Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 63

The next two weeks were spent gathering information and Lauren putting it, nugget by nugget, onto the blog. Danny Corcoran had withdrawn his name from his party's nomination, and would not run in the next election in the Legislature. His stated reason was to allow him to spend more time with his family and friends, and to manage his business interests away from public eye. He also reported that he wanted to take a more active role in environmental matters, and that responsiblities as a legislator as such would not allow him the freedom to do so. However, the news under the surface was all rumour and innuendo about his involvement in the bank heist on Kingfisher Avenue. The police chief even came out to state that despite what people were saying, there was nothing at all as evidence to link him to the crime except unfounded rumours because of his long-standing public stance against Gillies' environmental disregard. This news made the six of them quite relaxed, knowing that they had not utterly destroyed a victim in this sad game, but Corcoran had kept his part of their agreement. They would leave him alone and keep their part.

Lauren's calls from local reporters were getting more and more frequent. With every little quote that went out, the calls would come in. As the story grew, the prestige of the journalists grew. The reporters wanted to know what her thoughts were, what her alliances were, and who she was. She told everyone that she wished to remain anonymous, her politics were not important, and she put out the quotes as an unfiltered view of the words of Stephen Gillies.

She even got a call from Gillies' lawyer threatening legal action if the blog did not stop putting up those quotes. However, Lauren, ready for such a scrap, stated that all were public record statements. Nothing was protected, and if his client did not want to see those statements, then he should not have made them.

In the third week, they started getting some unanticipated support. They had been talking to the unions, workers, environmentalists and political pundits, but support from an unexplored corner brought the light to the candle. The Indigeneous people of the state brought out their allegations of Gillies' violation of their treaty lands in the search for natural resources. One elder even had candid cell phone video of him at a "negotiation" where he claimed that he could do what he wanted, because he was working in the twenty-first century, and they were stuck in the eighteenth century. This statement was not what was said publicly, but was nonetheless captured just after a press conference when he started to lose his patience. This video, when placed on the blog, created more traffic than any other snippet. After all, what drove more people to follow the news and engage in activism than a racist businessman.

It was subsequently reported in the news that Gillies' company was re-examining its priorities with regards to the environment, labour, politics and treaty lands. It was stated that the shareholders were going to hold an emergency meeting to determine the future path of the company, and if it could reach it under the leadership of Stephen Gillies.

Stephen would be undeniably scared and angry. His power was ebbing before his eyes, and there was not a thing he could do to control it.

It was then that the man himself phoned.