Split Image Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  THE SPENSER NOVELS

  The Professional

  Rough Weather

  Now & Then

  Hundred-Dollar Baby

  School Days

  Cold Service

  Bad Business

  Back Story

  Widow's Walk

  Potshot

  Hugger Mugger

  Hush Money

  Sudden Mischief

  Small Vices

  Chance

  Thin Air

  Walking Shadow

  Paper Doll

  Double Deuce

  Pastime

  Stardust

  Playmates

  Crimson Joy

  Pale Kings and Princes

  Taming a Sea-Horse

  A Catskill Eagle

  Valediction

  The Widening Gyre

  Ceremony

  A Savage Place

  Early Autumn

  Looking for Rachel Wallace

  The Judas Goat

  Promised Land

  Mortal Stakes

  God Save the Child

  The Godwulf Manuscript

  THE JESSE STONE NOVELS

  Night and Day

  Stranger in Paradise

  High Profile

  Sea Change

  Stone Cold

  Death in Paradise

  Trouble in Paradise

  Night Passage

  THE SUNNY RANDALL NOVELS

  Spare Change

  Blue Screen

  Melancholy Baby

  Shrink Rap

  Perish Twice

  Family Honor

  ALSO BY ROBERT B. PARKER

  Brimstone

  Resolution

  Appaloosa

  Double Play

  Gunman's Rhapsody

  All Our Yesterdays

  A Year at the Races

  (with Joan H. Parker)

  Perchance to Dream

  Poodle Springs

  (with Raymond Chandler)

  Love and Glory

  Wilderness

  Three Weeks in Spring

  (with Joan H. Parker)

  Training with Weights

  (with John R. Marsh)

  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

  Publishers Since 1838

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York,

  New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East,

  Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of

  Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London

  WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2,

  Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia),

  250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of

  Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd,

  11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,

  New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books

  (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

  Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Copyright (c) 2010 by Robert B. Parker

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Parker, Robert B., date.

  Split image/Robert B. Parker.

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-18538-4

  1. Stone, Jesse (Fictitious character)--Fiction. 2. Police--Massachusetts--Fiction. 3. Cults--

  Fiction. 4. Domestic fiction. 5. Police chiefs--Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3566.A686S

  813'.54--dc22

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  For Joan, of course, and also for Stephen F. O'Loughlin, Jr.

  1

  MOLLY CRANE STUCK her head into the open doorway of Jesse's office and said, "Chief Stone, there's a private detective from Boston here to see you."

  "Show him in," Jesse said.

  "It's a her," Molly said.

  "Even better," Jesse said.

  Molly smiled and stepped aside, and Sunny Randall came in, carrying a straw shoulder bag and wearing a green sleeveless top with white pants and color-coordinated sneakers.

  "Wow," Jesse said.

  "Wow is good," Sunny said, and sat down.

  "And accurate," Jesse said. "It couldn't have been easy getting into those pants."

  "For whom?" Sunny said.

  Jesse smiled.

  "Shall I close the door?" he said.

  "No," Sunny said. "I'm actually here on business."

  "All work and no play," Jesse said.

  "We'll address that at another time," Sunny said.

  "That's encouraging," Jesse said.

  "It's meant to be," Sunny said. "Do
you know of a small religious organization here in Paradise called the Renewal? Or the Bond of the Renewal?"

  "I'm the chief of police," Jesse said. "I know everything."

  "Exactly why I'm here," Sunny said.

  She smiled.

  "Tell me about the Renewal," she said.

  "They're located in a house near the town wharf. Nice house; one of the elders owns it. They all live there in a kind of communal way, run by a guy who calls himself the Patriarch. About forty, with gray hair, which Molly Crane claims is artificial."

  "He dyes it gray?" Sunny said.

  "What Molly claims," Jesse said. "There's a couple of so-called elders, 'bout your age, I would guess."

  "Hey," Sunny said.

  "I mean they're not very elder-ish."

  "Okay," Sunny said.

  "Rest of them are mostly kids," Jesse said. "All of whom, far as I can tell, are old enough to do what they want."

  "What do they do?"

  "They preach, they hand out flyers, they go door-to-door, raising money."

