To Whom It May Concern:

I killed her. I didn't want to but what other choice did I have? I mean, look at her picture. See how drop-dead gorgeous she is, even in death? If only my Beth hadn't been such a conniving, cold-hearted, manipulating little bitch! Then none of the rest of this would have happened.

I gave Beth everything money could buy. All she had to do was look at something that caught her fancy, and lickety split, the item her tender little heart craved became hers. So what if I had to labor at two full time jobs to satisfy her fourteen carat mind? What made Beth happy made me happy. And, I loved being her Sugar Momma.

We had been together forever, or at least since we were little kids. I lived in an old, run down, clapboard house at the end of the street just before the Red Light District began, and Beth, well she lived in the middle of a Cul-de-sac.

Hell, her whole house, and its property, consumed the entire Cul-de-sac. 1412 East Diamond Road. That was her address alright. I will never forget it.

No diamond ever sparkled as brightly as my Beth did though. I remember the first time she caught my attention. We were only prepubescents but she made my hormones rage out of control.

And, Beth was the epitome of grace too. Every fluid motion she made screamed elegance in a tone that made the whole world stand up and take notice.

The butterflies always danced around in my stomach when I was near her. And, the slight trembling present in my knees when I walked by her only whetted my appetite and made me know Beth was all I ever wanted.

I longed for the passion of her touch with every breath in my body. One that ached when I could not be near her. To say Beth was the sunshine of my day is a gross understatement. She was my day, and my night, and every fiber of my very being.

Then we grew up and reached our early twenties, How I longed to marry her. But, society simply would not permit such a thing. "Oh no, can't have that!" they frowned at the marriage license bureau, "Not natural."

Natural or not marriage would have been the perfect consummation of our relationship. And, by golly, who has the authority to legislate who you can love and who you can't?

So, we happily moved in together. And, for me, that was pure bliss. I couldn't wait to carry Beth across the threshold of our brand new home for the first time. Then, right up the stairs to the four poster bed, and the feather-down pillow, where she laid her pretty head.

The first few months we got along splendidly. Who wouldn't find a way to make a relationship like ours work out perfectly? Then one day I noticed something, and it scared me. I never would have expected the change I saw in her. Oh, but, it was there. Bigger than life.

I tried to brush off the feeling, but it just wouldn't go away. I even tried to ignore it. You know, tell myself it wasn't real. That it was all in my imagination. That my mind was playing an evil trick on me. But, no matter what I did it felt more and more like our love was becoming a Halloween nightmare.

Every time I asked Beth about what I suspected, of course, she always denied it. Still, the lingering doubts would not desipitate. They only grew stronger. And, perish the thought, but my suspicions drove my anguish and anxiety more until the day I proved her unfaithful ways.

Why couldn't I leave well enough alone? After slaving for another grueling eighty plus hour week, I arrived home tonight to find my angel doll packing a suitcase she had opened and placed on the same bed where we had so often discovered romantic pleasure.

This could not be happening. It simply was not real. My mind could not wrap itself around the concept of what I was about to lose. My entire world was going to walk right out the door and leave me facing the cold hard facts of life.

"Beth," I pleaded with her tearfully asking, "was it something I did? Or, was it something I didn't do? I've got to know the truth. I've given you all my love and everything money can buy too. Please, don't leave me like this!"

My darling didn't say a word. Not one teeny weeny little peep did she offer as an explanation for the impending doom.

My pride completely gone, I hit both of my bended knees right in the middle of the floor begging her to stay. And, you know what she did? She laughed at me. Up close as she could get, and in my tear-stained face, she laughed at me.

I couldn't allow her to get away with that. Now could I? I snapped. Way down deep inside me something snapped. And, do you know how her laughing at me made me feel? Small! Smaller than I had ever felt before in my entire life.

And, all the love I had for this radiant beauty, the one I would have gladly died for, suddenly turned into raging, uncontrollable hatred. Hate, like I never knew anybody could despise another human being.

If I couldn't have Beth for myself nobody else was going to have her either. She snapped the clasps on her suitcase shut and snatched it off the bed. Then she raced out the front door as fast as she could run. I was hot on her trail.

On the front porch I yanked the suitcase out of her hand so hard it pulled her shoulder out of joint. She screamed in agony and dropped it right there.

She bolted across our well manicured lawn and glanced over her injured shoulder to see where I was. Yes, I was in hot pursuit. My madness would only be satisfied when I had my bare hands snuggly wrapped around her little neck.

When I finally grabbed her, the angry expression on my face told the two-timing slut she had reached the end. Tighter and tighter and tighter I squeezed the existence out of her being. I heard Beth gurgling louder the harder I squeezed her throat!

Then she collapsed in a heap on the grass. But, there were no tears in these blue eyes of mine now. This cat fight was over and the tigress had slain her prey. For a brief instant I felt a flush come over me.

Momentarily, I saw an eerie sight. There before me, levitating into thin air, was the ghost of the one true love of my life. As she floated away she kind of gave me a little wink as if to warn me to watch my back. Or, maybe, it was more of a "see you in paradise" kind of look.

As I reentered the house I could not forget the look on the face of the ghost. Or, was it guilt over what I had done? Slowly, one by one, I climbed the stairs leading to our bedroom. As I saw it I had no reason to live. Everything I treasured was a far distant memory buried deep in my past.

Once inside the room I sat down on the bed where all the love we shared had been made. It was there I put the cold, metallic barrel of the Dellinger I kept on the nightstand in my mouth and ate a bullet.

If I couldn't have her in this life maybe I could have her in the next one. Time would certainly tell.

Now you see why I had to kill her. I didn't want to but I had no other option.

They say confession is good for the soul so all I can do now is leave this note for the authorities, and anyone else involved in the investigation of this matter, who may attempt to put the pieces of this puzzle together. What else can I do?

C'est la vie!

Sincerely,

Rhonda Singletary
Deceased