Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 57

Ian could tell by the big open-mouthed smile and appreciative eyes of the clerk behind the desk at the Midcontinental Hotel that he was going to get somewhere. He knew the look of a very young woman who had been so pretty for her youth that she decided that looks alone were enough to get her way in life. Ian had dated a lot of these types of women in university, and he seemed to have enough of that forbidden fruit quality about him that drew these women to him.

He knew almost immediately that if he played his cards right, she'd give him information that the gang did not have. But he needed to tread carefully.

"Hello, welcome to the Midcontinental Hotel, can I help you, sir?"

"I believe so, Sarah Jo" began Ian, flashing his biggest smile and turning on his charm by using her name. "I stayed here quite a while ago for business, we had some successful meetings and actually had a bit of a celebration here too. Unfortunately, one of our contacts for my business has moved and we are trying to find out how to get in contact with them. Would you be able to help out?"

"Oooh", she said with a half smile. "Looks like a bit of a tall order. What exactly are you looking for?"

Good question. Ian was only half prepared for this. "Let me tell you what has happened, and maybe you can tell me what you can do to help me resolve this." Ian took a quick look around to make sure no customers were in line. Seeing none, he turned on full flirt. "My company, Kingfisher IT Security, had a meeting here last autumn and a celebration here in November. We sealed a moderately sized business deal. But we were also fêting other potential customers at the same time. I am trying to track down some of these other customers, but in my carelessness, I've misplaced their contact information. I was hoping you could at least tell me who paid for the rooms or otherwise was involved in the meetings. Maybe through credit card transactions?"

Sarah Jo gave a half frown. "I don't know if I can do that. The only thing I can do is check the phone records to see what numbers called in and what numbers called out. Will that help?"

Ian could have kissed her. This was better than checking to see what company paid for the rooms. The Benefactor called each time they were in the room. He could get his number. Even if it was a temporary number, it would give Bill something to work off of.

"Sarah Jo, that would be marvellous. It would help tremendously."

"I'll need the dates and room number. You can write them down here."

As Ian was writing the information onto a piece of hotel stationery, she asked "Aren't you a bit young to be owning your own company that can afford to stay here?"

Ian looked at her as he put the pen down. "Look at me. I'm Indian. We are tech masters. I mastered the skills needed to do my job at a tender age. Plus, my company is a start-up tech company and we wanted to impress our clients. That brought us here. We are looking for our one big break. However, even start-up tech companies can lose contact information."

The mention of him being Indian brought a little look of shame across Sarah Jo's face. He felt a bit bad, maybe pushed a bit too far. Trying to recover, he added "We do all sorts of security work. Banks, internet, even hotels. Maybe we'll be able to provide the Midcontinental Hotel some IT security." He smiled again. Half to put Sarah Jo at ease, and half because he knew that probably at this very moment, Bill was fully exploring their system.

That seemed to bring the smiling Sarah Jo back. "OK. I see we have two numbers that called that room. One at 11 am and the other just after 3 pm." She wrote the numbers down on the same paper Ian had written the date and room number. "And that is that. Is there anything more I can help you with?"

Before he responded, Ian looked at the two numbers the clerk had handed him. Both were 10 digit numbers, but one in particular seemed to be familiar. Nothing solid, just a feeling. He looked up and smiled. "No, Sarah Jo. This has been great. If this does not work, I'll come back and see if you can help me some more."

"Ah, but that will cost you", she said coyly. "You'll have to buy me a drink."

"I would be happy to."

Ian turned on his heel, looked down at the paper. He touched his Bluetooth headset and said excitedly "Bill, this is Ian. I have two phone numbers for you to check out."