The Road to Maine is Bloody Part 10

Stephen gave her a half crooked smile and reached over and patted her hand. “You know you’ve got your mother’s eyes. I saw her in you when you came to my door. I wish things could have been different but with all the letters and her desire to be an actress, we thought it best to go our separate ways.”

He stood and walked across the room to the large oak espresso colored desk and opened the first drawer and pulled out a stack of white envelopes, tied with a faded yellow ribbon. He walked back to the chair, handing her the letters before sitting down again. “These are some of the letters I got from that fan. I kept them, hoping to come up with some clue to your Mother’s death but they say nothing about it.”

Ashley pulled the yellow ribbon, untying the letters and they slid apart in her lap and she grabbed them before they could fall to the floor.  

She decided on the first one, lifting the flap of the envelope and tugging on the folded paper, pulling it out of its shell and unfolded the blue parchment paper with the scalloped edges and stared at the words written in black ink.

“What kind of monster are you? Do you get some sort of sick pleasure out of writing about murder, rape and torture? I read what you write and you should be ashamed of yourself. Do you write about what you wish you could do? Do you fantasize about death? Secretly hope these monsters in your books existed?”

“I should have been your number one fan. I should have been your Annie. You made a mistake not choosing me for the part of Annie Wilkes. I’m your number one fan, no one else and the sooner you get that through your twisted mind, the better. It would be a shame if your precious Annie were to suddenly die like the victims in your books. You have to guess which one and you will soon enough.” The letter wasn’t signed and Ashley’s hands shook violently and she folded the letter quickly, stuffing it in the envelope and dropped it on the floor like it was on fire.

She looked at Stephen. “What happened after the letters stopped? Did you show them to the police? Did they question her?” He shook his head and told her to look in his book, on page 142.