Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 42

The van pulled up outside the Sunshine Diner and everyone but Rab got out. Rab was going to find a good spot to park the van where it would not arouse any suspicion. The Diner was a bit off the main track, but Rab felt that the van needed to be further off, and Ian did not disagree.

During the ride over here, Dean started coming out from his sedation. He was still groggy, but over the course of the late afternoon and evening, he would make a full comeback, and he should be able to tell everyone what Smooshface and the Bulldog, er Collins and Dumont, wanted.

Ian was assisting Dean as the four of them entered the Diner. Jan was working the supper shift this week, obviously.

"Hey, Ian. How goes? In for a late meal or just dessert?"

"Hi Jan. Can we get the booth in the corner, we are expecting two more people? Bit of an informal club meeting."

"Sure thing, dear. Make yourself comfortable. I'll bring the coffee and menus over."

Ian breathed a small sigh of relief. He rarely came in here with anyone except Dave. Only exceptions he can think of were the planning session to get Dean out of the hospital and his meeting with Kate last autumn. And coming in with three strangers, and one acting as if he was drunk, may seem a bit out of character, but Jan did not seem to notice. Ian looked to the back, past the counter, where the kitchen staff worked feverishly during the morning shifts. Just the one cook back there, a shaved bald, middle aged man, whose ears seemed to stick out too far because there was no hair to make them appear closer to the scalp. All Ian knew of him was that he was ex-military and his last name was White. Everybody called him Whitey. Ian suspected that he was the only one involved in the Diner here who had no familial relationship with the owners. Whitey was a virtual stranger, for the moment they were safe here.

The four of them seated themselves in the corner booth once again with Dean seated comfortably between Ian and Moussa. Lauren sat on the other side of Moussa with room for Rab and Bill on the other side of her. Where Rab and Bill would sit was where Kate had sat. He needed to call her, especially now that they were at the moment free from the Benefactor's grip.

"OK, now that we have some quiet and stability, how do we proceed?" Lauren, not waiting for the others to arrive began. "I, for one, can't live with the pressure of knowing that I could be arrested, committed or killed because I got myself involved in this." She seemed a bit emotional, but no where near to crying.

"I'm with Lauren" Moussa followed. "There is too much worth living and doing to not spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder."

Dean, not yet fully back from sedation, looked like he was following the conversation, but offered nothing.

The Diner door opened and in walked Bill and Rab. They took their seats next to Lauren and Rab immediately opened up.

"So, who was responsible for the screw up inside the hospital, eh Ian?" There was no doubting that Rab was annoyed at Ian. "And whose plan was the right one, eh Ian?"

"Listen up, Rab. My plan was sound based upon the information we had when we made it. Part of making any plan is that the second the conditions change, we have to adjust the plan. And that is exactly what we did. In the hospital, Dean was moved from the secure psych ward to the non-secure fourth floor. That meant the large charade of posing as hospital staff to get close to Dean was unnecessary, and your smash and grab could work. However, if Dean was still in the secure psych ward, we'd either be dead, in jail or in the hospital right now."

"So, there was no 'screw up' in the hospital." Ian felt angry. He used air quotes aggressively and sarcastically to make his point. "The situation was different, and we had to adjust. As it is, all six of us are sitting here, in the Diner, and the police are not looking for us."