Having seen the office before, she knew what to expect: a slightly untidy desk in the center, and a few old cabinets pushed against the walls. She went to the desk and searched around through the loose papers and the leather-bound ledger that sat to the right-hand side. The scattered papers on the desk offered up nothing, just invoices and orders for goods and services. But the ledger was a different story entirely. As she opened it up, she listened for the murmur of conversation between Frank and Tony from up front. Frank was keeping him busy, even causing the club owner to laugh a bit.
The first thing Ava found when she opened the ledger were three pages that had been adhered together by crimping the top left corners. And just when she saw it, something Tony said made her freeze.
“…for sure. If you need, I can show you the receipts They’re back in my office.”
Her heart leaped into her throat. She nearly left the desk and started back down the hall, not wanting to get caught. But Frank’s response was quick and effective, showing just how fast he thought on the fly. “No, don’t even worry about it. I’m sure it’s just a formality and I don’t want you having to get that deep into this. This case will probably be pretty much forgotten in a few days anyway.”
Tony hmmphed and the two men started speaking again.
Ava looked back down to the ledger, studying the pages she’d come across. The pages made up an offer to purchase the club. At first, Ava assumed it was from Monty Lincoln, but the name that kept appearing throughout the document was Alfred Moss. As she glanced over the pages, she kept reminding herself that it was just an offer, not a contract. What it did mean, though, was that Monty Lincoln had not been the only person interested in potentially purchasing the Candle’s Wick.
She flipped through a few more pages, mostly papers from the bank and his real estate broker. But near the back of another thin stack of papers that had been stuffed into the ledger, she found another multipage document. This one looked much more official than the offer she’d seen. No, this one was a contract. And by the time she’d made it three lines into the document, she saw the name she’d been expecting see: Monty Lincoln.
She looked through the contract, coming to the end, and saw something interesting on the last page. She saw that Monty had signed the contract and dated it six days ago. The line where Tony needed to sign, though, was empty.
She also saw that Monty had offered $9,200 for the club, whereas the unofficial offer Tony had gotten from Alfred Moss had been for $7,300. Ava knew very little about real estate but thought these were both fairly generous offers. And with the financial forecast in the city looking to get much worse before it got better, selling a semi-struggling club in Harlem for $9,200 would be a surefire win for Tony.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Moss and Lincoln had known about one another. And, if so, had Moss been prepared to try to find a way to match Monty Lincoln? More than that, what part had Tony played? She didn’t see him as being the sort to start a bidding war between two people but given the hard times that were falling on the city, she knew some people would do whatever it took to stay ahead.
Whatever the situation, Ava had enough new information to take to Tony. She was beyond keeping up appearances now, so she didn’t bother going by the restroom to flush the toilet just to sell her story (which she’d planned on doing if she’d found nothing in Tony’s office). Instead, she walked back to the main room where Frank and Tony were still talking at the table. The topic of conversation had now turned to how Tony decided who to hire for his club.
Ava sat down calmly at the table and gave Frank a quick look and a nod. He seemed to relax his posture a bit, nonverbally giving Ava control of the conversation.
“Tony, did you happen to know that your club wasn’t the only Harlem property that Mr. Lincoln had his eye on?”
“He’d told me he had a few others in mind,” Tony said. “But he didn’t tell me which ones. I figured it was just a smart money play. Whether folks want to admit it or not, Harlem is getting bigger and it’s slowly getting more and more attention. And with real estate values the way they are now, I figured it was smart on his part, you know?”
“Was there ever any time when you seriously thought about selling?”
Tony shrugged and looked, for just a moment, almost remorseful. “I went back and forth on it. His offer seemed a little low, but in the face of all the mess we’re in now, it started to seem like a small fortune. But this club…running something like this has always been a dream of mine. And to be honest with you…yeah, I think I would have sold. I didn’t realize just how close I was to making the decision until he died. Knowing the offer is gone now…it hurts.”
Ava leaned forward a bit, knowing she was about to step into the thick of it. “What about the offer Mr. Alfred Moss presented to you?”
Tony didn’t look surprised, nor did he attempt to put on an act, feigning that he had no idea what she was talking about. He simply looked down to the tabletop and shook his head. “What about it?”
“Well, who came to you first? Moss or Lincoln?”
“Moss. It was about a week before Monty came along. When Monty learned that Alfred had been talking to me, he came with an offer right away.”
“Did you in any way maybe pit them against one another?” Ava asked.
“No, but I’ll tell you right here to your face that I thought long and hard about it. I figured if I could start a war between them, I stood to get a pretty penny.”
“Was Monty ever aware of how much Mr. Moss offered you?”
“No. I kept it private. Like I said, I decided it wouldn’t be the righteous thing to do, to make them butt heads like that.”
“But they were each aware that the other was interested.”
“Yes. Funny enough, though, I didn’t tell them. Monty just came in the second time we spoke and asked how long Alfred Moss had been talking to me.”
“If you’d had to choose between the two, who would you have picked?” Frank asked. Even though he had no idea what Ava had seen, it was clear that he was trusting her. She took note of this, as it meant a great deal to her.
“Monty. And not just because he was offering more. Monty had the amount ready for me in cash. Alfred told me point-blank that he’d have to acquire a loan for part of it. And now that Monty is dead, I suppose he’s the only option I have. If he’s even still interested at all. It’s only been a few weeks, but the financial landscape is so different now.”
“Do us a favor,” Ava said. “Wait a day or so before reaching out to him. I think it would be worth me and Detective Wimbly speaking to him in terms of the case.”
“I don’t think Moss is the type to…to, well, murder,” Tony said. “On the other hand, he was very aggressive in his pitch to try to get me to sell.”