Chapter 19: The Distance Alibi

And how to break it

In the last chapter, we talked about time-shifting. Now, let’s talk about place-shifting. Since time-shifting is defined as changing the characters’ perception of when an event took place, you’ve probably already guessed what place-shifting is: changing the characters’ perception of where an event took place. The event that is most often place-shifted is the murder, and there are three common reasons for this:

• to support a particular narrative, such as a frame job

• to move the body out of an intimate location, such as the Villain’s home or car, and into a more public location that allows the suspect pool to widen

• to establish a Distance Alibi

Remember that in the Distance Alibi, the Villain is unable to establish his whereabouts at the exact moment of the crime. However, he establishes his whereabouts very close to the time of the crime—in a location too far distant for him to travel the intervening distance. In this chapter, we’ll discuss two and a half ways that your Villain can construct this alibi.