There is one part of my story I was hoping to brainstorm with you... Without giving too much away, my character meets a love interest while attending a ‘victims of crime’ support group. He is understanding and she feels she can relate to him on a different level to her other love interest in the story. At the group one week, they are told that one of their members has died of an overdose (or something). Her love interest in absent so she goes to his home after the meeting to inform him of the news and to seek his comfort. When she arrives at his house, she overhears him talking. She realises he is actually an undercover cop (or something) and already knows about the girls death. Just as he notices her standing at his front door she runs away. That’s where it’s at for the moment. I know it sounds cliché and cheesy but it’s just a sub plot I am thinking of developing. I don’t want him to be a bad guy. I just want a small twist in the story to have space between the other more confronting issues … He could be in protective services but then how would she develop a friendship with him if his eye was on someone else. He could be investigating perpetrators targeting vulnerable women in the area??? He doesn’t have to be a cop at all, I just want him to have lied about his true identity and free her up for the other love interest. But she has to know where he lives and if he’s involved in anything too heavy he’s not likely to be showing people his home, right? I would love to hear your ideas….
I like it and can see the possibility of it being fun to write and exciting for the reader. However, there is one big problem I see with the idea: how did she overhear him? So she knows where he lives, great. Does she have a key to his front door? How does he SEE her at his front door and how can she listen in on him? For some weird reason, does he have one of those screen doors?
One thing I have to ask is why does his being a cop scare her? Why would she run? It might be best to relate his undercover duty to the death of the other character, or maybe make it unrelated, but I actually think it's illegal for a cop to go undercover with the expressed purpose of infiltrating a support group to obtain evidence. If he is just keeping an eye on things for security or what not, I think that's cool, but I know for a fact in some states anything he learned in the group could not be used in a criminal prosecution.
Howdy - Yes, I was thinking an open front door with a security screen. She approaches the front door and his dog starts sniffing around as she's listening. The dog starts to bark which is how he ends up finding her standing at the front door. lordofhats - Being a cop doesn't scare her, just the fact that she was lied to and he is not who he said he was. The other issues in the story revolve around trust, healing, forgiveness blah blah blah, hence the recovery group. You're absolutely right with regards to cops having limitations in undercover operations, which is why I don't want this subplot to become too involved. I was thinking of small time drug dealers targeting groups more likely to 'use': schools, support groups and clubs. They could be linked to larger drug crimes within the city and he is hovering within these groups to gather information. I could also link this with the death of the character. Maybe he knew she was using?? Sorry.... I'm rambling now...
