Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 13

The following morning dawned and, uncharacteristically, Ian was awake and out of his apartment. The cooler temperatures had definitely arrived, and instead of bringing a chill to Ian, they invigorated him. He was looking forward to doing this.

He struggled a bit with how to process his role in this escapade. He was technically casing a joint. He wasn't even sure that the bank was the target, but he was definitely tasked with the "getaway". He did not feel like a criminal, yet he knew what he was doing definitely could be perceived as nefarious. The closest he could come to rationalising his role was that he was a soldier conducting a reconnaissance on a potential target.

Ian rode from his apartment on his trusty bike and got to the bank in less than a half hour. He scanned the area and confirmed his initial look from Dave's computer that the bank was the only potential target in this area. There was a small Mom and Pop corner store about three blocks down Kingfisher, but that would definitely put it outside the 800 block. Thus, the bank must be it.

He immediately saw a spot where he could sit to watch the front of the bank, where he could set the bikes, and where he would cross the street. Despite his earlier thoughts about this bank being perfectly placed to protect against robberies and vehicle escapes, it was proving to be very vulnerable to bicycle getaways.

Out of curiosity, he entered the bank. It was an older bank, one that looked like it was built in the post war building boom of the 1950s. It had the teller's desks as soon as you went into the bank on the right. It had that smell of an older bank, whether it was stale air, the smell of money, or the fact that the only people that seemed to be in the bank on an early Tuesday morning were those that could get the senior's special at a diner, like the one he where liked to eat.

On the left was a row of seats, once in the building. Just as you entered the bank, there was a bank machine, waiting to dispense its pile of twenties. Ian knew that the Benefactor was not interested in stealing money, so the two of them would make their stand here, sandwiched between the bank machine, chairs and tellers.

Taking a quick look around the room, he could only identify two cameras. But there were plenty of people behind the counters. Ian counted four teller stations, but there seemed to be a teller manager, at least four people in the offices in the back. Granted some of them were probably people who were paying off loans, or arranging mortgages, but they were there nonetheless.

In the far corner of the bank was a massive vault. Ian had been in banks plenty of times over the course of his life, but he could not recall, except as a kid, ever trying to find the vault. But there it was in the far corner of the bank. He did not know enough about vaults to indicate whether this was a good one, or a cheap one. It did look impressive in its ability to stop someone from breaking in.

He needed to get out of there before he started to arouse suspicion. He was prepared to say if someone questioned him that it was hot out, it was, and he was riding and he just wanted to take a spot to cool down, even though it was not really that hot. However, he just fished out his wallet, made a twenty-dollar withdrawal from the bank machine, and left. No one seemed to notice anything.

He then started to ride down the road along his planned route. He followed it until he got to Academy Avenue. Looking up and down the street, he saw something that was promising.

He saw a construction site. He rode down to it and started talking to one of the flag persons. It turned out to be a twenty something woman. Ian turned on the charm.

"How long will this be all torn up?"

"About three weeks. We're replacing the sewer pipe under the street."

"How is this going to block traffic?"

"Don't worry, that's what I'm here for. We should have traffic flowing through, one lane at a time."

Ian smiled inside. Here he was standing on the spot where his problems would be solved for crossing Academy Avenue. Feeling vindicated for conducting this reconnaissance, he chatted with the young woman and managed to arrange a coffee date with her. She was not nearly as desirable as Kate, but he would likely never have a chance with Kate. This girl, was definitely in his league.

He jumped back on his bike, leaving her doing her job and headed down the road towards the schools. The ride through the girls' school campus was smooth. Crossing the road to the boys school brought to the forefront that there was a fence in the middle of the path. This would require some imagination to avoid. There was a locked gate, so perhaps he could undo the bolts the night before, and hopefully the school will not have time to rig a repair.

He rode on further to the bridge. As the bridge was an exclusive pedestrian pathway, it was extremely narrow. It would, however, easily hold the weight of the bicyclists. Ian was worried about what would happen if there were people on the bridge. That would slow them down too much, or worse, hurt some innocent bystanders. He tried to find a way where he could ensure that the bridge remained clear. Looking around, the only thing he could do was to block off the bridge. Danger signs perhaps. He was not sure, but he would have to come up with something.

He crossed the bridge easily and rode up to Lewis & Clark Avenue. There was no way he could arrange anything to stop or slow traffic here. It would require too much work, or rely too much on chance. They would have to chance traffic. At least there was a boulevard here where they could get half way across the road at first, then cross the second half when traffic cleared going west.

Not willing to risk his life and limb on his reconnaissance, he dismounted and walked across the road at a crosswalk. He kept that in mind. He tried to think about ways to circumvent the usual traffic patterns. He could sit and wait and time the changes of lights, and then attempt to time the arrival of the trio to the lights. There were risks with that.

As he was sitting there on the opposite side of the road, he managed to notice that there were sensors on the lights. He would have to ask about how those sensors work. How to do that without raising suspicions? He mentally tallied up the things that he needed to do to get ready for the escape. Some things were taken care of, such as Academy Road. Others were being added, such as the pedestrian bridge and the fence in the school yard. All told, his list was still concerning for him.

He continued his travel down the road to the commercial complex. From the site he could see the perfect spot to store a vehicle. He could back it into an old loading dock, leave the back unlocked with a ramp. Ride the bikes up the ramp into the van, retract the ramp, close the doors and wait out the police. Afterwards, they could drive out to the drop off point.

It was all worked out, except how to cross Lewis & Clark Avenue. Perhaps he could get Dave to sort him out. He did not want to, but he could try.

With the route all selected, all he needed to do was make sure that his trio could make it.