: Re: How to deceive the MC My protagonist is finally meeting with the big boss of a mafia. At least, he thinks he is. The boss actually sends someone to pretend to be him. I'm writing from the

@Kaufman555

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So I'm sure you've read the first Harry Potter book, where Harry is absolutely convinced Snape is the villain of the piece and all evidence seems to point to this. Snape is muttering an incantation as Harry's broom goes haywire during a Quidditch Match, only to stop when Hermione sets his robes on fire and he breaks contact. Later Harry overhears Snape threaten Quirrel for not "helping him steal the stone".

Of course, it shouldn't have to be a spoiler to all reading that the real villain is Quirrel and Snape was actually never working with him (And if it is, while I'm on a role, Snape kills Dumbledore, Vader is Luke's Father, Clarence gets his wings, Rosebud was his sled, Jesus gets better, you should know all of this by now). In the first case, Quirrel was cursing the broomstick, while Snape was working the counter curse. The curse stopped when Snape caught on fire because in his surprise, he knocked Quirrel in the face, breaking his concentration on Harry's Broom... and this also allows Snape to figure out who is the villain trying to steal the stone. We also have a scene where it seems a nervous Quirrel is overheard working out his panic to himself, but even that isn't exactly what it seems.

This is a writing device known as a Red Herring, where in mystery plots, a character is designed to purposely mislead the audience into believing they are the guilty party, but when it's time for the meddling heroes and their dog to pull the mask away it turns out it's the character that the audience wasn't expecting (And in the spin off series "A Pup named Scooby-Doo" had an actual character named Red Herring, who appeared in a running gag where Fred would accuse him of being the culprit for no good reason beyond just not liking him, only for him to show up and disprove it... it was such a running gag that, Red Herring eventually was the correct culprit because the audience was so used to the joke they never suspected it would be legit).

Normally the Reds are people who have personalities that are rather standoffish to the hero but can be re-framed in a different light once we get the real bad guy. This can be as simple as not allowing the cop hero to search his residence without a warrant and being dick about it to boot. Here, the reader is lured into a false idea that "If he isn't guilty, he shouldn't have anything to hide" where as the truth is that the cop is encroaching on a secret that while dark, isn't illegal (the victim and he are in an affair and want it hidden from their mutual spouses) or he's just really into his rights and doesn't want to cops going on a fishing expedition in his domicile when they can't meet the burden of proof to convince a judge to sign off on it.).

In this case, your best bet is to tell the truth... but let the leader think you lied. So how your story plays out: The hero meets someone who is connected to the mafia boss. Hero demands this person arrange a meeting with the boss. The connection thinks it over and worries that if the boss doesn't want to, he could be killed... after some back and forth, and some heroic threats, the connection is convinced he can arrange the sit down. The connection gives the time and place and any stipulations about the meeting (come alone or unarmed) and if he follows those instructions, he can meet the boss.

The hero is there at the time and place with no boss in sight. The place is in a rather sketchy part of town and most customers, such few that there are in this place during a lunch period, glare at the hero... even the waiter is giving him looks for lingering. Finally, up drives a car and out comes the connection, who opens the door for the fake!Boss. Fake!Boss comes in and has the sit down, threatens the hero and what have you, then tells the connection to bring the car around, they're done here. And then they drive off.

At first, knowing the boss in this scene is the "boss", your first question is "How is that telling the truth? After all, the scene plays out exactly like I should, meaning the "boss" isn't the boss... you clearly lied!"

To which I take offense. You impugned my honor as a rando on the Internet. I said that if the hero came at the right time and place, he can MEET AND SIT DOWN WITH THE BOSS. I never said he would talk with the boss. See, here's the little secret of this whole bit... the boss was there the whole time. He was the man who you threatened to make the the connection. The guy he brought along, a trusted bodyguard/thug who has been working with the boss so long, he can properly ask all the questions the guy playing the boss' valet (aka the real boss) would ask if he were actually doing it. I kept my word. The hero meets with the boss. The hero sits down with the boss. I never said anything about speaking with the boss OR getting the answers straight from the boss' mouth. I gave everything I promised, it was use who didn't understand what was being agreed too.

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