Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 51

Ian met with Kate that night. As he got off the bus, he saw her sitting on the bench at the bus stop.

"Hey you! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to hear from my hero about what happened today."

Ian took a stutter step as he walked to the bench. "Cool. Let's walk to my place."

"Oh oh. What happened?"

"We could not get him stopped. He made his usual turn before we could get all the cars in place."

She stopped walking. "What do you mean you could not get all the cars in place?"

Sensing that she was getting upset, he replied carefully, "Traffic prevented getting all three cars into place. So, Gillies never even knew that we were trying."

"Who screwed up?"

"No one screwed up. Traffic got in the way."

"Someone screwed up. Traffic is not that bad in that part of the city."

"It did."

She seemed to start to cry and Ian's heart melted. He reached out to touch her shoulder and comfort her.

She backed away. "Go away. I don't want to talk."

Looking around to see if anyone at the bus stop behind them were watching, Ian said, "We are making another stop tomorrow. We've adjusted how we do it to prevent traffic from interfering again."

She kept her back to him.

"You are still safe. Why are you so upset?"

She turned around and looked at him straight in the eye. "I think I had my heart set on this being done. I was hoping that today we would be almost done."

Ian reminded himself that although he has been under the thumb of the Benefactor for a year, she has been for a much longer time.

She started walking and Ian had to walk quickly to catch up. "Remember how I told you about how I got involved with the Benefactor?" Ian nodded. "I have enjoyed some considerable success because of the doors he opened. But, I'm not free to advance. The Benefactor may be calling upon me at any time. I was doing well professionally until I started getting messages. I told you about how I got the team together. But I had to travel to Chicago on short notice, run all over this city delivering envelopes to unsavoury neighbourhoods."

This last comment caught Ian flatfooted. She may not have realised it, but he lived in one of those unsavoury neighbourhoods. It was a stark reminder that he and she moved in completely different circles.

"I know we are so close to finishing this. I am desperate to have it end. And when I find out that minor, innocuous events are stopping our progress, it stresses me out."

Ian had been silent during her confession. He did not know how to proceed, so he figured the best course of action was to say nothing.

He put his arms around her, making himself a virtual shield, and held her. He needed to be able to get everyone to pull of the job tomorrow. He feared his future with Kate was at stake.