Ghostwriting Excerpt

 It was a nice party, as far as parties go. Ample amounts of wine paired with figs, baked brie and parmentino. Pairings included raisins, walnuts, glazed nut blends and vegetable crudites.Just the sort of function my late wife would have loved.

I was in another galaxy meeting and greeting and showing that charismatic smile at everyone. I was really stunned at my own good luck and while it was fun being at the charity function, it was terrifying. I had a secret and no one knew.

Have you ever been in a position where life was grand with 1 letter missing? So everything you had inherited from the old folks, and everything that you had worked for was almost not so gran?

Let me start my story by telling you where I was and what I was doing on the evening of January 21st.

It was a foggy night and the threat of a huge snowstorm hovered over Skokie Park. It was bone cold and i was in my LL Bean winter duster with a fedora on. I tried wearing sunglasses but since there was no sun at 10pm at night, I couldn’t see a damn thing so I 86’d that idea. I had no idea what time she would be going to her car but I gave myself plenty of leeway. I was freezing to death and about to choose another night when I saw her. Stumbling in 6 inch stiletto heels with no jacket and a scarf blowing in the wind, she flopped against the car long enough to touch the lock system and open the door automatically. I watched her lunge herself into the seat with the grace of an elephant and swing her legs in. I was scared yet oddly pleased with myself and giddy with the idea that m hell was about to end. The car started and without so much as a glance, she hit the gas and charged into traffic.

And that, my friends, was my saving grace. A little too much pressure there on the gas pedal and her life was gone. Just like that. And I never fired a shot.

With the deafening sound of work truck meets lincoln, an eerie few minutes passed. The world was freakingly silent. Until people starting driving up and someone yelled Call 911. I turned and quickly started walking back to my car and as calmly as I could I drove myself home, home to the safety of Mrs. Brown.

Now the Beckett Legacy was started in 1808. My great grandfather and his friend, Mr. Fulton invented the steamboat. My great grandfather had a company that I still hold control of today that manufactured all the parts for the steamboat. James madison had defeated Clinton and he became President. A lot of things were going on during that century. The War of 1812, British troops burned down washington DC. In 1817, My great grandfather founded Harvard Law school. We had a very fine legacy from which to uphold ur family traditions, wealth and reputation. I only knew oh so well what it would mean to my family if by some chance I were to lose all that. And through years of contemplating every conceivable way of ridding my family of the melanoma I had married, I had finally come upon a solution.

One of the things bestowed upon me from Old Charles Beckett the original, was a sense of honor, pride and code. Similar to the code of the marines where a personal code of conduct is mandated. Specifically Article VI which states I will never forget that I am a Beckett., responsible for my actions and dedicated to the principles that made my family great. I trust in God, The Becketts and my country. (

And, damn it… she just compromised all of that and something had to be done. I simply could not fathom what would happen if I continued to let things carry on as they had.

Now the gun, THE GUN, was designed in part by...you guessed it… Beckett and Mr Maxim. They had designed a self-loading rifle in the 1880s. Although it was not widely popular, the application of this principle of using cartridge energy to reload led to several self-loading pistols in 1896. The designs caught the attention of various militaries, each of which began programs to find a suitable one for their forces.Following its success in trials, the Colt pistol was formally adopted by the Army on March 29, 1911, when it was designated Model of 1911, later changed to Model 1911. All that being history of yesteryears, THE GUN which I now had in my collection was one of the originals manufactured by us. It was a sweet sexy little thing with a slim line to it that made it easy to carry and...to conceal. Since the original making my brothers, uncles and I had spruced up a tad. We had put a beautiful custom grip on it bearing our initials, and constructed a little magic on it. I knew from years of reading detective novels, that I could change the barrel of a gun to prevent forensic ID. I had thought many times that I should replace this antiquated hand me down but for now it was what I had.