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{{quote|'''Joshua the Groundskeeper:''' Who else saw you come in?<br />
'''Troy:''' If we say "nobody", [[Genre Savvy|are you going to stab us with your bush scissors?]]|''[[
Something's bothering you. You did some poking around, and you discovered a clue that just doesn't match up with what you know about the situation at large. It's almost as if your team has stumbled upon some sort of [[Evil Plan]]. So you decide to run this information past your trusted ally, [[Sdrawkcab Name|Nialliv]]. He listens, perhaps admits that this does indeed sound suspicious, and then casually asks: "Have you told anyone else?"
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''20th Century Boys'' detective Chou has made a startling discovery about the the leader of an enigmatic cult named 'Friend'. Turns out the leader is actually {{spoiler|a childhood classmate of our peppy main character Kenji.}} Unfortunately he decided to discuss the matter with his assistant Yama first. Needless to say Yama turns out to be a member of said cult and "purified him." Making it even more tragic is the fact that Chou was [[Retirony|just one week away from retirement]].
* {{spoiler|Naomi Misora}} ''almost'' averts this in ''[[
** On the other hand, her failure to avert the trope results from Light reminding her of L, which not so subtly [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] that the two are [[Not So Different]].
* Played with in ''[[Detective Conan]]'' episode 36. The villain, after being confronted by Conan alone, asks Conan if he told anyone about this, to which Conan responds that he {{spoiler|didn't--and also volunteers the information that nobody knows where Conan is, either. She doesn't kill him and Conan later speculates she wanted to be caught by a child; it's not explained what Conan would have done if that guess was wrong.}}
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** Plus, there's the fact that Yuta is immortal. Not much cause for him to worry about his wellbeing.
* BRUTALLY inverted in ''[[Eden of the East]]''. [[Big Bad|Mononobe]] plans to convert [[The Hero|Takizawa Akira]] to his side, and explains his [[Evil Plan]] to him. In a moment of [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|extreme genre-savviness]], Takizawa had called his [[Love Interest]] just before meeting up with the [[Big Bad]] and LEAVES HIS PHONE ON SO SHE CAN LISTEN IN! [[The Stinger]]? Mononobe thinks Takizawa can't do anything to avert his [[Evil Plan]], and let's him go when he can't convert him. [[Idiot Ball|WHAT AN IDIOT!]]
* In ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', Maverick asks Barnaby if anyone else was there when Barnaby learned of Jake Martinez's alibi for his parents' murder. In this case, the answer really ''is'' yes - Barnaby's partner Kotetsu was also present - but since Maverick {{spoiler|has the ability to alter people's memories}}, he's not really all that worried. It ''does'' help Barnaby in the long run, though, as Kotetsu proves to be much more of a [[Spanner in
== Comic Books ==
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== Film ==
* In ''[[The Bourne Series (
* Very well justified to shocking effect in ''[[
** Vincennes uses a variation of this trope to get his killer busted though. With his dying breath, he whispers a secret name known only to him and Exley (because Exley only ever told him). When the killer tries to investigate the significance of the name (thinking it might be a loose end), Exley immediately suspects it to be a message from Vincennes and realizes the man can't be trusted.
* In the movie ''[[Minority Report]]'', Danny Witwer gets to carry the [[Idiot Ball]] for revealing his suspicions to the [[Big Bad|wrong person]]. Admittedly he's in a world where it's supposedly impossible to commit murder, but as the killer points out, due to recent events, that's just changed.
** He also doesn't know that he's telling the [[Big Bad]] his suspicions. He just {{spoiler|figured out that someone else killed Anne Lively}}, not that {{spoiler|Lamar did it}} or why.
** Just before the [[Big Bad]] starts with the killing though, Danny lists a few things he already figured out about {{spoiler|the murderer}}, and they very much apply to the person he's just revealed his findings too. The [[Too Dumb to Live]] label is somewhat appropriate.
* ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'': After Mr. Waternoose hears the full story of the incident from Mike, he asks, "Does anyone else know about this?"
** That's a terrific moment, due to the business headaches Waternoose has been dealing with since the opening of the movie. The line seems innocuous enough right up until {{spoiler|the Banishment Door shows up and Waternoose shoves Mike and Sully through.}}
* In the remake of ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' two [[Mooks]] bring General Thade out into the forest and recount a story of seeing something crash down, burning the trees as it went and they point out the destruction it caused. Trying to protect the secret that humans were once in charge, Thade names this trope and when they say no he does an interesting <s>monkey</s> ape flip backwards to stab them both.
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* In ''[[Witness]]'', when Book finds out that the perpetrator of a recent cop murder is a narcotics detective, and upon further investigation realizes said detective was involved in the theft of confiscated drugs, he goes to Police Chief Schaeffer and, upon telling everything he knows, is asked whether he has told anyone else. When Book says no, Schaeffer tells him to keep it quiet. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] by the fact that Book trusts Schaeffer and, as a police corruption case, it would make sense to keep as few officers in the loop as possible.
* ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' contains a rare example in which the villain ([[Villain Protagonist|in this case also the protagonist]]) is not actually evil enough to kill the one person who has evidence against his partner-in-crime: instead, once he is assured that she has told no one else, he just convinces her to keep quiet about it.
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Max:''' ''(presses Selina against a window menacingly, and leans forward as if to kiss her, then pulls back)'' "Huh?!"<br />
''(They both laugh)''<br />
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* [[Played With]] to great effect in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'': Bruce Wayne's accountant has figured out Bruce's secret identity, and the first person he tells is Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, in an attempt to blackmail Bruce. Fox puts the situation in perspective:
{{quote| "Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck."}}
* ''[[The Illusionist (
* [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[Sanjuro]]''. A slight variation in that the nine naive young samurai were certain they'd identified the villain -- and reported that to the ''real'' villain, who asked them to meet him later at a secluded shrine to discuss matters further. Fortunately, [[Toshiro Mifune]] was sleeping in the shrine and decided to save these well-meaning idiots.
* Averted in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', when Sutler asks Finch if anyone else has read Delia's diary. Finch answers no, but Sutler just tells him he'd better forget about it.
* This is the main driving force of the movie ''[[Weekend
* In the 1997 adaptation of [[Ivanhoe]], a random message-bearing mook tries (unsuccessfully) to avert this:
{{quote| '''Fitzurse''': "Does anybody know you're here?"<br />
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* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] [[Horus Heresy]] novel ''Legion'', when Bronzi discovers a Chaos-tainted soldiers, he reports it, is asked who knows, and is warned that they need to keep it close to the chest. {{spoiler|In this case, telling them that others know ensures that they get massacred, too.}}
* In Frederick Forsyth's novel ''[[The Day of the Jackal]]'', the forger providing the Jackal's false papers tries to blackmail him, fatally assuming the assassin is merely an upper class dilettante dabbling in the drug trade. The Jackal skillfully asks a number of questions (disguised as an attempt to wriggle out of the situation, or ensure that he won't have to pay another bribe to an associate) which establish that the forger hasn't given his photographs to anyone else and that no-one will come to this location and find his body for some time.
* [[
* Comically subverted in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld
* In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] novel ''[[Blood Angels
* In [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[
* A variation is used in [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Safehold]]'' novel, ''Off Armageddon Reef.'' The villain is confronted about accusations of treason by his father-in-law (who, in his defense, was drunk at the time). The antagonist had no desire to kill his father-in-law, and was trying to convince the man to support him even as he plotted killing everyone ''else'' who suspected him.
** In ''How Firm a Foundation'', Urvyn Mahndrayn takes a detour from a business trip to inform {{spoiler|his cousin Trai Sahlavahn, who runs the powder-mill}} about some discrepancies in the shipping manifests for kegs of gunpowder delivered for the mill. Unfortunately {{spoiler|Sahlavan}} is the traitor who was diverting the gunpowder shipments. He asks Mahndrayn who else he's told, and Mahndrayn says that he wanted to check with {{spoiler|Sahlavan}} before alerting anyone else. It doesn't end well.
* A slight variation in ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Harry Potter]]'', when an old Muggle caretaker named Frank inadvertently stumbles upon a strange person who was previously discussing various murders. Frank, when confronted, pretends that he has a wife at home who knows where he went and who will call the police if he does not come home. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, double subverted in that the strange murderer is Voldemort, who has no problem telling that it is a lie.}}
* In [[Dean Koontz]]'s ''Brother Odd'', Odd Thomas questions a number of suspects in a [[Closed Circle]] murder case. One of them asks if Odd has told anyone else about a certain piece of evidence, then offers him something to eat. Odd [[Lampshades]] this trope in his narration, then politely declines the food.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Averted in ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''. Gaeta notices there's something wrong with the presidential votes and tells Saul, ''the man running the scheme''. (Not the man who thought of the idea, but still.) Fortunately, that man is not a villain, so when Gaeta suspects something's off, he freely tells Admiral Adama and the whole thing is solved.
* On ''[[
** Note that this mook told him the information with plenty of other people in the room...so Cole kills them all.
** On the contrary. He left one of them alive, telling him "You I trust." This trusted lieutenant did go on to betray him. This trust makes Cole look like a [[Horrible Judge of Character]], though there's no way to tell whether the reporting mook or the other witnesses would have been any more loyal than the one he spared.
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** There's dozens upon dozens of examples in the original series, of course, way too many to list.
** Sarah Jane Smith fell into this trope a ''lot''.
* In the ''[[
* Invoked in the ''[[
{{quote| '''Hodgins:''' "I've seen this movie. I get killed on the way home, don't I?"}}
* In one episode of ''[[
* Averted in an episode of ''[[Pretty Little Liars]]''. When the main character girls go out into the forest with a police officer to trap a killer, he asks if they've told anyone else. Hannah says yes, she left a note so her mom won't worry. Afterwards another girl asks Hannah if she really did leave a note, Hannah says of course not -- but she doesn't want the cop to know it.
