely not going to enjoy whatever you’re about to say?” he asks with one exasperated sigh. I look from him to Rory, who smiles as well, already knowing where I’m going with this.

“Have you ever considered being a super cool undercover spy?” I ask.

The next morning, we have the cameras in Rowan’s office running and are watching attentively.

Last night, after we convinced him this was our best option and he could totally pull it off, Rowan sent Tanya an email requesting that she visit his office bright and early, and she is due in his office at any moment.

“Do you feel it?” I ask, my voice low.

“Yeah,” Rory replies, and a chill washes over me with her confirmation.

There’s a moment in any given case where you feel it: the tipping point approaching, the moment where all of the pieces fall into place and everything makes sense.

It’s in the air, and while I still don’t think Tanya is our culprit, she knows who is, and she is going to give us just a crumb of what we need to solve the case.

Today.

I can feel it in my bones, as sure as I know my own name.

Before I can say anything else, a knock comes from the monitor, and Rowan straightens. His shoulders go back, and he takes in a deep breath before he calls, “Come in.”

Even though this moment is incredibly important, I can’t help but steal a single moment to take in my man and how good he looks in a dark navy suit and a white button-down shirt with no tie, the top two buttons undone intentionally to really amp up the hot factor and get Tanya off her game.

But I can’t focus on that for long because the door opens and in walks Tanya, a strut in her step as she smiles too wide for my liking and pushes her chest out as she approaches his desk.

“Down, girl,” Rory mutters, and I realize the grip around the pen in my hand is turning my knuckles white. “He’s absolutely bonkers for you, no need to get jealous.”

I want to argue that I’m not jealous; I just don’t like the woman. However, Tanya speaks, and I have to focus, forcing my own personal emotions back into a box and turning on my professional interpretation of her every move.

“You called for me?” she asks, putting her hands on the chair and leaning forward, a cat-like smile on her lips. If I hadn’t gotten fucked over that very chair just a few days ago, I might be jealous. But alas…

“Yes, yes, I just want to chat with you for a bit. Please sit down.” She makes an exaggerated show of pulling the chair out, popping her ass out as she does before she sits in the chair.

“There was another incident in the spa yesterday. A massage table collapsed while an employee was prepping it for a guest. No injuries, thank God, but it’s the fourth issue of its kind in the spa department that we know of.”

To her credit, Tanya looks shocked and concerned, eyes wide and her lips parted. We did our best to ensure she was not informed of the issue before she made her way to Rowan’s office, and it appears we were successful.

“Oh no! It collapsed? Was it faulty?”

Rowan tips his head before explaining. “Initial investigations show that screws were removed or loosened to ensure a collapse.”

Her eyes go soft and innocent, and for a moment, I almost feel bad.

And then I remember the piling evidence as to why I should not feel bad, most importantly, that she knows who has been creating all of these issues.

“Did you call me in here because…” Her eyes widen, and a hand moves to her chest. “Do you think I’m doing this?” Her voice goes a pitch too high. “I don’t know anything about any of this mess.”

“There it is,” Rory says, noting the same thing. “She’s lying about something. Panicked.”

I nod in agreement and watch as Rowan smoothly shakes his head.

“No, no. I just wanted to tell you personally so you didn’t hear it from anyone else,” he says. Relief washes over Tanya’s face, and she reaches over, touching his hand on the desk and pushing her cleavage together in a way that is far too vulgar for work.

“I really do appreciate that,” she says in a terrible impression of Marilyn Monroe that makes me roll my eyes.

People think being the man-eater is easy: bat your lashes, perk your tits, pout your lips, and you’ll have them eating out of your hand, but it’s about reading your target, knowing what they want, and giving them just that.

It’s about reading the room, about tempting without giving, and forcing the chase.

It’s clear to me that Tanya thinks she has the skill, but she doesn’t.

“Though, actually…I was happy to have an excuse to call you in here. I feel like we never have time to talk; we’re always too busy with the resort.” He leans back, a small smile playing on his lips as he tilts his head to the side, crossing his arms across his wide chest.

“Oh my god, he’s actually good at this,” Rory says in an awestruck voice.

“Too good,” I grumble, especially when Tanya dons her own catlike smile before leaning farther into his desk and pushing her breasts closer together. It’s a move I’ve done a million times, but she clearly doesn’t have the same ease, making it too sexual and far too obvious.

“You know, I’ve always felt a bit of a connection between us, you know. We have the same work ethic,” Tanya says while fluttering her lashes.

I tighten my jaw, but Rowan just smiles and nods.

“Have you always worked in hospitality? It seems like you were made for this industry.”

She lets out a flirty laugh and waves a hand, shaking her head. “Oh, you’re too sweet. No, no, I worked in a med spa in Miami before this. But a friend of mine told me there was an opening here, and I applied and was shocked when I got the job.”

Rowan raises an eyebrow, and my heart starts to beat a bit faster, my veins filling with endorphins.

“A friend?” Rowan asks.

“Oh, Carter over in landscaping.”

For the first time since she walked in, my eyes leave the monitor and look at Rory, who is staring at me with the same excited look.

Carter, who we caught running to a storage closet moments before the cameras were tampered with.

Carter, who said Tanya was throwing away the job he got her.

She’s leading up right where we need her.

I expect him to take the easy route, to ask another question about Carter or how she knows him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he picks up her hand and holds it, and that familiar jealousy rolls through me. His thumb brushes over her index finger, and a wide smile spreads on his lips.

“A tan line, huh? Seems like it at least used to be exclusive.” The smile makes me wonder if he’s remembering that night in the bar when I told him my tan line trick, the way I am now.

“Oh, well, I was engaged up until recently,” she says, a hint of embarrassment or hesitance in the words.

My heart stutters, and I turn to Rory, whose body has the same tense hold as mine. That never came up in our investigations. Immediately, Rory moves to her computer and starts digging.

“Oh? What happened?” Rowan asks, and Tanya waves her hand.

“Oh, you know, the normal thing. Girl meets boy, girl falls for boy’s shit, boy gets far too possessive and controlling.” She shrugs as if she doesn’t care. “Girl gets dragged around for a bit before she realizes she needs to get out.”

“That’s too bad. I hate to see a good woman locked down,” Rowan says.

“Cool it, girl,” Rory says, looking at me as she types away.

“What?”

“You look like you’re about to break a tooth.”

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