Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 10

Upon his return to Great Plains, the first thing Ian did was quit his job delivering pizza. He chafed at responsibility, and delivering pizza meant that he had responsibility and a socially inferior position within the community. Now that he had a bit of cash, and more to come, he could focus on getting a job where he would enjoy the job, have little imposed responsibility, and not be looked down upon by everyone but minimum wage earners. Besides, for one plane ride, he had more cash than many months of delivering mediocre pizza across a never-satisfied customer base.

With Kate nearly completely dropped from his memory, Ian started working out his plan to manage a getaway from the location on Kingfisher Avenue. He looked around his apartment to find a map of the city. He could not find one. Now he needed to get one, but a good one that showed plenty of detail. And he had to do this without raising any suspicions.

Taking a gamble, he decided to get Dave involved, but only as far as the map went. He had the genesis of a decent cover story that would, hopefully, get Dave's curiosity a satisfactory nugget to chew on, but also, disassociate any news of a bank robbery from Ian's need for a map.

He got on the phone and called Dave's cell. "Dave, you up for a bit of lunch?"

"Nah, I can't. I'm broke until payday." Dave had himself a reasonable job at a gas station. It offered him flexibility in hours so that he could go to school, which was the reasonableness of it. It also offered near minimum wage pay, which was the hard part. The money never lasted more than a few days when rent, food and beer were purchased. Dave continually tried to get Ian to join him, citing the good time and common-sense boss there. But Ian had problems with the idea of a minimum wage job, even one not related to pizza. Despite habitually needing money, Ian could not lower his pride enough to be a gas jockey.

Ian, needing to engage Dave, offered "Don't worry about it, I'll buy. I managed to get a few more dollars in a bet" he lied, "and I've got a small favour to ask of you."

Ian was betting on the fact that Dave would never let Ian down if he had the power to assist. He was also hoping that Dave was curious about this bet that had been "made" without Dave's knowledge. The last thing Ian wanted to do was hurt his friend. So, he waited, holding his breath, until Dave finally acquiesced to the lunch.

"I'll meet you at your apartment in 30 minutes. I've got to pay a bill first" Ian offered.

"I'll see you then, wut."

With that, Ian ended the call. He felt a little dirty as he had never lied to Dave before. While this was not a serious lie as far as lying went, it was more unpleasant than was comfortable. Ian took a moment and relaxed, trying to convince himself that one day, Dave would know all. In the meantime, he would have to find some way to make sure Dave did not ever find out about what was up.

Ian grabbed his jacket, the packet of bills, and headed out. It was time to pay three months rent, three month's of an electricity bill, and pay back that aggressive brute who loaned him money four months ago. This would clear the pressing bills. The rest would have to wait.

Forty-five minutes later, Ian met up with Dave on the steps of the apartment building they both shared. Ian apologised for his tardiness as he had to wait quite a while when paying his rent. His landlord had decided to take the time to lecture him on the need to pay on time. He then demanded an extra months rent, in advance, to ensure that Ian would be able to pay. So, Ian, already going through the five thousand dollars faster than he wanted, dished out some more of his money.

"What bet did you win?" queried Dave as soon as he saw Ian walking down the sidewalk.

"I bet some UGP goofball two hundred bucks that I could balance on the back wheel of my bike longer than he could stand on one leg" Ian lied. "I knew that he had put down a few, so I kind of goaded him into it."