Writers Are Evil

At least in our hearts. We might not often actually do crimes against our fellow men, but we often think about it. We have to, because we are under constant pressure to top ourselves. A simple murder is often not enough, it has to be something special. Even if we don't afflict humanity, our characters in our stories are often victims of a hurtful godling.

This thought came to me right after I had just a flash of inspiration of a story. One part of me was ashamed that I'd think of something so nasty, the other was saying "If I could write this up half as well as in my mind I'd give ol' James Patterson and company a run for their royalty checks."

The Idea is simple: The victim is a hard working young woman. The type who has to do 12 hour shifts to make by. She comes from a big family but she's determined to make it on her own. One day she comes home tired from work, too tired to notice her house has been broken into. She's taken from behind and viciously assaulted. The villain is careful and leaves no physical evidence and wears a mask and gloves. Ah, but as he leaves our poor victim notices he had dropped his wallet from his pocket. Our victim now has a chance for justice....or vengeance.

The horrible trick is our villain didn't drop the wallet by accident. On the day of his crimes he goes out finds a guy about the same size and build and picks his pocket. So there are two victims because the other guy is going to get screwed either way. Either the police are going to come by and his excuse will be a feeble "Well someone must have stolen my wallet, but didn't take any money or used the credit cards." On the other hand perhaps the victims brothers, cousins, and uncles will come visiting with baseball bats and ax handles. Either way it is bad news.

In the story in my head they do eventually catch the guy. As soon as the lead investigator tumbles into the trick with the wallet, he starts to make two maps. A map of the assaults and a map of the thefts. Though our villain might be careful when the two maps are put together a clear picture of where the villain lives comes clear. Then it is just a matter of time before he comes to justice.

Still it is a pretty wicked idea.