Topic: Does this character sound necessary for my story?

For my story, basically it's a thriller set in modern times, and the main villain is a mystery to the police. The main character, a cop, does not want the villain to continue to keep getting away with crimes, and becomes obsessed on finding out who he is.

He knows that this mystery man villain has a lawyer that represents him, so he hacks into the lawyers computer files to find out who it could be. Of course the villain would want to hide himself as much as he can, such as only paying in cash, and things like that. So the hero may have to hack into the banks as well to crosscheck payment withdrawals to see if they match in price or something.

So since the main character is a detective, would he need an expert hacker to help him, or could he maybe break into the law firm building himself, and hope that the files of the person who payed him are on record, on paper, to look up, and he doesn't therefore need to break into such a computer?

But even if they were on paper, does that mean I need to create a character to assist the MC into getting his hands on it still, as well? What do you think?

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Oh I know it's not admissible in court, but the main character wants to find out the truth about what is really going on and who is really behind the crimes.

After the MC finds out the truth, he will then figure out how to build a case. But in order to figure out how to build a case, he needs to find out the truth first, and then the case second. Does that make sense?

Also the villain is not guilty of money laundering at all. There is none of that going on so the MC can't use that at all.

I also thought of creating a hacker than maybe the MC agrees to get rid of evidence or something in exchange for his help, but there is something about that, that seems off, as if I could come up with something better for the story. It just doesn't feel like it fits this story, theme wise, for some reason.

When you say you don't know why I keep coming back to the hacking into the lawyer's files, are you saying that I overuse it? Cause I only use it in one section of the story and that's all, unless you mean something else?

Do you think it doesn't make enough sense though that he would hack into the lawyer's files even though it's not admissible in court?

For example, in the movie Seven, the main character cops found out who the villain was being doing something that was not admissible in court, but that didn't stop them from doing it, to find out what they wanted to find out, unless mine is different?

Okay thanks, but why does the lawyer make no sense though? Basically the lawyer defended a client. The client couldn't afford to pay, so the client's criminal associate, who is much more wealthy paid the lawyer's fees.

Now the person paying the lawyer's fees would be in the lawyer's records. So the MC figures that whoever paid the lawyer, could very well be the leader of the gang of the villains. So he wants to figure out who paid the lawyer. That way, he can find the leader.

So the lawyer is not part of a criminal conspiracy. But he does know who the leader is. So that is why the MC wants to hack into his files to find out who the leader is. What part of that does not make sense that I am missing?

How about the cop romances the lawyers secretary and gets her to agree to help him to catch the fiend, by looking up the lawyer's files on him?

Well the cop is already married and he is not the type to cheat. But even so I feel like maybe Mara has a point that the villain would go through extra hoops to hide his name though maybe.

You know what I could do instead of having the main character having to jump through so many complicated hoops that involve lots of research, which seems to lead to plot holes, what if I had just the main character break into one of the character's homes, in a mask, with gloves and a gun, and just threaten to kill him unless he talks...

Cause this would be a shortcut, and would make everything less complicated. As far as writing what I know, I don't know torture, but torturing information out of someone, would be easier than all these complicated technical obstacles that get in the way of the plot.

However, readers might not like how the main character decides to make such a drastic move, just because he didn't want to figure out a different way. Plus torture alerts the villains that you are onto them as well, which is the downside of it. But at the time same time, it does get him the info a lot faster, just not sure if readers would think it was a cop out, since I did not bother to continue doing research, till I found something that would work for the plot in a different way.

Yeah but I thought that the person might blurt out the truth to make it stop, cause he was in too much fear and pain that he couldn't think of a creative enough lie to sell, under the circumstances.

Torture worked in other movies and TV shows as well, so not sure if it would work in mine then.

But I thought about what you said, about how the villain would not have his name in the lawyer's bookkeeping when it comes to the bills. So if this is the case, not sure what else the main character can do to get the info, rather than beat it out of a character, since all the trails are at a dead end now it seems.

Well the main character knows two members of the gang, and wants to find out who the rest are. However, since these two members have been discovered, they have been instructed to stay away from the gang and just act like they have normal innocent lives, since the police are watching them, as well as the main character.

But if the main character tries to blackmail or bribe them into talking, they could just turn around and tell the leader that the main character is onto them and is going through extra legal hoops to get at them now. So the main character, doesn't want to alert the leader that he is going the extra mile, cause then the leader will be alerted and take decisive action possibly.

Not that this is a bad thing for my plot, it's just the main character does not want to alert the leader into taking action, cause he wants to be careful, so that is why he is trying to find out who the leader is, without alerting any of the suspected members.

Sorry, I should be more open to suggestion. Your idea is a good one and get a character to flip, I am just not sure how the character would flip exactly, since the police had to let him go earlier cause they didn't have anything on him. So not sure what the main character can use to persuade him with, but I will keep poking at it.