Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,48

Some clue. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to push aside the stress clouding her usual clearheadedness and replayed everything over in her mind...

When the call came into the Executive Protection Agency three months ago, everyone thought Selena’s management was just interested in upping her security with the upcoming release of her new movie. They hadn’t been forthcoming about the amount or frequency of the threatening letters Selena had been receiving through her fan club, claiming it was just a random occurrence. They’d wanted to have extra protection just in case, but they hadn’t considered the letters legit or anything to be truly concerned about.

Federico had called her into his office and explained the nature of the job. He’d told her what he claimed to know. Extra security for a couple of months. No imminent threat. It had sounded like a boring, mundane assignment. Federico had given no indication otherwise.

Think, Leslie, think! Had he displayed any cues that he’d known otherwise? Leslie had been working for him for two years, so she knew some of his tells, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t come up with a reason or anything to indicate that Federico had been lying or trying to set her up in any way.

Had he assigned her the security detail thinking she’d be easier to manipulate or overpower?

No, she wouldn’t let any lack of confidence seep in while she was already vulnerable right now.

A week on the job, she’d found out about the stalker when she was scrolling through Selena’s fan page and social media sites and noticed the same “fan” had commented over two hundred times a day. When she questioned the star’s management team about it, they’d fessed up, admitting that they too had been a little worried about this particular admirer.

They blocked the fan from the sites and deleted the inappropriate comments, but a week later, more letters started arriving at the management office and Leslie discovered they hadn’t been the first ones from the same person. Carefully constructed like ransom notes with cutout letters and no fingerprints on the paper or envelope, it was obvious the person knew what they were doing. All hope that it might be some kid messing around disappeared.

The letters were calm at first, claiming to be Selena’s number one fan, apologizing for the frequent posts and the crude nature of them and asking why they’d been blocked from posting. When no one reinstated the fan’s privileges, the wording became slightly more aggressive, demanding access to the star through her social media channels.

With each ignored letter, the language grew more threatening and abusive and Leslie informed the agency that the situation was more concerning than they’d originally understood. Federico had advised her to keep track of everything and keep him posted.

But almost immediately, the letters stopped.

The timing of that was suspicious, but she hadn’t thought anything of it at the time and for three weeks, there was nothing. Everyone assumed the fan had given up, lost interest...

Until a letter showed up in Selena’s own mailbox at home.

Up until that point, Selena’s management team had kept the stalker situation to themselves, not wanting her to worry or be afraid when she was out promoting the new movie. Leslie had disagreed with the withholding and voiced her opinion to Federico, but he’d said that her management team knew best and they had to be careful not to damage her career in any way.

So, along with Selena’s regular security team, Leslie worked at making sure event security was tighter than before and new security systems were installed at Selena’s home. More cameras and alarms at the front gates, on all exits and windows, throughout the home.

Things were quiet for a few weeks. No sign of the fan. No more letters.

Everyone else started to relax, but Leslie knew that was the time to be even more diligent. Selena refused to cancel any appearances and fought Leslie’s suggestion of bringing in media for interviews instead of constantly meeting in public spaces, where the surroundings were unpredictable and difficult to monitor.

The star said everyone was paranoid until she arrived home one day to find blood splattered over the security fence. The words Why did you abandon me? were written in the thick dark red liquid.

Everything got more controlled, tighter. Leslie was grateful that the scare was enough for Selena to finally start letting her do her job more effectively. Fewer interviews, fewer media appearances... Her management team was pissed, but they handled it