We soon settled into a new routine. I worked while Henry was filming, managing to settle his fans. I also encouraged his charity work, which had fallen by the wayside a little in the wake of the 'hunter girl' scandal. Henry was training a lot less, as all the shirtless scenes had finished being filmed and his physique wasn't quite so critical. We spent our time exploring Michigan, making new friends and rebuilding our relationship.
The only blot on the horizon was the 'hat' person on twitter. Every day I'd get a new death threat, which I pretty much ignored, but one particular day, the tweets listed out where I'd been that day. I went cold and my spine prickled, I was clearly being followed.
After telling Henry about it, I arranged some more security for us both, then informed the police. I thought they'd laugh it off as just a social media prank, but to my surprise they took it extremely seriously. A rather star struck cop arrived that evening to quiz Henry and I about who it could possibly be. I pointed out that Henry had fans all around the world.
"The person followed you," Henry pointed out, "so it's someone in Michigan.
"Or someone who's travelled here to stalk you both," the cop said. "We'll trace the IP address and see what we can do. I spoke to someone at the twitter headquarters, they were surprisingly helpful and have promised to email me the information in the morning." He smiled at us both.
"What if it's a mobile phone?" I said, "we'll never find them."
"We can trace the signal," the cop said. He seemed pretty switched on. When he'd gone, we sat and discussed it.
"I think it's a fan who thinks that the only thing standing in her way is me," I said ruefully. "Given that a stalker fan seemed to get lucky with you last time, they probably all think they're in with a shout."
Henry ran his hands through his hair, a gesture I recognised as one of exasperation. "This is one nightmare after another...if anything happened to you.." He tailed off. "I just can't bear to think of someone wanting to harm you."
"I think it goes with the territory." He pulled me into his arms and squeezed me tight. Nestling his face into my neck, I heard him sigh loudly.
"I just want to protect you."
"And you do," I reassured him. I didn't hold him responsible, even though it was clearly a batshit crazy fan of his.
Our snuggle was interrupted by my iPad chirping with an incoming tweet. Gingerly I swiped my finger across to switch it on. Henry read the message over my shoulder.
*i can see you right now. I could shoot you through the window. Leave him.*
As quick as a flash, Henry jumped up and dragged me out of the room. He pulled me into the downstairs bathroom, as it was the only windowless room in the house. After locking the door, he pulled out his phone and called first the police, then his security. I just stood mute and shaking with fear.
We stood silently as we waited for help to come, our ears straining for sounds, clues as to whether or not our stalker had got into the house. I prayed that I'd remembered to lock the back door. We were careful to stay silent and not give any clues as to where we were hiding.
Then we heard gunshots.
Three gunshots to be precise, followed by a strangled scream.
Then silence.
A few moments later we heard male voices, they sounded like our security guards, followed by the sound of sirens. I clung to Henry, terrified at what we were about to see. "Henry, Sarah, are you ok?" Called out Bob. With his arm around my shoulder, Henry opened the bathroom door. We stepped out as one. I could tell my his pale face and shaking hands that Henry was as scared as I was. Then we saw her.
She was laying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, only ten feet away from where we'd been hiding in the loo. A large hunting rifle lay beside her lifeless body, she'd clearly meant business. "Was anyone else hurt?" Asked Henry. Bob shook his head.
"No, we were a lot quicker than her, besides, a few more seconds and she'd have got to you, so we shot to kill."
I looked a little more closely. She had long, brunette hair, which was partly covering her blood covered face, she looked familiar. "Do you know who it is?" I asked. Henry peered at her face. I watched him go pale.
"Yes, I know who it is. It's my trainer's wife."
