Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 56

The next several days seemed interminable. Ian continued to pull his regular shifts at the gas station, hang out with Dave, but the two things he was missing, actually longing for, were news on how the others were getting along with their tasks against the Benefactor, and spending time with Kate.

He had not heard from her since the planning meeting for dealing with the Benefactor. In fact, she had been silent the entire time in the Diner, so he really had not heard from her since that phone call where she told him it was off. Twice during the past week, he had called her number, but had gotten no answer. Several other times, he had her contact open, looking at the call button, but could not bring himself to press that button.

Dave noticed. The truly good friend tried to bring Ian out of his funk by getting him out of his apartment, off to the pub, off to the Diner. Ian appreciated the effort, but Dave just was not able to bring Ian to fully accept that Kate was not going to be with him.

Ian did not know why he felt that way. He always knew that she was out of his league. Before he got together with Kate, he understood that she would not be staying with him, even in his fantasies. But, now that they had shared time and intimacy, he was considerably hurt.

He could not even focus on his task of going to the hotels to try to get information on the Benefactor. Where would he start? Thankfully, Bill was able to give him a push.

"Ian, it's Bill. You still tracking the headset?"

"Yeah Bill. I'm here. You got something for me?"

"I'll call you. Sit by your phone."

What was that supposed to mean? The Bluetooth was already in his ear.

His phone rang and Ian tapped the earpiece. "Hello?"

"Ian, Bill here. I suppose you knew that. Anyways, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what I've found out about our friend Corcoran."

"Should I get a pen to take notes?"

"Good idea, let me know when you are ready."

Ian scrambled around his apartment looking for a pen. He really had a shortage of anything stationery related given that he was getting ready to go back to school for another year. He finally found a working red pen and a block of paper. "OK, Bill. I'm ready."

Bill wheezed a bit into his phone. Ian pictured the big guy squeezing the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he was typing into his computer. "It was a challenge. Banking software is getting better and better at defeating information hacks."

Ian thought immediately that Bill was going to give him the vague answers he usually does, and so sat back and put the pen down.

Bill continued, "I had some difficulty in tracking any connection from Danny Corcoran to the hotel. I tried everything I could on the hotel side. Their payment processing software was unbreakable by my techniques, but their hotel reservations was vulnerable. I got in there. I managed to pull up the profile for the credit card that paid for the rooms at the Traveltel and Midcontinental Hotel. Great Plains Hotel, where Moussa, Rab and I worked, had a completely different software that I did not want to spend time to crack. I already had enough information."

Ian started to roll his eyes. Where was the information he needed? He did not want to interrupt for fear of interfering with the man at work.

"I could not verify that the credit card that paid for the room was the same one that reserved the room for both hotels. I was able to confirm that the credit card that reserved the rooms at the Midcontinental for our party was the same as the one for the meeting and in the Traveltel."

OK, so we are getting someplace, Ian thought.

"I ran the information through and found out that it's not a corporate card, but it's also not a personal card. It is a credit card that is issued to small businesses. I ran the business name through a database I have access to, and it came out to be an internet business with no physical address. In other words, it is a shell business, typically used by people who want to hide their finances."

Ian chimed in, "So, what does that give me?"

"Well, the way I read it, there is no trail to follow there."

Ian looked down at this empty paper, red pen in hand. "You mean to tell me that you called to give me zero info?"

"Well, I gave you all the information that I could. The only thing I did not do was give you was the company name. Kingfisher IT Security.'

Out of frustration, Ian scribbled that down and ripped the paper off, putting it in his pocket. "How is that useful for me?"

"I don't know. Maybe you can ask at the hotel about the person who booked the rooms for this company?" Bill sounded a bit contrite. Ian was still annoyed.

"Do you know if the others have anything to go on?"

"Lauren liked this information, and she is already running with her podcast and blog. She's made some basic connections already. I haven't talked to Dean, Rab or Moussa yet."

Ian noted that Bill and Lauren continued to apparently be tight.

"OK, Bill. Thanks for your efforts. Keep it up. I'm going to head to the hotel."

Ian hung up the phone and breathed out a lungful of exasperation. A long phone call where a text with the company name would have done. He always viewed Bill as a bit of a miracle worker, but Ian supposed that even the great Bill had limitations. And Bill had gotten them information they did not have before.

Ian read the note from his pocket. Kingfisher IT Security. Bit on point. Like 468 for the room numbers at the hotel, now the word Kingfisher for the company. This was great conspiracy theory stuff. Lauren could make it work on her blog and podcast. Room number matched the safety deposit box hit. And the company name that booked the hotel matched the street name where the bank was hit. Enough to make Alex Jones launch, but given that they only robbed one box, they broke into dozens. And the Kingfisher was a very common bird around Great Plains and Saint Barbara, in fact, elementary schools, city parks and strip malls were named for the same bird. Conspiracy theory viable, but not enough to scare the Benefactor.

He told Bill he'd head to the hotel. Maybe it would be enough to clear his head and get his game face back. Kate had taken a toll on his soul. Maybe taking down the Benefactor could help bring it back.