Poe's First Law: A Murder on Maui Mystery by Robert W. Stephens

Author:Robert W. Stephens [Stephens, Robert W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

19

The Art of the Bluff

I got to Oleen’s apartment in Kihei about twenty minutes before Foxx did. It gave me time to mentally prep for the interview. Like many things in this investigation, it seemed like Oleen’s actions came down to two possibilities. She either saw Mele Akamu and Samson murder Eric Ellis or she didn’t. You may be inclined to think that I assumed she hadn’t seen it. I didn’t. The truth is that I didn’t know what to believe. I thought there were compelling arguments that could be made for either possibility.

That said, if she was lying about it, then it wasn’t hard to figure out her motivation. Tavii had hurt her and she wanted her revenge. Taking out his grandmother and destroying the family business was a good way to do that. She also had to know that he was finished as a politician.

Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about something Samson had said to me earlier in the day. He’d told me that Tavii and Oleen relied on Mele Akamu to take care of them. Oleen apparently didn’t have money of her own, so Samson couldn’t figure out why she was willing to go as far as she apparently was.

It’s one thing to be broke in your youth. It’s quite another to be willing to walk into poverty in your forties, which was the age I guessed Oleen was. The last thing someone at that age wants to do is live in some crummy apartment when they’re used to living in a large, well-appointed house.

None of this is to say that I was surprised that Oleen had left Tavii. I wasn’t. If anything, I was shocked that she’d stayed with him as long as she had. On the other hand, I’d come across numerous people during my cases who were more than willing to put money and status above love. According to Samson, Oleen had been willing to look the other way too. I suspected there was a piece of the puzzle I wasn’t seeing, though, and I had no idea where to look.

As readers of my last tale will testify, I’m a fan of the game of poker. It relies on multiple things: an understanding of the mathematical odds of the cards being dealt, a courage to risk everything you have, and the ability to tell when your opponent is bluffing.

There is one other thing. You have to know when and how to bluff with your own hand or lack thereof. Bluffing is an art unto itself. You can’t come across as too confident because then your opponent will see right through you. If you appear too weak, then your opponent will sense that something is up. It’s a delicate balance, which also depends on reading the other person’s personality and knowing how to go after them.

Unfortunately, I’d never met Oleen so I had nothing to base my approach on. There was also the inconvenient fact that I was working for Mele Akamu, something that I suspected Oleen already knew.

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