Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 49

Ian was far later than usual to get to the Diner to meet with the gang. Bill had called the meeting for 3 pm, but Ian did not get off until then. And he had to ride home, then park his bike, change and dash to the Diner. He was able to announce his tardiness to the gang over the Bluetooth, but given his track record, he suspected that they expected as such. To make things completely frantic, he invited Kate to the meeting, and she was waiting outside his apartment when he pulled up. So, she had to wait while he changed. Finally, they headed to the Diner.

They entered, and Ian immediately saw the rest of the gang sitting in the usual booth, deep in conversation. Ian and Kate sat down. Ian noticed the appreciative glances at Kate from Rab and Dean, and the unenthusiastic look from Lauren. Par for the course.

"Hello, Ian." It was Bill. "We've already begun discussing our plan."

This annoyed Ian. It should not have, but it did. The only time that they planned anything without everyone's input was when they were planning Dean's escape from the hospital, and Dean, obviously, could not participate. Now, they were planning on taking down the Benefactor without Ian's input? For Pete's sake, he was the architect of the escape and the getaway. He figured he should be intimately involved in this.

Seemingly following on from a previous thought, Bill continued "... and the location can be isolated through closing the box with our merging vehicles..."

"Excuse me," Ian interrupted. "I'm a bit lost. I know I'm late, but I need to know what is going on."

Rab rolled his eyes, Dean muttered something like "I knew this was going to happen" and Lauren just stared at Kate.

Bill, without skipping a beat, prepared to start over. Ian interjected. "Bill, how about I ask you questions, you answer them to fill in my gaps?"

"OK. That works for me." The rest of the gang sat silent.

"Whose safety deposit box did we hit?"

"His name is Stephen Gillies. He's an industrialist who has made his home in Saint Barbara."

That name meant nothing to Ian, but then again, he was generally clueless about many aspects of business.

"What did we take?"

"I don't know. There was an insurance claim initiated by the bank on behalf of all customers. Gillies was the only one who lost anything. It did not say what he lost."

"How do we use this to get to Gillies?"

"This is the good part. Rab, Moussa and I have been tracking Gillies' movements for almost a week." This brought a look of surprise to Ian's face. Moussa seemed to be enjoying the moment. Bill continued, "It only took a couple of hours for me to get Gillies' name and address. So, I got hold of Rab and Moussa and between the three of us, we've been tracking his movements. He's very predictable. At some time in the next day or so, we'll be able to stop him in his car and have a quick chat. He should know who the Benefactor is."

"How can we take him down on the move?"

"That was what we were discussing when you and the Courier came in." Bill looked around to the others. "OK, so, we know that Gillies leaves his house the same time every day to go to his office. We know what route he takes. We know his car is nothing special. We just have to stop it. I am thinking that we have multiple cars and we box him in. That will force him to talk to us."

"What if he feels threatened and calls the police, or worse, starts shooting?" A very valid question from Lauren.

Bill, seemingly comfortable with having a load of info that no one else had, "He does not possess any weapons except an older hunting rifle. I doubt he keeps that in his car. Probably at some lodge, or in his house."

"You are sure of that?" asked Ian.

"I am sure." That was said with a finality that let Ian know that there would be no more.

"As for calling the police, that is a bit more of a difficulty. We know he has a cell phone, but we don't know where he keeps it on him, how quick he could call and whether he would call immediately, or as things develop."

"OK, so we want to stop him in traffic. Why?"

"That's a good question, Ian. The way I figure is that he would be completely out of his element. He would not be able to rely upon things he is comfortable with. Ultimately, if we can let him know that we know he is a victim, and we can help, then I think being on a roadside will convince him quickly to accept."

Ian could not counter such logic. He looked over at Kate to see if the psychology expert would agree. She had her head down on her phone and did not appear to be listening.

Despite being uncomfortable about this, Ian remained silent. Bill, Rab and Moussa had obviously worked out a plan. Ian did not like the idea of stopping Gillies in traffic, but acknowledged that he did not have a better plan at the moment.

"OK, Bill. You've got me. How do we do it?"

Bill lined up a salt shaker, pepper shaker, ketchup bottle and a coffee cup on the table. "We've got three cars. Ian, you and Rab are in one, here it is the salt shaker. Moussa and Lauren in the second, the pepper. Me and Dean in the third, the ketchup. Rab, Moussa and I will be driving. When Gillies leaves for his office in the morning, the mug, Moussa and Lauren will be following him. They will wait a bit down the street from his driveway. Dean and I will pull out in front of the car when he turns onto the boulevard and allow him to catch up without passing. Moussa and Lauren will ensure that no other cars join their little convoy. You and Rab will pull up along side, not allow him to overtake me and Dean, and all three of us will slow down the packet of vehicles and force him to stop. You'll then jump out and let him know what is going on. Straightforward." Ian had to admit, the visual with the salt, pepper and ketchup with the simple explanation did seem straightforward. But he was unsure of any outside factors. "Once we've talked to him, we scatter and we meet at the far end of the parking lot at the Central Shopping Mall".

"What about other traffic? Won't they be bothered by us blocking the street?"

"He turns onto a straight section of the boulevard off his street. It goes for quite some distance before he makes his right hand turn near a community library. He never leaves the right lane, and at that part, there are three lanes of traffic in each direction. We could stop and people will still be able to get by."

Ian was mildly impressed by the plan Bill laid out. No doubt Rab and Moussa had a hand developing it. But it was good.

"When do we do this?"

Rab spoke for the first time. "We are going to do a rehearsal of this out in the west end. Near the airport there are some industrial streets that are empty. We'll practice there. Gillies lives in Saint Barbara, along the Oxbow River. He gets off his crescent and turns onto Academy Road and there we will strike."

Ian remembered Academy Road from the getaway last year. Gillies did not select his bank based upon security, it was a local bank. It made sense.

"Very good. That area does not have a strong police presence. Reaction time is typically over ten minutes. Low crime area requires low police presence." Ian was able to recite this from his extensive reading of the area last year.

Rab nodded. "Good. So, let's get to the airport and practice."

Ian had one more thing. "Who is going to play Gillies? We need a car to represent Gillies."

Bill looked wistfully at Kate. "Is she available?"