To Catch a Bad Guy (Book One of the Janet Maple Series)

On Monday morning Janet sat in her office, tallying up the results of the weekend, which even taking her most humiliating adolescent memories into account had been the most embarrassing weekend of her life. Blankly staring into her computer screen, Janet compiled a mental list of all the indignities she had endured in the past two days: attending an engagement party as the only single guest under the age of fifty – check, being harassed by your friend’s mother regarding your appearance – check, being badgered by the same friend’s relatives about your personal life – check, and last, but by far not the least, becoming an unwitting object of lust of a formerly puny, sex-obsessed teenage pest, who had turned into a much better looking, but still equally sex-obsessed man.

  Janet could not help a sad smile at her tally. Perhaps, she should start a dating blog about the mortifications of being single in your late twenties. Given the amount of single women in New York, it ought to be a popular subject. That would be one way of turning lemons into lemonade. If she got this second career off the ground, she would no longer have to worry about her employment at Bostoff Securities or the nature of Bostoff’s business. For a moment the possibility seemed tempting, except Janet worried that most women would not relate, for she was beginning to suspect that she was an aberration when it came to her bad luck on the love front. She knew for a fact that in her entire life Lisa Foley had not encountered even a fraction of the embarrassment that Janet had suffered through this weekend.

  But as much as she would have loved to wallow in self-pity, Janet had much more pressing matters to attend to: like the matter of her employment, which was as precarious as her love life. If indeed her research would confirm her initial suspicion about Bostoff Securities, she would have some very tough decisions to make. She was just about to focus on the report for Friday when there was a knock on the door. This time Janet had been vigilant enough to keep the door of her office closed. She quickly put the papers away. “Come in!”

  “Am I interrupting anything?” Lisa sauntered in.

  “Oh, no, I was just doing some research,” Janet replied, her heart beating wildly. She wasn’t lying, but then she wasn’t telling the truth either.

  Lisa rolled her eyes, indicating that such a subject was not worthy of her interest. “Janie, I’m so sorry about the party. What a jerk Andrew turned out to be! I meant to call you on Sunday, but Paul and I were busy looking at catering venues.”

  “How did you hear about what happened with Andrew?”

  “The prick had the nerve to complain to me about it. He got all upset about me dragging him out for nothing. Apparently, my engagement is not worthy of his attention; he also had to score with you.”

  Janet’s irritation spiked. Lisa’s narcissism was unending. Never mind that courtesy of Lisa, Janet had been pawed by Lisa’s sleazoid cousin in the middle of nowhere; in the end, Lisa was still the victim.

  “What exactly did you tell Andrew about me, Lisa?”

  Lisa fiddled with her blazer. “Oh, nothing much. That you were going to be at my party…”

  “Are you sure? Then how come he knew about me being single? He also used the word ‘desperate.’”

  “Oh, I might have mentioned that you were single, but I never said a word about desperation. Clearly, you have no reason to be desperate.”

  There it was again: Lisa’s old trick of switching the tables on you, but this time Janet was not budging. “Do me a favor, Lisa, stop setting me up on dates.”

  “Suit yourself.” Lisa rose from her chair. “Don’t forget about the company party this Thursday.”

  “I’ll be there, but don’t even think about setting me up with that Tom Wyman character.”

  “Not to worry. Your personal life is now solely in your capable hands. Rest assured, there will be no interference from poor, sloppy me.” Lisa cocked her head as she began to slowly exit Janet’s office.

  Janet guessed from Lisa’s measured walk that she was awaiting an apology, but remained silent. Her boss or not, there was a limit as to how much humiliation one person was allowed to inflict upon another.

  Lisa stopped short before exiting through the door, and Janet’s heart lurched. Could it be that Lisa was going to apologize? That would be an unprecedented occurrence worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records.

  “Oh, and I almost forgot, I’m going to look at wedding dresses next weekend. I expect you to be there.”

  Janet nodded; a promise was a promise, and she had agreed to be Lisa’s maid of honor. “I’ll be there.”

  “Good.” Lisa shifted her feet, clearly dissatisfied with the absence of an apology. “Well, I’ll see you later.”