Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 62

How were they going to free themselves from the influence and intimidation from Stephen Gillies? They could obviously not do this the same way that they took him down before. He was likely aware now that they are aware that he sent them on a fishing trip. So, he would remain wary of them trying to do something similar. They had brought Corcoran crashing down in the open, so they were hot. They needed to find a way of bringing Gillies down in rather private circumstances. This would alleviate some of the concern about interruption and detection. Gillies had directed that they never contact him again, so arranging a surreptitious meeting was out of the question.

They would have to think hard about this one. Where could he be hurt? His business? Could they somehow bring down his business? It was a major polluter, but that was obvious. It was a major aemployer too, so that would create a problem if the business went under. There would be thousands of unemployed workers weighing in on their conscience. And, if the presidency of Donald Trump demonstrated anything, if money is involved, people will be very forgiving of some very bad behaviour.

His family? No one knew anything about him. He seemed to be a confirmed bachelor. A quick search by Bill of the internet turned up nothing but professional references to him. He did not dabble in philanthropy, but was heavy into union busting.

Moussa, who was sitting beside Bill at the Diner reading over Bill's shoulder, noticed it first. It was a tiny article, but Stephen's company was not completely owned by Stephen. In fact, he merely had thirty percent control. However, he remained CEO. What if the six of them managed to turn the other owners against Stephen? Then he would lose his influence, lose his prestige, and with some luck, lose his company to the others. He will likely retain his shares, so money will be no object for him, but his pull in government would be significantly reduced.

It was risky. The environment might not fare any better because the remaining board members may still maintain their destructive patterns. But his business dealings would create some unsatisfactory conditions for him. The gang started to get excited. How were they going to figure out what they were going to do? Lauren had the epiphany.

If her cub reporters were going to jump on a story like they were on fire, moving a few stories around about Stephen Gillies and his company's attitude towards the environment would be prime news. It could be shaped to influence the shareholders. And, this would in turn affect the other majority members of the board.

They could use the blog site again, with the burner phone. This was going to be easy. Gillies had already stated on record his point of view regarding the environment. It came well below his concern for his bottom line. This would form the beginning of a targeted propaganda campaign.

They would have to hunt down every single quote of his regarding the environment. They would put them on the blog site in audio, video and transcript form. They would establish communications channels to all the local groups protesting his environmental positions, giving them all the free publicity to counter what Gillies could buy. After a while they would be offering special interviews to the young reporters where they will continue to broadcast more anti-environmental messages. Then they will counter them with his messages of big profit over the needs of the region. They will follow that up with his comments on the unions and the common worker. Then they will demonstrate his linkages to the current state government forcing them to re-evaluate their relationship with the company. If the company sees them lose support, they are likely to drop their CEO in favour of someone who can relate to the government, environment, workers and unions. It may not solve any problems, but it would give the company the optic of caring.

But what they needed to do first was to collect all these statements. They were out there. Bill would start on the internet. Rab and Lauren would go to the library, where Lauren would restart her blog and Rab would scan the papers for quotes. Ian would go with Moussa to place a few access to information requests about political donations. Ian wanted to call Kate and ask her to join him in asking unions themselves what they thought of Stephen Gillies. But Kate was not part of this anymore.

She should at least be happy that he Benefactor was going to be leaving them alone. That was all she wanted and Ian, with the others, had arranged it.

He badly wanted to know how she felt about Corcoran's downfall, as he was manipulating them, but for apparently good reasons. He wanted to see if she was holding any anger towards Gillies. Ian wanted to explain to her that it was Gillies who was manipulating them, and he needed to be brought down. He imagined that Kate would laugh, call Ian an honourable little soul, and convince him to call her after he had completed his "task".

But that was fantasy. The reality was, she was lost to him.