Perish Twice Read online

  Praise for Perish Twice

  “Complex and textured…Sunny Randall continues to entertain.”

  —St. Petersburg Times

  “Written with Parker’s usual economy of phrase, humor, and excellent characterization…Rivals Parker’s Spenser series.”

  —Port St. Lucie (FL) News

  “Mystery aplenty, punched up with sharp dialogue.”

  —The San Antonio Express-News

  “Remarkable…The plot serves as only a surface detail to a story that is, at its core, about human relationships; specifically, the varying fallouts of adultery. Randall navigates it all with aplomb, wit, and style.”

  —The Sunday Oregonian

  “Parker takes control with a plot simmering in psychological tension.”

  —The Cincinnati Enquirer

  “Sunny is a terrific character whose conversation sparkles and whose unsentimental attitude is refreshing.”

  —Los Angeles Times

  “The story is intelligently told, and there is no contrived buildup to his dramatic, yet utterly credible climax.”

  —Minneapolis Star Tribune

  Praise for Family Honor

  “Sharp and funny…Wonderfully diverting.”

  —The Washington Post

  “Fans of Spenser will like Sunny Randall.”

  —San Francisco Examiner

  “A master of the genre at work.”

  —Chicago Sun-Times

  “One of the best in years from the dean of American private-eye writers…A bravura performance.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A swell read, and one that promises future installments.”

  —New York Daily News

  “Parker knows a good thing when he writes it.”

  —USA Today

  “[Sunny Randall] can hold her own with Spenser…It’s clear that [Parker] has another winner.”

  —The Boston Globe

  “Lots of action.”

  —Los Angeles Times

  Praise for Robert B. Parker’s

  Jesse Stone novels…

  “Page-turning energy.”

  —New York Post

  “This book is so good, there are not enough R’s in terrific.”

  —The Kansas City Star

  “Tough-guy dialogue…sharp social commentary…psychological penetration. Fresh…Interesting…Robert B. Parker is loaded for bear this time.”

  —The Boston Globe

  “You’ve got to like Stone…Harks back to Spenser and, before him, Sam Spade.”

  —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  …And for Robert B. Parker’s

  Spenser novels

  “Parker’s brilliance is in his simple dialogue, and in Spenser. Here is a character who is fearless, honest, and clever but never preachy. He’s self-deprecating, sometimes sensitive, hard-boiled but never boorish. And he doesn’t take himself too seriously.”

  —The Philadelphia Inquirer

  SMALL VICES

  Spenser tries to prove the innocence of a murder suspect—but when a man with a .22 puts him in a coma, the hope for justice may die along with the detective….

  “POWERFUL.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  CHANCE

  Spenser heads to Vegas to find the missing husband of a mob princess—but he’s not the only one looking….

  “THE WORLD’S MOST PERFECT PRIVATE EYE…the dialogue is as brisk and clever as always.”

  —Los Angeles Times Book Review

  THIN AIR

  Spenser thought he could help a friend find his missing wife. Until he learned the nasty truth about Lisa St. Claire…

  “FULL OF ACTION, SUSPENSE, AND THRILLS.”

  —Playboy

  WALKING SHADOW

  An actor’s murder sends Spenser and Hawk behind the scenes of a shabby waterfront town….

  “FAST-MOVING AND WITTY…ONE OF HIS BEST.”

  —The Denver Post

  PAPER DOLL

  Spenser searches for the killer of a “model wife and mother”—and finds some shocking surprises….

  “IT TAKES ROBERT B. PARKER EXACTLY TWO SENTENCES TO GET THE TENSION CRACKLING.”

  —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

  DOUBLE DEUCE

  Spenser and Hawk wage war on a street gang….

  “MR. SPENSER IS AT HIS BEST…TENSE…SUSPENSEFUL…DARKLY POETIC.”

  —The New York Times

  PASTIME

  A boy’s search for his mother forces Spenser to face his own past….

  “EMOTIONALLY TENSE…GRIPPING…VINTAGE HARD-CORE SPENSER.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  STARDUST

  Spenser tries to protect a TV star from a would-be assassin….

