Wednesday means words and there are new ones this week. My current word count is 140K+ words and I finished off Chapter 45 yesterday. I am happy to report that today’s words made me the winner in last week’s #ThursdayThreads. To say I was surprised is an understatement. The prompt was a good one but tough! Especially given the type of story I’m working on. Anyway, I managed to find a way to use it and it was good enough. I’d like to thank Maura for her inspiration and Judge Francone for his cooperation. 😉 Here’s the prompt: **”But I heard the system break.”** I’m not going to give any background because the snippet pretty much stands by itself. All things considered…

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Maura stared out. Boston’s buildings crowded around like a scrum of rugby players. Her scattered thoughts weren’t condusive to explaining her actions.

Judge Francone cleared his throat. She didn’t turn around. “Ms. Brannigan?”

“I don’t know what to say, your honor.”

“We aren’t in the courtroom, Maura.”

“No, but you are still a judge.”

“And you are still an assistant district attorney.”

“Am I?”

“Have you filed a letter of resignation?”

She had to consider that. Alex had, for all intents and purposes fired her. But that was before… “It wasn’t like that.”

“Talk to me, Maura. Me. Not the old fart in the black robes with a gavel in his hands. It’s just you and me here. Off the record. Just Maura and Tony.”

She almost giggled but reined in the slight hysteria rising up inside her. “Tony? Really?”

“My mother only called me Anthony when I was in trouble.”

“What did your father call you?”

“Trouble.”

They both laughed and she relaxed, finally turning away from the world outside the window.

His voice was soft and curious when he spoke again. “What’s happened, Maura?”

Where did she begin? Her falling in love with a criminal mastermind? Her boss turning into a homicidal megalomaniac? Her snooping? Maybe. Or not.

“I learned the system was rigged. Law and order. My guideposts have always been law and order. Then I discovered what was happening. I thought I could do something but I heard the system break.”

“Then fix it.”

“I can’t.”
****

This is the original 250 word snippet. It’ll be edited in the final with some additional action, etc. Of course, at the rate I’m going, the dang book will be 200K. I’m not to “War and Peace” level yet, nor George R.R. Martin, but I am J.R.R. Tolkien levels. Which is scary because I am none of those authors. The good news is that I truly think I am drawing closer to The End. Keep your fingers crossed. As alwasy, writers feel free to grab the prompt and iIn the mean time, what would you like fixed today?