Chapter 15 #3
“Yes, my apologies,” Oakland said, responding to Ziya’s significantly louder query first. “All’s fair in business, I always say. I knew Savannah was planning on selling to the young café owner.” He winced. “She told me herself, very angrily and at an ear-piercing decibel.”
“Why was she angry?” Amie asked.
“She heard the podcast.” Oakland let out a half-hearted sigh.
“I didn’t expect the game to last forever.
It was fun while it lasted. What I hadn’t predicted was that she’d change her mind about selling the bookstore.
She told me she’d decided to sell, and had been considering me as a buyer, but no longer wanted anything to do with me. ”
A wry smile crossed his face. “I have to admit, it was a poor business move on my part. Never good to burn bridges, even if you’re having fun doing so. I tried to reason with her, but it was clear she’d only come by to yell at me, so I just let her tire herself out before she finally left.”
“When was this?” Amie asked.
“Two, three weeks ago? When I heard of her passing, I went to speak with Madeline to try to find out if the sale had gone through. Thought I might still have a chance to buy the place off of Savannah’s widower. Especially when he came by today.”
Amie straightened. “Andrew Harlow visited you today?”
“He called me,” Oakland said. “Found my business card in Savannah’s effects. Said he was told I might be interested in buying the store. I invited him over this afternoon to chat.”
“And you lied to him, too,” Ziya said, accusatory. “You told him Savannah was planning on selling the store to you.”
Oakland shrugged, an unconvincingly bashful look on his face. “All’s fair,” he repeated. “Not my fault Savannah didn’t communicate with her husband.”
“She wanted to surprise him,” Amie said, surprising herself with how vehemently she was defending Savannah Harlow. “And he’s in mourning. You tried to manipulate a man who just lost his wife.”
“A man in mourning came to me to talk business,” Oakland shot back, poking his own chest. “I didn’t go to him, he came to me. If he wasn’t ready to play the game, he shouldn’t have stepped onto the court.”
Ziya scoffed as Amie worked to suppress her own temper.
“What did he say?” she asked, her voice flat. “When you told him Savannah was planning on selling to you?”
Thinking back, Oakland said, “Not much. He let me do most of the talking. Told him what I’d told Savannah back when I first offered to her: I could get the bookstore back on its feet, even sell it back to him once it started turning a profit again—at a much higher selling price, of course.”
Oakland chuckled. “He didn’t seem very interested in that part of the offer. He did ask if anyone else knew that Savannah had been planning on selling to me. I suspected there was a good chance Madeline would speak to him at some point, so I told him that she knew about it.”
His tone shifted, as if he was giving a lecture to a rapt audience instead of two women glaring daggers at him.
“Planting seeds of doubt about your competition to a seller can give you a leg up when the time comes for them to make a decision. If Madeline tried to claim Savannah wanted to sell to her, but I’d already told him she wanted to sell to me, he’s more likely to believe the person he heard from first.”
“Not necessarily,” Amie said, feeling argumentative.
“No? You were so quick to believe Madeline when she said Savannah sold the store to her. Did she show you any proof?”
“No,” Amie admitted. “But—”
“You believed her because you heard from her first,” Oakland said. “In business, timing is everything. First impressions can be more valuable than an already-signed check. I wasn’t given any time to try to plead my case; you’d already concluded that I was the liar.”
“You also gave up pretty much right away,” Ziya said drily.
Oakland pointed at her. “That’s fair, I’ll give you that.
Once you said the papers had been signed, I realized there wasn’t much more I could say.
” He spread his hands. “Can’t win them all.
Madeline won out this time. I’ll just have to keep myself busy with my eight other flourishing small businesses and various other investments. ”
He sat back in his chair, looking pensive. “I suppose this means I’ve returned to being a suspect. Who else is on the list?”
Now it was Amie’s turn to scoff. “I’m not telling you!”
“Fine, fine.” Oakland chuckled again. Amie hated how enjoyable a time he appeared to be having. “Oh, to be young and unemployed with all the time in the world to run around trying to solve a mystery.”
“I’m not unemployed,” Amie said, knowing the truth of that statement had a looming expiration date.
“Really?” Oakland studied her. “I usually pride myself on my ability to read people. It’s a big reason why I’m as successful as I am. You work from home?”
Amie frowned. “Yeah.”
“Do you enjoy your work?”
“Not really, no.”
