In my sci fi story, several squads of cops proceed to simultaneously arrest several members of a terrorist cell in different places. One of the squads find themselves in a shootout, and one of the cops, who is a secondary character in the story, gets fatally wounded and dies on the spot. Here is the issue : The story requires that the terrorists who got arrested be immediately interrogated by the investigators who work in the same team as the cop who died. But at the same time, I want to create some space in the narrative for their mourning, to contemplate the impact of the character's death and not simply move on with the investigation. I have trouble finding a way to make the interrogation happen in a very short time after the death scene while maintaining believable behavior for the investigators, and without downplaying the importance of their colleague's death. Basically, they have to do their job, but they are also suffering from the loss. I thought a possible solution could be to delay the death by making the character gravely wounded and dying later in the hospital, but this would simply create another problem, with the team still having to deal with their injured friend instead. I hope my description isn't too vague. Any tips would be very appreciated, however general they may be.
The conflict's a positive I'd say; it makes for deeper characterisation. You could create an in between scene maybe in which the grief's acknowledged amongst the investigators (and for the reader/realism). In it the investigators discuss/vent their emotions/spill tears—and through that catharsis come to the conclusion that rationality's required and so elect amongst themselves the most capable. < You could then add tension into the interview by toying with the interviewer's grasp on his/her emotions. Going outside say, punching a wall, going back in.
You could have the investigators doing the interview maintain their professionalism since the case is as you described 'important' but you could have the rest of the team that's watching portray the importance of their loss through their comments, such as angry insults towards the terrorist, one of them could abruptly cry during the interview when the cop that has passed is mentioned and you could then describe the feeling in the room as he cries or his name is mentioned and the room suddenly falls silent etc.
Thank you for the ideas, I will look into this. Perhaps there is room for a short scene before the interrogation.
Who is your POV character in this scenario? You can certainly let us in on that person's feelings ...of anger, of grief ...even as the interrogation goes on. What they are thinking and feeling may well be in opposition to what they are saying or how they are behaving. And they might have insight into their other colleagues feelings as well. It doesn't make sense to delay the interrogation. That wouldn't be 'professional' would it? And the dead person? Is that what he would have wanted? They can all take the position that immediate interrogation would be what their dead colleague would have expected of them. However, grief and anger can certainly surface during the interrogation ...perhaps goaded a bit by the attitude of the terrorist they're interrogating. Does this terrorist know the colleague has died? That might also influence the emotional content of the scene.
I agree with SethLoki, you can use this complex situation to impress with your writing skills! The way I would do it is have him fatally wounded. His mates acknowledge their duty but it makes them even angrier that they have to postpone their mourning, letting their wrath bleed through in the investigation
Just juxtapose character inner thought with explicit action. So the character could be thinking: He's dead. Whilst the same character will shout, "Drop the gun!" As the cop is wrestling the terrorist down, he could lose control by punching harder or more times than needed. Maybe he needs to be held back and another cop needs to step in because he's at risk of killing the terrorist before they can interrogate him. It's not that difficult, I think.
