Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 28

Ian ripped the covering from the pile of booze. He grabbed the first case of beer and decided that the bathtub would be the perfect for the priming. The others could worry about sorting out the sleeping arrangements. He was not concerned about that, just interested in getting a few beers down his throat in as short a time as possible. He was in his element, dealing with a bunch of beer and entertaining a bunch of friends.

He laid the beer in the tub, grabbed the ice bucket and headed to the corridor. Moussa caught his attention.

"Do you need help?" Moussa spoke in thickly accented English.

While Ian usually did like to work alone, he was feeling a bit connected with this crew. "I can always use a hand", replied Ian.

The two of them walked down to the ice machine. Ian had the ice bucket, while Moussa had a bag from thegarbage can in the room. It was a simple task to collect ice, so they ended up working in silence. Once the bucket and bag were full of ice, they returned to the room. They filled the tub with water and ice, immersing the beer.

Ian took the time to ask a question of Moussa. "That's a bit of an accent. You are obviously not from around here, are you?"

Moussa, a large African American looked with a bit of a quizzical look. He, like Ian, was not among the majority in Great Plains. Extending his hand, he replied "I'm Moussa. I am from west Africa. I came to Great Plains to work. I immigrated." he said if that explained everything.

Shaking the big hand, Ian replied "Umm, I am Ian." This was as far as Ian wanted to go for having anyone know anything about him. He appreciated that Moussa felt comfortable enough to reveal his status as an immigrant, but this was almost too much for Ian to accept quite yet.

They checked the temperature of the beer in the tub, decided it was cool enough for now and they passed out a beer to each person. Dean, who was in a pretty good mood, called for a moment.

"Let us not forget, that we have conquered the system." Ian started to wonder where this guy was going. "We have overcome. We are THE TEAM!" With that, he started hooting and hollering like at a GPSU football game.

Everyone else started to drink and have their own conversations. Obviously, they had similar thoughts about Dean as Ian did.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable about Dean's performance just now, and his revelations in his apartment, Ian decided to spend the time to get to know everyone else. He took two gulps of his beer, and took a look around the room at his "colleagues".

Two of them that he had already gotten to know were talking to each other. Lauren, who was a really nice woman, but not one for Ian, was talking to Moussa. Moussa, the rather impressive looking black man, had an air of confidence that just oozed. He seemed to carry himself as if there was nothing that could stop him. He was a handsome fellow, with an erect back, thin waist and broad shoulders. He looked impressive, perhaps even martial. Despite his earlier reluctance to talk much with him, Ian would definitely try to talk to him some more.

Given that Lauren would not be interested in him for romance, there was some serious conversation going on. What was keeping them gripped in conversation? She had not indicated any interest in Ian, but who knew. They could be talking about global climate change for all he knew.

Ian then looked to the right. Rab was there talking to Bill. Bill was an interesting person. Ian already knew that Bill was a computer security expert. He was the one who would defeat the bank's security without getting into the bank. Bill seemed to look the part, too. He was of average height, full head of slightly longer than usual hair, and had not shaved in about three days. He was slightly overweight, but not because he over ate. But he seemed the person to pass eighteen hours a day in front of a keyboard.