Ockham's Razor: A Deductive Riddle

Chapter 60

The wind was blowing rather briskly from the north, giving the air a rather appropriate summer chill. Ian, despite having no true feelings about fate, karma, religion or any predestiny, could not help but feel that something out there was laying a bet on their actions today.

The three of them met at their rendez-vous at the Trib well before their scheduled meeting with the Benefactor, Danny Corcoran. Bill was wired for sound. He had taken their usual configuration on their phone with the Bluetooth headset and now had it working off of a different microphone. Given that the temperature was a bit cooler, he had his phone secreted away in his jacket, and the microphone, which Bill guaranteed would pick up a mouse's sneeze, was visible only if you knew where it was and what you were looking for.

The sound would be captured on the phones and immediately transmitted through Bill's app to the other three. Moussa and Rab would each carry a battery powered speaker that Dean built which would allow them to play it out loud once the conversation was over. Dean, who, apparently, was a whiz with audio equipment, managed to create something that fit under their loose jackets so nothing looked sinister.

They approached their meeting spot at the Trib cautiously. Lauren had arranged to meet the Benefactor near a gazebo across from the grandstand where the music festivals would play. Rab, Dean and Moussa were going to be just on the other side of the grandstand, but not in sight, however, nearby if things got tense and the Benefactor tried anything, especially with Smooshface and the Bulldog.

At the gazebo, the three of them stood around, not quite sure what to say. Due to either the relatively early time of day, or the unseasonably cool wind from the north, there were considerably fewer people around than they expected. Lauren was certain that she saw at least one of the cub reporters she had tried to entice into coming sitting in the grandstand. This reporter was so new that Lauren feared that even if they got a straight confession, she would not be taken seriously, or if she did, she would blow it by compromising their identity. But the cub reporter is all she could entice. Hopefully, it would be enough to keep Corcoran at bay for a while.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Corcoran appeared. He remained an extremely handsome man in real life, even without the lights, makeup and special treatments that celebrities would get. He also projected an air of confidence that may come from his Hollywood days, or from his growing influence as a politician and lobbyist. He walked straight up to them, looked them straight in the eye and spoke.

"Good morning everyone. I take it that we have Bill, Lauren and Ian here. I suspect that your colleagues are hidden somewhere in the vicinity in case of trouble. Let me reassure you, trouble is the last thing I want." He locked eyes with each one of them, impressing this point upon their beliefs. Ian could feel Corcoran's intensity burning into him with those handsome eyes. Despite everything that Corcoran had done to them, Ian felt something similar to affection for the man.

"Once again, Lauren, I commend you for your blog and podcast. Quite well done. It got my attention. As for the graffiti, I could have done without seeing that. Your choice of location was poor."

Bill and Ian exchanged a quick look. Neither of them knew where Dean had actually placed his graffiti. But they did not want to ask where it was. They did not have to.

The Benefactor continued, "I'm certain the local semi-pro baseball team will find the money to get that eyesore off the side of their stadium." The Benefactor sounded truly annoyed with the graffiti, but not the blog. Interesting. A very quick Ockham's Razor analysis said that of the options before him, the simplest was that the Benefactor felt secure against the attacks on the blog and podcast, and even the graffiti, but that the graffiti would do more harm to a potential run for office.