The Beautifully Damned and the Eternally Blessed (SAMPLE)

Chapter Six: New York Minute

Third-Person POV

Early May 2019, New York City Police Department (Manhattan)...

Dear Miles, Chief O'Hara, and Diane,

So I guess it's come down to this. I'm officially dead and it's not by my own hand.

You can call it weeks or months of various premonitions despite Pastor and First Lady Ranier telling me to speak life to myself. Or you can think that I've been watching too many crime documentaries or spent way too much time in the designing rooms. All the same, I strongly believed that the ghosts of the past and Deathly Glamour have both claimed my life. And just in case you didn't guess, I did NOT end my life on a whim to scare y'all or make you think any less of me. No, y'all. I was simply murdered at DG's request.

Anyway, I knew that my life was coming at an end even though this meant that I wouldn't meet my baby sister Jana for the first time. The two of us have been corresponding for the longest since she started high school and we clicked from there. And even though we were itching to meet each other, I knew that it wasn't meant to be. But I also knew that Jana wanted to study law and loved all things mysteries even though Mom and Dad planned for her to be a miserable housewife to some playboy who didn't intend to change his ways.

So this is where you guys and my sister come in.

I've already explained everything to Jana in my letter to her about her role in solving my mystery- her working with everyone to put on one final showcase featuring the last of my designs as well as working with the red herrings to find out which of the seven suspects wanted me dead. But you guys are to not only keep my last will and testament safe from the suspects but also do a full investigation on them all. Even though I know Miles did most of the work, there's always some hidden breadcrumbs that we might not know about. As for the will itself, the first part will be read to the red herrings as they'll get their share once they and Jana arrive. The suspects, however, will have to work to find out what they got. And boy, I can only tell you that they're going to get what they deserve. As for Jana, I'm saving her for last since I know beyond every reasonable doubt that she didn't kill me and because I know that she reminds me of myself only more confident and more driven than I was back then.

All right, you three, I'm leaving everything to you as I close out this letter. I'm hoping that Deathly Glamour is unmasked and my suspects will get what's theirs. Until that happens, don't bet on me being able to rest in peace!

********************

"Derrick doesn't leave anything to chance, does he?" Diana hummed as she and Miles were with Bryan O'Hara in his NYPD office while the other workers were buzzing about with various plans and assignments from outside. "I'm a little surprised that he had everything prepared for what might happen to him."

"Well, lass, when it came to his life back in Atlanta and being raised in a family of lowlives save for Jana, Derrick had plenty of experience with dealing with bad omens," the fifty-year-old police replied in his slight Irish lilt. "Gerald and his wife did the boy so many wrongs and his older sister Catalina alongside his ex-friend and ex-fiance were no prizes. Jana was the only sane sibling in the family and they never got the chance to meet."

Miles nodded, his mind flashing to the first encounter he had with the young caramel-skinned college senior. As a former soldier and foster kid, his celibacy seemed irrelevant now that he met such a young woman who could easily become a model or a movie star. He cleared his throat, willing himself to focus on the matters at hand. "So, what's the situation regarding our suspects?" he asked.

"Mr. Oglethorpe, the former godbrother, is being released from prison when he'll get his invite," Diana noted. "He was imprisoned for pornography charges and child molestation, but it turns out that they were false, all done by Mr. Booker himself. Since then, he's been under police protection knowing that he'll be targeted for death if he got out. Surprisingly enough, he's been on his best behavior with zero contact with anyone other than his family. Still, he could be set up for being a scapegoat if we're not careful."