Dread filled my gut. This couldn't be good. Not at all.
Archer handed me his phone by way of explanation. It took me a minute to work out what I was looking at, then I recognized it as an assortment of trash all laid out on a table. I flipped to the next image and found a close-up of a crumpled receipt. My eyes scanned the details, then I swallowed heavily.
"Is this..." My voice cracked, my fear getting the better of me. "Where was this found?"
"Analysis of Scott's trash," Kody replied, his green eyes laser-focused on my face like he was scrutinizing my every reaction.
I let out a long breath as the prickling shivers of panic broke out all over my skin. I read the receipt again, but it didn't change the information there. It was a thermal receipt from a toy store for six Barbie dolls. If that wasn't the proof we had been waiting for, I didn't know what would be.
"Fuck," I whispered.
Steele dialed someone, brought his phone to his ear, and waited for them to answer his call.
"Wait there," he told the person on the other end. "When Scott shows up again, detain him." He ended the call, then made another to someone else. "Scott Randall," he said. "He's somewhere in Shadow Grove. Find him and detain him. Double the usual rate."
"Just detain?" Dallas asked as Steele ended his call. "I'd have thought you'd be putting out a hit. That's proof he's been stalking Katie, isn't it? He needs to fucking die."
The look Steele gave Dallas was pure ice. "Detain, only. We'll take care of the rest ourselves."
"Damn right we will," Archer agreed in a low voice, his fingers flexing against my inner knee. Now that my painkillers had kicked in nicely, it didn't hurt, but Kody snapped at him to be gentle, nonetheless.
Steele was still on his phone, reading something else, then running a hand over his face. "I don't know if this helps or not, but I think we worked out why Bark was giving off the creep vibes."
I almost didn't want to ask. "Why?"
Steele passed his phone over to me. "He is apparently the major contributor to this blog site."
Scrolling the page, I found all kinds of Shadow Grove crimes documented, with heavy emphasis on the crap going on with me and my guys. There was the fire at Wisteria, an article about Steele's car exploding in the SGU parking lot, a ton of gossip and hearsay about Drew's murder... even the video of me punching Scott in the halls of school.
There were a hundred and one theories about my guys and me, ranging anywhere from human trafficking—which wasn't super far from the truth—all the way through to the most popular theory. One that several hundred people had commented their agreement or support on.
Aliens.
I let out a sharp laugh, relief washing over me. "Okay, so Bark isn't a stalker, he's just plain nuts. Good to know, I guess."
"Aliens?" Kody mumbled, sounding outraged as he browsed the comments on his own phone. I handed Steele's to Dallas for him to see too, and he chuckled.
"Aw, come on, this commenter has a valid point," my friend teased, pointing one out to me. The username was @freemadisonkate and the comment was all in shouty capitals.
MADISON KATE PUTS THE EXTRA IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL. SHE'S SO PRETTY, I HOPE ALL ALIENS LOOK LIKE HER! #BEAMMEUP #IWANNABEPROBED
It was absurd enough that I couldn't help but laugh as I handed Steele's phone back to him. "I guess we should have done a better job of hiding the spaceship. People are onto us."
"Fucking morons," Archer growled. "I'm not even remotely green or little."
The humor of the moment quickly extinguished as a doctor in full scrubs came hurrying through the doors of the surgical wing, unhooking his mask from his face. His eyes were on us, and I already knew he was coming to update us on Bree.
Dallas shot out of his seat the second he spotted the doctor, his fear rolling from his skin in palpable waves. "Is she...?" he started, licking his lips to wet them, then trying again. "Is Bree okay?"
The doctor's face was serious, but his small nod was enough. Dallas dropped back into his seat like a puppet with his strings cut, his breath whooshing out of him in relief.
"She's in serious condition, still," the doctor advised, "but she's stable. We’re optimistic."
My pulse thundered in my ears, and a small amount of the tightness