* In the seventh season of ''[[24
* Subverted in ''[[The X
* Used in ''[[
* Used in the pilot of ''[[Eureka]]'' when Beverley questions the wife of a deceased scientist with whom her shady organization had been working. The woman has heard too much and intends to start talking, but hasn't done so yet. Beverley overdoses her on some sort of medication hidden in her tea and plays it as a suicide.
* Jessica Fletcher of ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'' is a master at subverting this trope. Often when she only has a hunch and no concrete evidence of someone's guilt, she sets things up so that the perpetrator believes it's such a situation when in fact she has the cops ready and waiting. Played for drama.
* A variation of it in the ''[[Dollhouse]]'' episode "Getting Closer". {{spoiler|After Dollhouse scientist Bennett Halverson tells Dr. Saunders that she can restore the Echo's original Caroline personality which knows who the real head of the Rossum Corporation is, Saunders shoots her in the head.}}
* In the ''[[
* ''[[The Event]]'' uses this big-time, when one guy is about to tell the government key information. Sure enough, his lifespan is measured in minutes.
* ''[[Neighbours]]'' did this in a situation that viewers still talk about even years after it happened. Shortly before he was due to leave on a holiday, Connor learned that the missing 'Robert' (who is really Cameron) is in a coma at a nursing home. He immediately went to tell Robert's identical triplet 'Cameron' (who is really [[Evil Twin|Robert]]) the good news. This was the last time he ever appeared on the show, and Robert was later seen driving Connor's car and digging up the front garden. In what is either a genuine subversion or a [[Retcon]], Connor was later 'proven' to be alive and well, first when police found his wallet in China, and later when he apparently sent Toadie and others gifts for St. Patrick's Day, also from China.
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** The audience knows from the start that Hyeok is currently head of Athena's operations in South Korea (and Andy is [[Number Two]]).
** Hyeok asks his underling, "[[Have You Told Anyone Else?]]" Underling says no. Hyeok unnerves him with, "Good. If you tell anyone, you might endanger yourself." Cut to Andy confronting Underling, who gets scared and runs away, directly towards Hyeok, who (surprise!) shoots him.
* The villain attempts this in ''[[
* ''[[
** In the episode when the groundskeeper finds that Jeff and Troy have discovered his secret illegal trampoline Troy becomes concerned this is playing out.
** Dean Craig Pelton is less savvy. When the "food" he bought for the campus Halloween party turned the student body into zombies, he notified the Army. When they arrived, the Dean foolishly answered, "No," when asked if anyone else knew about the zombies. An underling began to draw a gun but luckily another soldier realized the zombie plague was over so they went with Plan B.
* A [[Monster of the Week|Villian of The Week]] attempts to invoke this with Sam on ''[[
* Played with in the ''[[Due South]]'' episode, "A Hawk and a Handsaw". Fraser is undercover as a patient in a mental hospital and comes across evidence that the staff are illegally testing an anti-depressant that causes some of the subjects to commit suicide. When his partner, Ray, visits him, they're led to an empty room where they then begin to exchange all the information they've discovered before Fraser clicks in and asks Ray who he told regarding his whereabouts leading to this response, "Nobody, why? [he is grabbed by a thug with a gun] I misunderstood the question, I told everybody I know! I told the State's Attorney, I told the Sheriff, I even told my mother!" Different in that it's not the villain who asks this but one of the good guys realizing they're being spied on.
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== Video Games ==
* In the first [[Rainbow Six]] game, this happened to a medical expert you already rescued once. When she realizes the origins of the virus a [[Animal Wrongs Group|terrorist group]] plans to release, she calls one of your other advisors, who asked her this. After she says no, several terrorists come knocking on her doorstep.
* At the end of chapter 6 in [[
== Web Original ==
* Played straight [http://qntm.org/socks this] [[
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* In ''[[Freakazoid]]!'', Roddy MacStew tells the board of his company that the Pinnacle Chip is flawed and will create the Freakazoid if a certain combination of keys is pressed, followed by delete. The [[Big Bad]] running the company asks him if anyone else knows about the flaw, before throwing Roddy out the (very high off the ground) window.
* Played with in the third episode of ''[[Exo Squad]]'', Phaeton's Finance Minister asks for a secret meeting at a factory to inform him that the Martian treasury has been looted. Phaeton cheerfully admits to having diverted the funds himself in order to secretly build weapons. The Finance Minister plays along and later hacks Phaeton's files so he can expose the full extent of Phaeton's crimes. The line is only used after this attempt fails.
* Used rather shockingly in the [[Grand Finale]] move for [[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]. After spending the whole movie trying to get to his brother following a rather badly done scam, Eddy finally arrives. And this bit of [[Foreshadowing]] occurs.
{{quote| '''Eddy's brother''' : Do mom and dad know You're here?<br />
'''Eddy''' : As if.<br />
|