  “CLASSIC SPENSER…BRILLIANT.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  PLAYMATES

  Spenser scores against corruption in the world of college basketball….

  “A WHOLE LOTTA FUN…KICK BACK AND ENJOY.”

  —New York Daily News

  PERCHANCE TO DREAM

  Robert B. Parker’s acclaimed sequel to the Raymond Chandler classic The Big Sleep, featuring detective Philip Marlowe…

  “A STUNNING, DROP-DEAD SUCCESS…DAZZLING.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  POODLE SPRINGS

  Raymond Chandler’s unfinished Marlowe thriller—completed by today’s master of detective fiction, Robert B. Parker….

  “A FIRST-RATE DETECTIVE NOVEL WITH ALL THE SUSPENSE, ACTION, AND HUMAN DRAMA THAT WE HAVE COME TO EXPECT FROM THE BEST.”

  —Playboy

  Titles by Robert B. Parker

  PERISH TWICE

  HUGGER MUGGER

  FAMILY HONOR

  (a Sunny Randall novel)

  HUSH MONEY

  TROUBLE IN PARADISE

  (a Jesse Stone novel)

  SUDDEN MISCHIEF

  NIGHT PASSAGE

  (a Jesse Stone novel)

  SMALL VICES

  CHANCE

  THIN AIR

  ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

  WALKING SHADOW

  PAPER DOLL

  DOUBLE DEUCE

  PASTIME

  PERCHANCE TO DREAM

  (a Philip Marlowe novel)

  STARDUST

  POODLE SPRINGS

  (with Raymond Chandler)

  PLAYMATES

  CRIMSON JOY

  PALE KINGS AND PRINCES

  TAMING A SEA-HORSE

  A CATSKILL EAGLE

  VALEDICTION

  LOVE AND GLORY

  THE WIDENING GYRE

  CEREMONY

  A SAVAGE PLACE

  EARLY AUTUMN

  LOOKING FOR RACHEL WALLACE

  WILDERNESS

  THE JUDAS GOAT

  THREE WEEKS IN SPRING

  (with Joan Parker)

  PROMISED LAND

  MORTAL STAKES

  GOD SAVE THE CHILD

  THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT

  ROBERT B. PARKER

  PERISH TWICE

  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, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  PERISH TWICE

  A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author


  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2000 by Robert B. Parker.

  Excerpt from Robert B. Parker’s Blood Feud copyright © 2018 by The Estate of Robert B. Parker

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. For information address: The Berkley

  Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  www.penguin.com

  ISBN: 9781101203996

  BERKLEY®

  Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  BERKLEY and the “B” design

  are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.

  Version_6

  For Joan: I too favor fire

  Some say the world will end in fire,

  Some say in ice.

  From what I’ve tasted of desire

  I hold with those who favor fire.

  But if it had to perish twice,

  I think I know enough of hate

  To say that for destruction ice

  Is also great

  And would suffice.

  —ROBERT FROST

  CONTENTS

  Praise

  Also by Robert B. Parker

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  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

  Excerpt From Robert B. Parker’s Blood Feud

  CHAPTER

  1

  MY SISTER, ELIZABETH, came to see me.

  Elizabeth is three years older than I am. We aren’t close. We had spent too much of our childhood fighting over Daddy ever to be the kind of sisters that talk on the phone every day. To cement my conviction that Elizabeth was a pain, my dog, Rosie, didn’t like her either. Since Rosie likes everyone, including armed intruders, it seemed clear that Elizabeth was special.

  “What kind is she again?” Elizabeth asked. “A Boston terrier?”

  “Bull terrier,” I said. “Rosie is a miniature bull terrier.”

  “I thought she was a Boston terrier.”

  “You want to see her papers?” I asked.

  “Oh, aren’t you funny,” Elizabeth said.

  We were having coffee at the counter in my kitchen without Rosie, who had left us and was on my bed at the other end of the loft, watching us carefully with one black eye.

  “So what brings you to South Boston?” I said.

  “Is this really South Boston?” Elizabeth said.

  “The yuppie part,” I said.

  “Oh…this coffee is very good.”

  “Starbucks,” I said.

  “What is it?”