  "They got some kind of special belief?"

  "They're in favor of renewal," Jesse said.

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  Jesse grinned.

  "Renewing the original intent of Christianity," Jesse said. "At least as they understand it. Love, peace, that kind of thing."

  "Wow," Sunny said. "Subversive."

  "You bet," Jesse said. "Town hates them, want me to chase them out of town."

  "Which you haven't done."

  "They haven't committed a crime," Jesse said.

  "So, what's the complaint?"

  "They're not one of us," Jesse said. "And they're kind of r atty-looking."

  "They preach on the streets?" Sunny said.

  "Yes."

  "That can be annoying," Sunny said.

  "It is," Jesse said. "It's annoying as hell, but it's not illegal."

  "And you're hung up on the Constitution?" Sunny said.

  "Old school," Jesse said.

  "And the town council understands?"

  "I don't believe so," Jesse said.

  "And you care what the town council understands," Sunny said.

  "Not very much," Jesse said.

  They were quiet for a moment. The silence was comfortable.

  "You want to know why I'm asking?" Sunny said, after a time.

  "Yep."

  "But not enough to ask," Sunny said.

  "I knew you'd tell me."

  2

  SUITCASE SIMPSON DROVE the Paradise police car across the causeway to Paradise Neck, with the sun bouncing brightly off the open ocean to his right and the sheltered harbor to his left. He always thought the ocean reflected the sun more brightly than the harbor, but Jesse always laughed at him when he said it, so he didn't say it anymore. Still thought so, though.

  He had the morning shift, seven to two on the east side of town, along the water. Arthur Angstrom was on the west side. It was noon. A Cadillac Escalade was parked at an angle on the roadside, just past the Paradise Neck end of the causeway. Simpson pulled up behind it and got out. The car was empty, and there were no keys in sight. Suit tried the door. It was unlocked. He got in and sat in the driver's seat. He opened the glove compartment. The car was registered to Petrov Ognowski. He found the button inside the glove compartment and popped the tailgate. Then he got out and took a look.

  There was a dead man.

  The back of his head was black with dried blood. Suit felt for a pulse in the man's neck. There was none. And his skin was cold. Suit went back to the cruiser and called it in.

  "Molly? Suit. I got a stiff in the back of a Cadillac SUV, out at the Neck end of the causeway."

  "You want an ambulance?" Molly said.

  "Pretty sure he's dead, but no harm," Suit said. "Where's Jesse."

  "He's out of the office," Molly said. "I'll send him when I find him."

  "Okay."

  "You know who it is?" Molly said.

  "Car's registered to Petrov Ognowski," Suit said. "I don't know if the stiff is him."

  "You haven't searched him," Molly said.

  "No."

  "Don't blame you," Molly said. "Here we all come."

  The first to arrive was Arthur. He pulled his cruiser in behind Suit's and walked over and looked in the back of the SUV.

  "Back of his head's all fucked up," Arthur said.

  "I figure that's where he got shot," Suit said.

  "Nice police work, Suit."

  Simpson grinned.

  "But there's no exit wound that I can see."

  "So?"

  "Just observing," Suit said.

  Behind them, from the Paradise end of the causeway, there was the sound of a siren.

  "You search him?" Arthur said.

  "We got people to do that, don't we?"

  "Sure, State ME will inventory everything."

  "So why don't we let him search?" Suit said. "'Less you want to?"

  "Search him?"

  "Yeah."

  "We can let the ME do it," Arthur said.

  The siren faded as the ambulance pulled up and two EMTs got out. One was a woman. Her name was Annie Lopes.

  "Whaddya got?" she said.

  "Looks like a murder," Arthur said.

  Suit said, "Unless he shot himself in the head and then climbed into the back and pulled the tailgate shut."

  "That how you found him?" Annie said.

  "Yep."

  The two EMTs went and looked at the body. Annie put her hand to his throat and put her hand on his face. She picked up his right arm and let it fall.

  "He's already starting into rigor," she said.

  "So he is dead," Arthur said.

  "Mostly they are," Annie said, "when they're in rigor." The second EMT was a guy named Ralph.

