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15. Postulations

Lorne wrapped me in a tight hug, my voice trembling as I asked, "Why did we choose User Error?"

"The wailing of the alarm will have scared away the intruders, and by turning it off, there'd be no automatic notification to cause the police to scramble to the address."

"Let the goons escape, then?"

"The stakeouts will have cameras recording activity for later analysis. The alarm will have alerted them to watch more closely, and they know not to blow their cover and apprehend. They're aware of the far broader implications of this and of the need for patience."

"Ummm, yeah."

"And we can hope that those directing the goons might interpret the alarm cancellation as you being home to do it. People often open a window or a door, forgetting they have perimeter alarms set."

I nodded. "Yeah, I've done that. Got a phone call to confirm after I shut it off."

"So, our postulations appear to be plausible."

"Your postulations; I'm just along for the ride with them."

"Far more than that, Kate. They evolved with your questions and insights. I'd have been far off on tangents without those."

I gave him a squeeze and nodded over my shoulder. "We should continue with breakfast, Lorne. I burnt a lot of energy last night and this morning, and I'm famished."

"Ummm, same."

I continued with the mushrooms, and when finished, I asked, "What next?"

Lorne pointed to the fridge. "We've jambon persiellée that was to be last evening's entré. You could dice a slab. It's in the square LocknLock on the top shelf."

I took the container out and opened it to see five slices. "These will keep well until next week's dinner, Lorne. Safe for a long time stored like this. Anything else I could dice?"

"We'll be six next week, so I have to buy more, anyway. Use the top one, the least aesthetic – that was to be mine."

"Ummm! So, your prepping for dinner yesterday? Mostly wasted?"

"No, a slow-cooker of boeuf bourgignon." He pointed along the granite countertop. "Now on auto keep-warm, and the frites are cut and blanching in the fridge. We can have those for dinner the next two days, and the pôchouse can be our lunches. The époisses, bleu de Bresse and bouton de culotte will only improve over the week – or we can enjoy them and replenish."

I licked my lips. "Ooh! I love traditional Burgundian meals. What wines had you chosen?"

"A sparring match between Quails' Gate and Louis Jadot. The '09 Family Reserve chard against the '09 Meursault Genevrières, and the '06 Family Reserve pinot noir against the '06 Beaune Grèves."

"Oh, God! A dream. Please, don't wake me." I chuckled. "And you do this every week?"

"We try to, but life sometimes intervenes, so we push the schedule a week – like we did last evening."

A while later, as we sat eating our frittata and sipping double espressos, Lorne said, "The first thing is to see if Yelp, Tripadvisor, Zomato, DineHere, and the other patron review sites still show the failed restaurants."

"Nathan said he had begun digging in Bluestone's reviews, so those were still there. Don't know which site, though."

"Ummm, possibly the site admins are too busy to take down closed places. Though, they may keep them up to prevent users' ratings from declining."

"Ratings?"

"Some of the sites rate a reviewer's credibility by the number of reviews they've posted."