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Friday Writing Prompt: The Usual Suspects

I'm thinking here of Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects and that creation of story from a bulletin board. Here's that script.

Kujan is staring not at what is on the bulletin board, but at the bulletin board itself.

His eyes follow the aluminum frame, mounted firmly to the wall. One might note its sturdy construction and its convenient size. Big enough to hold a lifetime of forgotten and disregarded notes and facts. Years of police trivia that has been hung and forgotten with the intention of finding a use for it all someday. One might want such a bulletin board for one's self. One would look to see who makes such a bulletin board.

Kujan's eyes are locked on a metal plate bearing the manufacturer's name.

It reads: QUARTET - SKOKIE, ILLINOIS Kujan's eyes flash all over the bulletin board. He finds a picture of Rabin in the far corner.

He stands beside a scale in fishing gear. He proudly holds a hand out to his freshly caught marlin. His eyes skim quickly over and stop on an eight and a half by eleven inch fax sheet of what must be a THREE HUNDRED POUND BLACK MAN. Kujan glazes over his name, it is irrelevant. His aliases stand out.

Slavin, BRICKS, Shank, REDFOOT, Thee, Rooster...

KUJAN'S EYES WIDEN with sudden realization. He runs for the door.

His foot crushes the broken pieces of Rabin's coffee cup. The cup that hovered over Verbal's head for two hours.

Kujan is in too much of a hurry to notice the two words printed on the jagged piece that had been the bottom of the cheap mug.

KOBAYASHI PORCELAIN.

For this Friday's Flash Prompt, create your own story from a bullletin board, from your own office or kitchen, a grocery store, a school, or use the same one as in Usual Suspects. Then post it, of course, somewhere.

For Further Reading

Premise and Mystery, A Review of Usual Suspects

 

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