The Deepest of Secrets (Rockton #7)
Kelley Armstrong
For Jeff
INTRODUCTION
If you’re new to the Rockton series—or if it’s been awhile since you’ve read the last book—here’s a little introduction to get you up to speed. Otherwise, if you’re ready to go, just skip to chapter one and dive in!
Welcome to Rockton. Population 171 and dropping faster than we care to admit. Located in the Yukon wilderness, we’re a hidden town where people go to disappear. Residents come here under false names and false histories, and they must stay a minimum of two years. Extensions can stretch that to five years, but those extensions have become impossible to get. The council is shutting us down. They just refuse to admit it.
Rockton was born in the 1950s as an exercise in idealism. It’s a place for people who needed refuge, and in those earliest years, it was often their ideals that brought them here, fleeing McCarthyism and other political witch hunts. When the town struggled in the late sixties, a few wealthy former residents took over management and organized regular supply drops. That’s when the town began evolving from a commune of lost souls into a for-profit institution. While there are still people here who genuinely need sanctuary, there are also white-collar criminals who’ve bought an escape hatch from the law. And there are an increasing number of hardened criminals that the council sneaks in to increase the profit margin.
The council runs Rockton from afar. We’ve never seen them. We only speak to a council liaison on a satellite phone. There’s also a board of directors, including émilie, one of those “wealthy former residents,” who still believes in the philanthropical ideal of the town. We believe in that ideal, too. We’re the people of Rockton.
We live off the grid, with no access to the outside world. No roads. No phones. No internet. We’re cut off from the world, and we need that to keep everyone here safe. You won’t find Rockton on any map, and we stay that way with the help of camouflage, both structural and technological. That’s easier than it seems when you’re in the Yukon—a northern Canadian territory the size of Texas with fewer than forty thousand people.
There are a handful of key residents in Rockton. I’m Casey Duncan—known here as Casey Butler—the lone detective. Eric Dalton is the sheriff and my common-law husband. We also have a deputy, Will Anders, and an honorary canine officer, Storm, my Newfoundland dog.
The town’s council representative is Phil, who used to be our liaison before he was exiled here, and he’s still adjusting to that. Technically, Phil and Eric are the town leaders, but really, the most powerful person here is Isabel, who runs the bar—the Roc—which doubles as the brothel.
My sister, April, is our doctor. My former best friend, Diana, is training to be her nurse.
Petra doesn’t have any such “essential” job in Rockton—she’s a comic-book artist who works in the general store. Or that’s her cover. She’s actually émilie’s granddaughter and a former operative for an organization that shall never be named.
Mathias also holds a nonessential position—as the town butcher—belying the fact that he’s a psychiatrist with an expertise in criminal pathology, both professionally and personally. His current project is Sebastian. At twenty, Sebastian is Rockton’s youngest resident. He spent seven years in prison for killing his parents. He’s a certified sociopath determined to overcome his diagnosis, and we’re willing to give him that chance.
Kenny is our carpenter and head of our militia, which also includes Jen, my self-appointed nemesis. Devon and Brian are a couple who run the bakery—my favorite shop in town.
We are a secret town and a town of secrets. I don’t even want to guess how many residents are actually here because of crimes they committed down south. I am, and Anders is, and I hold out hope that most are like us—people who made mistakes, desperate to get back on the right track and repay any debt we owe. Only Dalton knows everyone’s history—he must, for the protection of all. As his detective, I get that information only when I need to know it, or when someone tells me their story.
There are also people who live outside our boundaries and our jurisdiction. When capitalism moved into Rockton, a group of residents moved out and formed the First Settlement, which is now in its third generation. The First Settlement is run by Edwin, one of the earliest settlers there. His granddaughter, Felicity, is expected to succeed him.
The next exodus from Rockton began in the seventies with nature-loving residents. They formed the Second Settlement, a more commune-like, nature-faith-based nomadic community.
There are also people who choose not to join a settlement, like Eric’s brother, Jacob, and former sheriff Tyrone Cypher. They’re twenty-first-century pioneers, living off the land.
There used to be another group, the most dangerous one: the hostiles. A few months ago, I solved the mystery of their existence, and most have been taken south for rehabilitation. My reward for that? The council is shutting us down. We know they are. They just haven’t made it official yet, and we don’t quite know what to do about that.
ONE
It’s July in the Yukon, a gorgeous night that’s perfect for a campfire. Or, in this case, a game of campfire Dungeons & Dragons. Having suffered an untimely demise, I’m tossing a ball with Storm while keeping one ear on the game as my friends—sorry, my questing party—wriggle through an ink-black tunnel.
“Caves,” Marissa grumbles. “Why is it always caves with you?”
Anders grins over at his new girlfriend. “Because caves are awesome.”
“Could you lighten up on the setting and just get to the monsters? They’re a lot less terrifying.”
The dungeon master tonight is our local deputy, Will Anders. The games started because he used to play as a kid. It’s not an image he fits these days, as a six-foot-two, brawny former military man. Give him a twenty-sided die, though, and that suburban teenage geek surfaces in all his shiny-eyed glory.
Marissa is a relative newcomer to Rockton. I’m delighted to have her join our games. Even more delighted to see Anders settling down. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the hookup scene, but there’d always been a touch of the frenetic to the way Anders went about it. Losing himself in sex the way he’d lose himself in a bottle. Both have steadied as he finds his footing and finally boxes up his past.