How many ways are there to catch a crook?
1) Only the BG (bad guy) knows a detail that only he would know; a name, an item at the crime scene, etc.2) The BG doesn't know something he's supposed to; the name of his uncle, the time of the crime.
3) The BG leaves something incriminating behind; a fingerprint, his work glove, etc.
4) The BG is seen; surveillance footage, a witness.
5) The BG brags and someone tells the police what he said.
6) The BG's behavior changes; a poor man buys a new car.
7) The BG suffers an injury during the commission of the crime that incriminates him. He has burns from setting off a fire for example. Or he has little glass cuts all over his face from the window exploding when he dove through it.
8) The BG has a specific field of knowledge that ordinary people wouldn't know; a court reporter knows something only because she could read the steno notes left at the death scene of another court reporter.
Can you think of any other ways?
How about, the bad guy gets injured in the course of committing the crime - a wound from a broken window, a burn from an explosive or blow torch - and can't explain how it happened?
ReplyDeleteOr he/she has some knowledge of a subject that narrows the field of suspects. Scientist/doctor/archaeologist... court recorder (sorry, couldn't resist)
If someone has a pacemaker, s/he must stay away from electrical power tools & anything that creates a large magnetic field, such as leaning over a car engine that is running. Electric or gas lawnmowers are a no-no, might be O.K. to ride on a lawn tractor. Power tools that run off of compressed air are O.K.
ReplyDelete@ Chris. Okay, good ones. I will add 'suffering an injury during the commission of the crime that incriminates him'.
ReplyDeleteAnd: Specific field of knowledge. For example perhaps only a court reporter would know how to read a steno note that another court reporter wrote before she was bludgeoned to death with the judge's gavel.
@ Elizabeth. Tell me how the police know he's the killer because he has a pace maker.
ReplyDeleteSomeone with a pacemaker obviously could be a criminal, but would be much _less_ likely to commit certain types of crimes or to use certain methods. My husband has a pacemaker & occasionally uses an electric drill for a few minutes here & there until I tell him not to do that!
ReplyDeleteI like your clue about the steno notes ... I actually do know how to read them, because I used to work in court reporting years ago. Please don't name a suspect after me in a case where that knowledge would give me away!
@ Elizabeth. Oh, I get it. We can eliminate the pace maker guy as one of the suspects. Very clever. Not a clue everyone will pick up on right away. I think you should use that one.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were a steno... :) Did you do criminal work? I'm going to include the steno notes clue in my next mystery story... I like that clue too.
Hi Jody, no, I used to be a notereader, transcribing other people's work. Even after all these years I remember how to read steno notes & could probably tell whose notes I was reading, if it was anyone I'd ever worked with. It's funny how people's individual styles show up, even in something with as many rules as stenotype.
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