Stars Over Alaska (Wild River #4) - Jennifer Snow Page 0,49
by saying Selena was sick. Things were quiet for a few days and everyone started to think that they’d done enough to deter the stalker.
Then the person got into her home. Into her bedroom. So close.
Selena had been in her downstairs gym with her trainer. Leslie was sitting on a bench in the hallway, bored stupid, scrolling through her phone’s image directory, evaluating the photos she’d taken of the valley on her last hiking trip, when she’d heard a noise upstairs. Calling in backup to the security guard monitoring the gate, she’d made her way slowly, quietly throughout the house. Nothing in the kitchen or living room was out of place—then she’d entered Selena’s bedroom.
The sight inside had made her blood run cold. The bedroom window was shattered, glass on the floor, yet the alarm hadn’t gone off. Stuffed multicolored Chihuahua toys that looked like Selena’s dog, Unicorn, were torn apart, their stuffing strewn all over the room. Blood was smeared on the walls and there was human feces on the floor. She’d nearly gagged at the gruesome display, but it was the words I’m getting closer everyday written in Selena’s signature red lipstick across her vanity mirror that had Leslie reacting on impulse.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in her vehicle on their way out of the city.
And now she had no idea what to do next, except try to figure out who could have gained access to the house that day. The guard at the gate had claimed he saw no one drive up, so the person had to have been on foot. Security cameras hadn’t caught him from her quick review of the footage, so it had to have been someone who knew about the new systems they’d installed.
Federico at the agency had known—she’d run everything by him. And of course everyone close to Selena, who also had more access to the house.
Leaving the bathroom, she went back into the bunk room.
“You okay? You were in there for a while.”
Damn, Selena had seen her almost break down. She couldn’t let that happen again. Her client needed to trust her...and Leslie needed to start trusting herself again. “I’m fine. It was just a bit of a shock seeing the news report, but I’m good.” She reached for her cell phone and opened a notes app. “We need to go over the list of people in your life who could be involved in this,” she said, choosing her words carefully. Selena respected and adored her team. Leslie needed her cooperation with full disclosure, not her on the defensive.
“I thought it was some rando,” she said, sitting cross-legged on the bottom bunk bed.
“It could be...” Leslie hesitated. “But the messages seem really personal. They knew where you lived and despite the upgrades in security, they knew how to access your home.” Plus, she needed to start somewhere and eighty percent of the time, people were abused by loved ones. She was no longer certain who was on her side. She couldn’t just sit there and not try to be proactive in solving this.
“Okay, well, I know it’s not my family,” Selena said, confidently.
That they could agree on. Her mother and stepfather were amazing, supportive parents. They had a bajillion dollars of their own so they had no desire to defraud their daughter or want her cash in the untimely incident of her death. Leslie had met them both multiple times and they were actually fairly down-to-earth, but then both hadn’t been born Hollywood royalty. They’d had to work hard to pursue their goals and dreams to make it in the industry. “What about your father?” Leslie asked carefully.
Selena shook her head. “He’d never hurt me.”
Leslie would have to take the woman’s word for it, having never met him. She wasn’t entirely convinced they should rule him out, but she’d circle back. “Okay, what about friends?”
“I don’t think so... I mean I used to have a lot of friends when I was younger but now I’m too busy to keep in touch with most of them.”
Why did you abandon me? The words on the gate. “So, maybe someone feels abandoned? Left behind? Jealous?”
Selena bit her lower lip. “I really don’t think so. A lot of the friendships I had were superficial. Based on the love of acting and having to hang out together on set for hours on end, but everyone from those days has gone on to do amazing stuff. I can’t think of anyone that would be jealous...”