  "Find any keys?" Ralph said.

  "Nope."

  "How'd you open the back?" Ralph said. "Car was unlocked," Suit said. "I popped the tailgate." Annie laughed softly.

  "Wow," she said.

  "Cops have their ways," Suit said.

  More sirens sounded across the causeway.

  3

  ONE MEMBER of the Renewal is a kid named Cheryl DeMarco. She just turned eighteen, and her parents want me to get her out."

  "Whether she wants to get out or not?" Jesse said.

  "I explained that if she didn't want to leave," Sunny said, "there wasn't a lot I could do."

  "And?"

  "They asked if I knew anybody who could remove her forcibly."

  "Which of course you do," Jesse said.

  "I told them I didn't," Sunny said.

  "A white lie," Jesse said.

  Sunny smiled.

  "True," she said. "But I thought I'd rather not conspire in a kidnapping."

  "I'll keep the parents in mind," Jesse said, "if the kid turns up missing."

  "They didn't press it," Sunny said. "They asked if maybe I could find her and talk with her."

  "The Renewal is not exactly secret," Jesse said. "How come they don't know where to find her?"

  "I think the whole thing scares them," Sunny said.

  Jesse nodded.

  "Do you have any reason to think the Renewal is dangerous?" Sunny said.

  "No."

  "People are scared by things they don't understand," Sunny said.

  "Yep."

  "You know what else I think?" Sunny said.

  "No," Jesse said. "I don't."

  Sunny made a face at him.

  "I think they're scared of the kid," she said.

  "Physically?"

  Sunny shook her head.

  "No," she said. "I think they don't want her to be mad at them."

  "I would have guessed she might be a little mad at them already," Jesse said.

  "Leaving home and joining an unorthodox religious group?" Sunny said.

  "Seems like there might be some sort of anger in there."

  "Rebellion?" Sunny said. "Yes, I suppose. Maybe it'
s justified."

  "Maybe it is," Jesse said.

  "You're a big help."

  "I try," Jesse said.

  "So, where do I find this group?" Sunny said.

  "Down near the Gray Gull," Jesse said. "I'll take you down."

  Sunny looked at her watch.

  "Good heavens, where does the time go," she said. "It's noon."

  "Lunch?" Jesse said.

  "It's right near the Gray Gull anyway," Sunny said.

  "Sure," Jesse said.

  "We can eat lunch and head over to the Renewal."

  "Spike work the lunch hour?" Jesse said.

  "Lunch is a little early for Spike to be up," Sunny said. "But you and I are enough."

  "Funny you should show up so close to lunch," Jesse said.

  "I'm a bear for timing," Sunny said. "You mind?"

  "No," Jesse said. "I like it."

  4

  THEY HAD ICED TEA and lobster rolls. Jesse had french fries with his. Sunny didn't. Sitting across the table from him, Sunny studied Jesse. He was very much of a piece, she thought, like Richie. Compact, graceful, all his movements both precise and easy.

  He looks so perfectly integrated, she thought.

  "Anything from Jenn?" she said.

  Jesse shook his head.

  "We're not in touch," he said.

  "She's really gone?" Sunny said.

  "She's really gone," Jesse said.

  "How do you feel about that?"

  Jesse shook his head.

  "You and Dix," he said. "We've both had too much shrinkage."

  "Clever dodge," Sunny said.

  Jesse nodded.

  "Okay," he said. "I'll talk about it if you want. But afterwards you gotta talk about Richie."

  "God, you're tough," Sunny said.

  "Of course," Jesse said. "I'm the chief of police."

  He ate a french fry.

  "Okay," Sunny said.

  Jesse nodded.

  "Whaddya want to know?" he said.

  "How you feel about her being gone?"

  "Part of her I miss," Jesse said. "Part of her was--still is, I guess--simply sensational. Funny, charming, smart, quick, loving, sexy. It's the part of her I loved--probably still love, I guess. I'll probably always miss that."

  "Of course you will," Sunny said. "Anyone would. . . ."

  "But finally, I guess, it came with too much else."

  "Like?"

  "The desperate need to be . . . what? Important?" Jesse said. "Successful? Special?"