Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 52

The next morning, the gang seemed in a surly mood. No one greeted another with a smile. There seemed to be a mood of hopelessness about this. Honestly, Ian could not feel the feeling. He was concerned about Kate, and perhaps his concern over that was allowing him to see the strain the stress of this whole escapade was taking on the gang. He jumped into the car with Rab and waited for the last of the gang to get in their vehicles. The team left the Diner exactly right on time. Everyone seemed on autopilot, but at least they were headed down the road into Saint Barbara.

As Rab drove the two of them to their waiting spot, Ian took stock of his relationship with Rab. Was Rab truly against Ian, or was Ian the target of Rab's frustration with the never-ending saga with the Benefactor? He took the circumstances as he knew them and laid out the explanations. Option 1, Rab, despite barely knowing Ian picked up on some character or quality in Ian, and hung his hat on hating Ian from that point on. He had not shown such dislike to the others. What could it be? Ian was a minority, but Rab was too. Ian was a son of immigrants, but Rab was either an immigrant or son of immigrants too. Ian was a student, but Rab was likely one too. Ian and Rab had not outright competed against each other in any manner. Who knew? Or Option 2. The increasing stress of living under the yoke of the Benefactor had taken its toll. And as Ian had thrown himself into a somewhat leadership role among the gang, Rab had decidedly taken his stresses out on Ian through resistance and overt aggression. This would be fed by Ian's missteps in the past, such as getting Dean a job.

Ockham's Razor tells him that it is number 2. Remove the stress, and everything will resolve. Ian took a side glance at Rab as he navigated his way around traffic heading to the Oxbow River. He gave Rab a bit more of a virtual break. After all, Rab was just suffering from the same stresses that the rest are. And Ian was only receiving grief because of that.

Ian turned on his Bluetooth device and put it in his ear. He activated the app on his phone. He marvelled at the technology that would allow him to talk like this as if the gang were all in the same car. He silently mused that the technology was probably not that amazing to someone who understood it, but Bill had built an amazing capability. What was that old axiom, to someone without the understanding of modern technology, advancements are comparable to magic? He could not remember it. He'd look it up later.

Rab turned into strip mall parking lot where they parked the day before and ended up in the exact same spot. Ian was concerned that an employee or tenant for any or all the shops behind them might notice the same car in the same spot two days in a row. Rab's car was not uncommon, but it was a nicer looking car that was a spectacular colour of blue. And there were not many blue cars roaming the streets of Saint Barbara. He pondered whether he should bring it up to Rab, but given his history, Rab might react poorly. So, he remained silent.

Instead, Ian touched his Bluetooth. "Hello everyone. This is Ian. Rab and I are in place. Are you guys?"

He looked over at Rab, and Rab was putting his earpiece in. Good. Two sets of ears listening.

"Ian, it is Dean. We will be in place in 30 seconds. Just have to turn the car around at the next available spot." Good, Moussa and Dean were in place.

And nothing.

"Bill, Lauren. You guys in place yet?"

Ian heard nothing. He looked at his watch. 8:04. Still about six minutes before they could expect Gillies to leave his house. Six minutes to get Bill and Lauren talking on the Bluetooth.

He glanced at Rab. His face betrayed that he was not happy. He leaned over and put his head on the steering wheel.

Krap. Lauren never gave Ian her number. She always called him and blocked her number. And Bill, despite probably having built a comprehensive database with everybody's personal information, did not share the phone numbers, except with Lauren.

"Lauren, this is Ian, are you there?" He tried to sound calm, but he feared a bit of desperation was showing in his voice.

"Bill can you hear me?"

Rab let out a long breath that sounded distinctly like a curse word stretched over five seconds.

"Moussa, Dean. Do you have visual on Lauren and Bill?"

"Negative. We have no visual." Moussa's military was coming through.

"Do you think you can do this? Can you get Gillies to stop? I can still get out and talk to him."

Dean responded, "I don't know. Did he not try to pass Lauren and Moussa yesterday when they slowed down?"

Good catch. "Maybe we need to abort?"

Definitely a curse word from Rab, whose head was still on the steering wheel.

"It's 8:07. Let's give them a few more minutes." Moussa was urging calm.

Ian looked at his watch. Three minutes to sort out this mess. Not a lot of time.

"Gillies has left his house!" Dean could not hold his excitement. "He's early this morning!"

Krap. He knew that Moussa would take the lead position, and get out into traffic with Gillies behind. Now, would Bill and Lauren be in position with no communications. Would they fall in? He would not know until they passed his position. He would wait until then to call it off.

"We are on the main boulevard. Estimate 90 seconds to your spot, Ian."

"Good morning everyone. Bill here. Checking in." The welcome sound of Bill's voice came over the Bluetooth.

Ian jumped in immediately. "You in place? Gillies is already on the move."

"Yeah, we are in place. Had a pairing issue this morning with my Bluetooth, so I had to delete the pairing and then pair it again. That seemed to do the trick."

"I don't care. You need to focus. Gillies and the others are on the move and will pass you shortly!" Ian was a bit more forceful than he would have preferred, but he felt it necessary.

Rab sat up, "Good. Someone is steering this ship. Let's get him." He started the car.

Ian, taking the ship comment as a compliment, smiled a bit.

Lauren cut in. "We are behind Gillies. Moussa is in front."

Perfect. Now the one last moving part.

The three-car package rolled past them at a comfortable pace. There seemed to be no other traffic on the road. Rab pulled the car onto the boulevard and quickly caught up to the rear of Bill's car.

"We are making our swing. Prepare to tighten up and slow down." Ian could not believe it. They were going to do it.

Moussa in the lead car slowed, and Gillies closed the gap. Rab pulled out and pulled along side Gillies' car. Bill pulled right up on Gillies' bumper. "OK, slow down. Stop at that streetlight up ahead." The light was obvious, a decent landmark for all to adjust their pacing. Ian quickly remembered that this street light was where he called the abort the day before. 24 hours makes for a major difference.

Ian looked over into Gillies' car. The man did not seem to be panicking, he just seemed to be trying to figure out how to navigate out this little traffic problem. Good. No panic. Ian can probably talk to him.

However, as the cars slowed down together, he could see a look of panic start to build on Gillies' face.

The four cars stopped. The streetlight acted as a fourth wall blocking in Gillies' car so that escape was impossible. Ian jumped out. Gillies quickly pressed a button and all the windows in the car rolled up. No doubt the doors were locked too. Most cars did that.

Ian walked up to the window and Gillies locked his eyes with a defiant, yet fearful stare. There was no panic, at least not yet. And from what Ian could see, there was no weapon and no cell phone calling the police.

Ian waved in an attempt to lessen the tension.

It did not work. Gillies just stared at him. If Ian wanted to recover his relationship with Kate, he needed to talk to this guy. Ian smiled the biggest, friendliest smile he could muster. This was it. He reached out and tapped on the window.