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And the book is cold in my hands. I had one day of only four pages, then nothing yesterday, and I sit here at my desk and doubt. Is this the direction the book needs to go? Was I wrong to cut that one scene and move it later in the book? No, that last question, I know, that scene needed to move. It’s too close to the climatic end stuff, so it needs to be closer to the end. But, have I had my police act as police would not act? I’m beginning to think that if Anita doesn’t get the metaphysics under control she’s going to have to give up her badge. Either her police bosses will ask for it, or she’ll give it up voluntearily. We can’t keep being this out there on the magic, and be a cop. We can save people, and get the bad guys, initially, but we can’t prove it in court. Visions, vampire powers, shapeshifter powers; none of it is admissible in court. Why? Because you can’t cross exam it. You can’t duplicate it, or explain it, so that the jury, or even the judge, can understand it. Hell, DNA isn’t nearly as accepted in every court as television will make you think, now take that logic and expand it. Try taking "magic" into court and explaining to a non magic jury how you found the bad guy, or that critical piece of evidence, that led to your search warrant. You might get a search warrant on a vision if lives were at stake, but it won’t hold up later. It just won’t. It would be the equivalent of telling the judge that God told you it was true. That may work in some churches, though frankly these days they’re more likely to send you to therapy, but in court, well . . . Miracles and visions aren’t evidentiary proof.

So, do I go back? Do I continue on? I lost twenty pages earlier, because it didn’t work. The deadline looms like some great dragon that I must battle. The battle is scheduled for the end of December. Do I ask for more time now? Or do I have the police accept things from Anita and the gang that I don’t think cops would accept? In the heat of a chase, they might. If you’d proven yourself to them, to save a life, they might, but later they’ll all be in trouble for following the heebie-jeebie stuff. Why? Because, visions aren’t proof. It’s one of the reasons real life police have such trouble with psychics. In fact, if you’re a psychic and come into a case with details that only the killer would know, you are more likely to be treated as a suspect than as a help. Police work tends to teach you to trust only what you can see, touch, smell, etc . . . Exception is the famous gut, or leap of intuition. Some of the best investigators of all flavors have that ability to take the facts and make these leaps, and turn jumbled facts into a pattern. But in real life, you then can prove it, put concrete things to your leap of imagination. The only thing that allows Anita to function as a marshal is the rather loose way the law is written for vampire executioners. Once we have the warrant of execution, we are almost a law unto ourselves. It is a human rights nightmare. But she and Edward are working with the local cops, so they can’t play as fast and loose as normal with the rules. It’s becoming a problem.

Do I power through and see if we can find proof to back up the vampire powers later? Proof that would hold up in court? Interestingly, there won’t be a court case, actually. One of the biggest differences between Anita and real police is that vampires don’t go to court, they are just executed. If you’re wrong, there’s no apology. Sorry, you’re dead, but I had this vision, you see. Yeah, right. But again, if you can prove even a tenuous connection between the dead vamp and the case, the warrant is usually so vague that the executioner is covered. I really have to give Anita more paperwork to fill out. I mean, real cops, have paperwork if they discharge their weapons, at all. If you actually wound, or especially kill someone, hours of your life go to paperwork. Not to mention possible review, and etc . . . The best handling of that on television that I’ve seen so far is FLASHPOINT.

Anita kills people, that’s her job. So, since she’s already got paperwork allowing her to do it, I’ve always gone on the idea that the paper trail was started before the kill, but really she should be doing more paperwork. I know that, but I hate paperwork as much as the next guy. But I do need to throw in a scene where she complains about the increased reports and paperwork now that she’s officially carrying a badge.

Wait, where was I? Oh, yeah, the current scene. Still don’t know what to do. Still don’t know if a wheel has come off my cart, or if the book is going just where it’s supposed to go. Can’t tell. Tired, frustrated, and just in a grumpy mood. Treadmill; maybe that will help. It will certainly help loosen that one spot in my back.