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Ignore/ reject the obvious

There has been a murder in a quite little town. A sweet young girl has been brutally killed and the whole town is in a state of shock. The police start their investigation. The victim was, at the time of the murder, supposed to be spending time with her boyfriend/ fiance.

The police wheel in the boyfriend/ fiance for questioning. He is very nervous and fidgety. He acts like he is guilty of murder. The police put him at the top of the suspect list. He is the prime suspect. Lover turned devil.

Then, the police go ahead and take a look around at the boyfriend/ fiance's house. They find a piece of bloodied clothing or the weapon that was used to kill the victim. "Aha! Gotcha, you conniving son of a bitch! Your soul better belong to Jesus, cuz your ass belong in prison!"

The police think, "Surely, this is the perpetrator". The boyfriend/ fiance is arrested, but he insists that he is innocent. He pleads with everyone and anyone to believe him. "How could I possibly kill the love of my life?" , he asks. How could he, indeed.

Nobody believes him. Why should they? The evidence clearly shows that the boyfriend/ fiance heartlessly killed his own girlfriend/ fiance.

Enter the hero/ lead. The lead figures there is something fishy. Even if the boyfriend/ fiance was the murderer, why would he leave a piece of evidence so carelessly, he thinks. This is too simple. Too good to be true.



The lead begins his own investigation. Our hero whips out the cigarette and turns up his collar. He puts on a sullen face and a cool hat.

He spots an error or a glitch. He continues to look around and, voila! He manages to catch the real murderer.

-x-

In most movies or novels, you come across this kind of storytelling. There seems a person who is almost obviously the perpetrator. He is but the fall guy, a scapegoat.

He is made to look like the perpetrator, but he is not. He is built into the story only to provide a "twist" into the story at a latter time.

The lead spots that this is too good to be true and gets to the real truth.

If you are into predicting what is going to happen at the end of the movie or novel, always keep this in mind. Ignore or reject the obvious.

But it is always good to just go along with the story as it starts to unfold.

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