Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 41

The front doors to the hospital behind Ian slammed open and he heard a noise. It was not a loud noise, but it was not a noise one heard in a hospital. He heard running. He stole a quick glance behind him and saw Lauren running towards him. Lauren looked a bit panicked. Ian tried to smile to get her smiling, but she did not respond in kind.

"What's the matter?"

"Bill got info that more cops are on their way, and also that one thing we did not compensate for is that this is when shift change with nurses and staff is occurring. The place is going to be flooded with hospital employees, and we will stand out." Her expression looked strained.

The door opened and two staff members exited and started their journey to the staff parking lot. On the pathway there, several other employees were heading in their direction. The two leaving were involved in a discussion that did not interest Ian in any way, shape or form. They walked around Lauren and Ian and made a straight path towards the sidewalk. Never even did a double take. Ian smiled, looked around and saw that Moussa was already sitting on the bench at the bus stop.

Ian turned to Lauren. "This will work greatly in our favour." Activating the Bluetooth, he continued "Bill, can you confirm that you can still dam the River?" Ian rolled the eyes at using Bill's spy-speak.

"Of course, just give me a five-minute warning."

"Rab, can you still get the van to the back door?"

"I haven't moved. Ready for anything."

Ian waved Moussa over. Moussa had seen them leave the hospital, and had been observing from the bench. Now, when Ian waved, he jumped off his seat and came over at a jog.

"Moussa, you need to pose as a maintenance worker and try to get to the room while in disguise. Then you would be in a position to distract, at a minimum Smooshface. I will grab Dean." Ian smiled. "We will use the confusion of the shift change to make this getaway. With extra cops coming over, Smooshface and the Bulldog will likely not try to press the chase. Ockham's Razor tells me so." And Ian smiled.

"Rab, this is Ian. We are going with your smash and grab idea. Be ready."

"Roger that!"

The three of them moved into the hospital and headed straight to the elevator. When on the seventh floor, Moussa had seen a closet with the maintenance supplies and a contractor's smock. He would get those and wear it to cover the hospital scrubs he was wearing. If he did not look at Smooshface closely, he would be able to get quite close. The hospital did have a few more visible minorities working here, Moussa had a fair chance of not being noticed immediately.

With Moussa off setting up, Ian wanted to talk to the hospital staff. He wanted to know if there was anything concerning about Dean's condition. Dean's health was an obvious factor, but he was hoping to get info on patterns of police activity. Lauren was going to go with Ian to make it look like he was more respectable, and less likely to cause a disturbance.

They broke up their conference and headed back into the hospital. Moussa went right immediately towards the stairs. Ian and Lauren went right to the desk of the duty nurse. Ian was struck immediately by the beauty of the nurse at the station. She was just a bit older than him, and the power she wielded by mere appointment, was intoxicating to him. At thirty, he estimated, she was young to be head nurse. OK Ian, focus.

"Hi there, this police officer," pointing to Lauren, "is here to oversee the movement of a patient from room 4F-8 to their secure facility. She needs to know if there are any health or other concerns?"

The nurse did not look impressed, nor did she look annoyed. With a "matter of fact" expression she started tapping away on the computer. "Hmmm. He was just moved into that room three hours ago. His data, other than his name, are not yet showing on my system. Where did he move from?"