A Stranger in Town

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A Stranger in Town Page 32

by Kelley Armstrong


  For Bennett, the last couple of months are a blur. He barely believes me when I tell him it’s May—he’d presumed this must be a freakishly early thaw, because there’s no way two months have passed. We’ll need to have a long talk about what happened and what to tell his community, but he’s a smart kid, and I trust he’ll help us out with whatever spin we put on it.

  We don’t bring the hostiles into Rockton. That’s unsafe on so many levels. We put them in the hangar. Émilie, Phil, and the council arrange a swift pickup.

  Do we trust the council with this? I can’t even begin to answer that. All I know is that our priority is Rockton and its residents, and I will grudgingly trust Émilie to oversee the hostiles’ proper care and rehabilitation.

  As for the small group still left in the forest, any action there has been put on hold. Rounding them up and shipping them south for reintegration smacks of some very ugly history, but in this case—knowing that most have been unwilling participants in an experiment—it’s a move we must seriously consider.

  Dalton and I are in the Roc. It’s two in the morning. Going on forty-eight hours without sleep, and now that the hostiles are gone, we should be in bed. But Isabel wanted a celebratory drink, in honor of solving the hostile mystery, and the truth is that I’m not sure I could sleep just yet.

  So we’re in the Roc waiting for Isabel. A single candle lights the silent building. Storm sleeps nearby, a celebratory bone abandoned nearly untouched before she drifted off.

  “You did it,” Dalton says, his arms around me as I stand with my back to the wall.

  He hugs me so tight I can’t breathe. There are congratulations in that hug and there is pride and there is love, and there are all the things I desperately wanted from my family growing up and never got. I can wallow in self-pity about that, or I can accept that my family was unable to give what I needed. They did love me. They were proud of me. Whatever I lacked, I have it now, in this place, with this man, and my eyes flood with tears.

  I look up at him and say, “Do you think it’s enough? That this will fix things?”

  He hesitates, and then his smile falters. It doesn’t break or evaporate. One second of dismay, and it returns with a fierceness that sends pride and love coursing through me.

  “It will be,” he says. “We’ll make sure it is.”

  “I fear it’s not that easy, Eric,” says a soft voice from the shadows.

  We turn to see Isabel, bottle in hand as she closes the storeroom door.

  “Rey Sol Añejo,” she says as she lifts the tequila. “Bought specially for when you solved this mystery, Casey, because I knew you would.” She sets the bottle down. “You solved all the mysteries. Dead tourists who weren’t tourists at all. Dead settlers mistaken for hostiles. And the hostiles themselves—the biggest mystery of all. Solved in one fell swoop.”

  She pours a shot of tequila and holds it out.

  As I take it, she says, “But now comes the big question. Does it matter? Yes, I know what’s happening here. Phil told me your suspicions, and I think you’re right. They are shutting us down. The hostiles were the apparent reason but…”

  “They were an excuse,” I say.

  “Jury’s still out on that one,” says another voice, and I look to see the door open, Petra coming in, others following. Kenny and then April. Mathias and Anders. Phil bringing up the rear and shutting the door behind them.

  “Surprise!” Petra says, throwing up her arms.

  I chuckle, the sound a little ragged. “Not sure if this is a surprise party or an intervention.”

  “Party?” April says. “I was told it was a meeting to plan—”

  “—to discuss,” Isabel says as she passes out shots. “A meeting to discuss our future as a town. Or for now, just to say that we’re in.”

  “You’re in…?” I begin.

  “For your relocation plan,” she says. “Yours and Eric’s.”

  Petra clears her throat.

  “Yes,” Isabel says. “Some of us believe we’re jumping the gun, and it will all work out fine, but I’m told you believe in planning ahead. Having contingencies, just in case.”

  “Who told…?” I look at Dalton.

  He shrugs. “I said everything would be okay. I didn’t say how it would be.”

  Phil says, “Like Petra, I believe this is indeed jumping the gun. But I also agree with you, Casey, that contingency plans are never a waste of time. I’m not saying I’d join you if you relocated, but I believe I can be of assistance on the management side of preparations.”

  I look across their faces, and the tears well again.

  April strides over, casting a cold look at the others. “Petra and Phil are correct. This discussion is premature, and it upsets Casey unnecessarily.”

  I smile at her and shake my head. “I’m not upset, April. Just…” I’m not sure how to articulate what this means to me, seeing all these people—our friends—here to support the idea of Rockton, to support us and our ability to make it happen. So I just take a deep breath and say, “Thank you. It—it means a lot.”

  “And hopefully will indeed be unnecessary,” Isabel says. “But in case it isn’t, I declare this the first meeting of the potential next Rockton. Drink up, and let’s talk.”

  Also by Kelley Armstrong

  Rockton

  Alone in the Wild

  Watcher in the Woods

  This Fallen Prey

  A Darkness Absolute

  City of the Lost

  Cainsville

  Rituals

  Betrayals

  Deceptions

  Visions

  Omens

  Age of Legends

  Forest of Ruin

  Empire of Night

  Sea of Shadows

  The Blackwell Pages (co-written with Melissa Marr)

  Thor’s Serpents

  Odin’s Ravens

  Loki’s Wolves

  Otherworld

  Thirteen

  Spell Bound

  Waking the Witch

  Frostbitten

  Living with the Dead

  Personal Demon

  No Humans Involved

  Broken

  Haunted

  Industrial Magic

  Dime Store Magic

  Stolen

  Bitten

  Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising

  The Rising

  The Calling

  The Gathering

  The Reckoning

  The Awakening

  The Summoning

  Nadia Stafford

  Wild Justice

  Made to Be Broken

  Exit Strategy

  Stand-alone novels

  Wherever She Goes

  Aftermath

  Missing

  The Masked Truth

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  KELLEY ARMSTRONG graduated with a degree in psychology and then studied computer programming. Now, she is a full-time writer and parent. She lives with her husband and three children in rural Ontario, Canada. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen


  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two

  Thirty-Three

  Thirty-Four

  Thirty-Five

  Thirty-Six

  Also by Kelley Armstrong

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

  A STRANGER IN TOWN. Copyright © 2021 by KLA Fricke Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Cover design by Rowen Davis and David Baldeosingh Rotstein

  Cover art: forest © Silas Manhood/Arcangel.com; man © Andrei Cosma/Trevillion Images

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Names: Armstrong, Kelley, author.

  Title: A stranger in town: a Rockton novel / Kelley Armstrong.

  Description: First edition. | New York: Minotaur Books, 2021. | Series: Casey Duncan novels; 6

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020047432 | ISBN 9781250781727 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250786593 (ebook)

  Subjects: GSAFD: Mystery fiction. | Suspense fiction.

  Classification: LCC PR9199.4.A8777 S78 2021 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047432

  e-ISBN 9781250786593 (ebook)

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: 2021

 

 

 


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