  “Starbucks,” I said. “This particular one is from Guatemala.”

  “Oh, write that down for me, will you?”

  “Sure.”

  I wrote Starbucks Coffee on a piece of notepaper and gave it to her. She stuffed it into her purse. I waited. She sipped some coffee. I looked at Rosie. Rosie’s tail stirred. But she didn’t change her mind about staying on the bed.

  “Do you ever see your ex-husband?” Elizabeth said.

  “Richie and I see each other every Wednesday night.”

  “Do you do anything?”

  “Do anything?’

  “You know,” Elizabeth said, “sex. It’s all right to ask because I’m your big sister.”

  “Then I guess it’s all right for me to say none of your business.”

  “Oh don’t be so silly,” Elizabeth said. “Do you date other men?”

  “Yes.”

  “And?”

  “Elizabeth, what the hell are we talking about here?”

  “For God’s sake, I’m just asking if you have sex.”

  “None of your business. Do I ask you about your sex life?”

  “Oh, me, I’m an old married woman.”

  “Elizabeth, you’re thirty-eight,” I said.

  “You know what I mean,” Elizabeth said. “I’m just interested in what life is like when you can’t stay married.”

  I got up and walked down the length of my loft, breathing deeply and carefully. I bent down and gave Rosie a kiss on the nose, and breathed some more and walked slowly back.

  “We who can’t stay married prefer to keep our sex lives to ourselves,” I said.

  “Oh, Sunny, honestly you’re so quaint sometimes.”

  “Quaint,” I said.

  The sun was almost straight up and it shone strongly through my skylight onto one of my paintings that stood unfinished on its easel.

  “You’re still painting,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yes.”

  “Does anyone ever buy one of your paintings?”

  “Occasionally.”

  “Really?”

  I nodded.

  We sat quietly for a while. Elizabeth reached over and got the pot and poured herself some more coffee. She didn’t replace the pot. Just set it down on the counter near her where it would grow cold. It took some will, but I didn’t reach across and replace it. I didn’t want any more anyway.

  “How’s Hal,” I said.

  She carefully poured some milk into her coffee and stirred in two sugars, and put the spoon down and sipped from the cup.

  “I think he’s cheating on me,” Elizabeth said.

  “Hal?”

  “Yes. I think so, and, isn’t this funny, I want you to see if you can find out for sure.”

  “Me?”

  “You are being a detective these days, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, of course, but…”

  “I wouldn’t want to hire some stranger,” Elizabeth said.

  “You want me to tail him? Get pictures? Catch
him in the act? That sort of thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why don’t you just ask him?”

  “Ask him? Don’t be ridiculous. Why in God’s name would he tell me?”

  “Because you asked,” I said.

  “No. I’m not asking that bastard anything. I am going to catch him.”

  “You don’t want to maybe talk about this with him, see about professional help?”

  “A shrink? They’re all crazy. It’s why they became shrinks.”

  “Maybe not every one of them,” I said.

  “And most of them are Jews.”

  “Maybe not every one of them,” I said.

  “I don’t want to discuss this anymore. Will you help me?”

  “Of course. I was just trying to see if we could agree on the kind of help you needed.”

  “Well it’s certainly not some crazy Jew,” Elizabeth said.

  I thought about going down and lying on the bed with Rosie. Arguing with Elizabeth was futile. She was, as my father used to say about our mother, often wrong, but never uncertain. And like our mother she simply dug in deeper when her convictions were questioned. If they were actually disproved, she was entrenched for life.

  “I’ll do whatever I can,” I said.

  CHAPTER

  2

  ELIZABETH HAD GRADUATED from Mount Holyoke and never recovered. It was where she’d learned to speak in that honkish WASP whine that she now found natural. And the fact that she had a Seven Sisters degree required her to marry an Ivy League guy. At twenty-one years and three months, in the summer after she graduated, she married a Dartmouth graduate named Hal Reagan, lived with him in the Back Bay while he went to Harvard Law School, and moved with him to Weston when he joined a downtown law firm, Cone, Oakes and Baldwin. He was now a partner, and at thirty-nine his prospects were bright and shiny. Or at least brighter and shinier than mine appeared to be.