The Road to Maine Is Bloody Part 7

Ashley just stared at him, his face glowing in the light of the orange and red flames from the fire as if mulling over what he just told her. “Did you love her? Why did it end?” She said, her voice gruff and cleared her throat.

Stephen sat back in the matching recliner to the sofa and didn’t speak for a few seconds, drumming his fingers on the arms of the chair. He sat with his legs crossed, the right leg over the left, his white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top and the seemingly incompatible denim jacket collar resting against the starch white cotton. “Yes I did love her Ashley, very much but we both had different goals. She loved acting and I’m a writer. Believe it or not, sometimes it can be like fire and water.” 

“She wanted to be on the stage performing and she was good, great in fact but I prefer being behind the scenes, writing the scripts. Annie wanted the whole bit, the red carpet, the autographs, the fans and the traveling, I didn’t. The last time I saw her was when she read for the part. Then I heard about her death through my agent.” Stephen sighed, rubbing his hand along his leg back and fourth, his eyes downcast.

Ashley pointed to the book on his lap, still open to the page that had been marked when she’d opened it and still smelled of the genuine leather it was bound in. “Why is my Mother’s death in your book? An exact match to what your character did to your victim? Is there some connection you’re not telling me about?” 

Stephen closed the red leather bound novel, the paper cover long since gone after years of wear. His hand laid flat against the cover and looked up at Ashley. “About a year before your Mother’s death, I’d been receiving disturbing fan letters from this woman. They were all pretty much the same. How much she hated me and said I was propagating a new world order and how my books were coming into reality. She made threats against me and when she found out I was seeing Annie, she started threatening her too. This woman said she wanted me to suffer and knew that the best way to do that was go after Annie.”