It was an impromptu, but needed meeting at the Diner that drove Ian to get up early Monday morning. He had worked the late shift at the gas station, getting home after 1 am, but he needed to be at the Diner for before 7. He was a wreck.
Like always, he was the last to arrive. Ian did a quick scan and saw unsurprisingly that Kate was not there, but a steaming cup of coffee was sitting there at his chair. The staff at the Sunshine Diner was starting to know this gang.
Bill opened up. "OK, Ian got me two numbers that called the hotel room the day we had the phone meeting with the Benefactor. One of the numbers is a cellphone with a smaller company that, oddly enough, has good security software. That call came in around 11 am and that was well before any of us showed. If I were Ian, I'd say Ockham's Razor tells me that this was a call for whoever stayed in the room the night before we got there." Everyone smiled about Ockham's Razor being used. Mostly, they were in a good mood because Bill had great news to follow.
"As for the second number. Called us just after 3 pm. I tracked the number to a phone in Great Plains. It belongs to the office of Danny Corcoran." Bill sat back, smile on his face, looking like he had just uncovered the Agatha Christie killer before Poirot.
No one gasped. They all smiled. This confirmed what Gillies had told them. This meant that they now had solid ammunition to get Corcoran to leave them alone.
Bill continued, "I'm not done with the sleuthing yet. I'm going to try to connect Corcoran to the bank transactions, the two cops and anything else I can dig up."
Lauren jumped in. "I've just released my podcast with this information. The blog is meeting moderate success. I've also teased a couple of cub journalists from the Great Plains Herald and the Saint Barbara Examiner into following the trails I lay out. They have the scent of blood."
Dean was curious, "How are you doing that without compromising us?"
Lauren took a second to think about that. "I did it through laying some scattered breadcrumbs. I've laid out the importance of the number 468 showing examples of the letters I've received. I've laid out the phone connections. I've laid out the timeline. I have not laid out the methods. I've done it all from the Great Plains/Saint Barbara public libraries. And Bill managed to get me a phone with an anonymous number so the journalists, or Corcoran, can contact me without them knowing who it is. I won't answer, text only. And remember, I only need to raise suspicion. The reporters are not going to go after a bunch of university kids. They want the juicy story. And that story is Danny Corcoran."
Ian was impressed with her answer.
Dean nodded. "I put up some good graffiti. It should bring some attention to the situation."
Everyone nodded. Ian could tell that no one thought that graffiti would convince anyone.
Rab jumped in. "Moussa and I visited Collins and Dumont. We actually did it at their work. Arab and black guy going into a police station. It was a hoot. Anyways, we calmly laid down the reality to them. We hinted that we had a financial connection between Corcoran and them. And we said we'd expose them if they ever messed around with us. Moussa particularly enjoyed that visit. All together, I think we got our message across. Dumont seemed particularly scared of her future in the force being destroyed. I don't think they will bother the six of us again."
"So, how do we proceed now?" asked Lauren.
Ian had an answer. "I think it is high time that Mr. Daniel Corcoran was interviewed by the media."