“I could tell,” Oakland said. “People who enjoy what they do have a certain … well, it sounds cheesy, but the best way to describe it is a glow. You don’t have that glow.”
“It’s been a rough week,” Amie deadpanned.
“You know,” Oakland continued, “I could give you a discount on my entrepreneurship course.”
“Really.”
“Of course! In just a few short weeks, you’ll—”
“God, do you ever stop?” Ziya scowled at the man. “Seriously, give it a fucking break. We came here to ask you about a woman who was murdered, and all you’ve done is treat everything like it’s a game.”
Oakland seemed unaffected by the outburst, with the unflappability of someone accustomed to being yelled at.
“Have I been unforthcoming with my answers?” he asked calmly.
“I’ll admit I made a small fib, but otherwise I believe I’ve answered everything asked of me with truth. ” He looked at Amie for confirmation.
“I …” She didn’t really want to validate the man, especially if it would seem like she was siding with him against Ziya. Opting for a change of subject, she said, “Is there anything else you can tell us about Savannah? Any concerns she had about anyone, worries she expressed …?”
“She was worried about a lot of things,” Oakland said breezily.
“Though she pretended not to be. She was worried about losing the store, worried about her incompetent staff, worried she was doing everything wrong. But if you’re asking if she told me about any enemies, or expressed a fear for her life, then no, she didn’t mention anything like that. ”
He spread his hands. “Any other questions?”
“Are you having fun?” Ziya asked coldly.
“Immensely. My life would be significantly more boring if I didn’t find fun in everything I do.
That’s how people waste their lives away, when they don’t allow themselves any fun.
That was Savannah’s problem, I suppose. She took everything far too seriously.
Can you imagine how different her life might have ended up if she just had more fun with it? ”
“You’re saying Savannah was murdered because she wasn’t having enough fun?” Ziya asked, aghast.
Oakland rolled his eyes with amusement. “Well, maybe not. But she was letting herself be bogged down with worry and stress and anger.” He knocked on his chest with a closed fist. “That does something to a person. Makes it so you can never really live life to its fullest. It rots your soul.”
“You’re a bad person.”
Oakland and Ziya both looked at Amie with surprise, who would have given herself a similar look if she was physically capable of doing so.
“Sorry,” Amie said quickly. “Or, not. I—” She winced, rubbing her temple. “I just, you’re talking like you’re some paragon of living life, but you’re not a nice person. You used Savannah, you lied to Andrew, you lied to us—”
Oakland shook his head. “When you’re playing the game—”
“I don’t want to play your game!” Amie stood up. “None of us want to play your game. You might be having fun, but when it’s at the expense of other people? That’s a terrible way to live your life. You’re a terrible person.”
“Do you know how much I’ve done for other people?” Oakland chuckled, although the laughter sounded more forced than it had previously. “How many small businesses I’ve saved? How many jobs I’ve saved, how many dreams I’ve saved?”
“I don’t …” Amie shook her head. “I don’t think any of that really matters if you hurt people to get there.
” She wasn’t even trying to convince him of anything.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to. She just had to say it.
“I’m sure there are lots of people who are grateful for you and your money, but that doesn’t negate the way you treat everyone as competitors or pawns.
I think life is about more than just making sure you’re having the best time. I don’t know.”
She crossed her arms, looking away from the man in the chair as she finished.
“Well …” Oakland cleared his throat. “Word of advice: Ending your passionate speech with ‘I don’t know’ can significantly detract from its effectiveness.”
“Shut up,” Ziya said tiredly, standing as well. “Let’s go. He’s just wasting our time.”
“I wouldn’t be wasting your time if you’d ask the right question,” Oakland said. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask it.”
Amie huffed with annoyance. “Ask what?”
“If I have an alibi for when Savannah was murdered.” Oakland’s eyes gleamed. “Monday night, wasn’t it? I flew in from Boston early Tuesday morning. Red-eye flight. I can show you my boarding pass, if you’d like.”
“You couldn’t have led with that?” Ziya asked through gritted teeth.
“That wouldn’t have been as fun for him,” Amie said before he could respond. Oakland shrugged in silent acknowledgement, the ghost of a smile on his face.
They left him sitting in his thousand-dollar chair.
“Sorry,” Amie said once the elevator doors closed.
“For what?”
“For … that.” Amie gestured to the doors, as if Oakland was still sitting on the other side. “I didn’t think I’d change his mind or anything. I was just mad.”