The Third Man

I've taken the position that the "third man" Donny Wise saw in the Sells lake house the night he took his pictures was Sells's mentor. It was the first time he threw the big heart-exploding curse - it makes total sense his mentor would be on hand to advise.

It seems to be a common belief that instead it was Gimpy Lawrence. But, not only is that entirely boring, it also makes no sense at all. Marcone told Harry that to the extent he'd been able to catch any of the people working with Sells, they'd seen only "Shadows." Sells clearly contacted them with that projection spell he used to have that first talk with Harry.

So, how likely is it that he would get one of Marcone's close allies to turn traitor, and then invite him to his house and base of manufacturing operations? That's right - it's not likely at all. No way, man - that would have been a massive security breach. It was have put Gimpy in the perfect position to go to Marcone and reveal that he'd had an opportunity to out Marcone's enemy and it had paid off - he'd reap enormous rewards from Marcone.

I think that's all we need to just completely put that idea to bed - it's simply not a risk Sells would have taken, careful as he was being.

Oh, and it would be boring - it doesn't advance the story at all. On the other hand, Harry has suspected a "sponsor" behind the folks like Sells, Denton, and Kravos, and that point has been touched on several times.