Robert B. Parker's Debt to Pay

ONE

He didn't like exposing himself to video cameras when there were no crowds affording him his usual anonymity. His talent wasn't just for killing, but for blending in as well. He was like a khaki-colored pixel in a camouflage pattern. Stare at the pattern long enough and the individual pixels disappear. Today he meant to put the world on notice that he was back and the time had come to repay his creditors. He very much wanted to do both, and had waited more than a year for this opportunity. Still, he couldn't afford carelessness. He was seldom careless. He had taken precautions and the soaking rain was doing its part to cooperate. The gray was so heavy in the air that it seemed like its own weather condition separate from the rain and mist.

He parked the stolen Yaris out behind the building, because not even he could haul his intended cargo out the front door and hope to get very far. He went through his mental checklist, patted his pockets, and exited the car. He walked through the alleyway, turned right, and then right again. There were people on the street, many people, their heads down against the weather, too busy fussing with umbrellas to take notice of the little bearded man with the long gray hair and porkpie hat shuffling by them. Nor did they notice his large belly beneath the ill-fitting green mackintosh he'd bought at a church thrift shop outside Paradise. While he was unrecognizable, he made certain not to look directly into the security cameras as he entered the building.

He knocked at the office door, turned the handle, and let himself in. The young man sitting at the reception desk was really quite beautiful to look at. Dressed in an impeccably tailored designer suit of summer-weight wool, he had fine features, long lashes, eyes that matched the deep blue of his suit fabric, and perfectly coiffed dark blond hair. The light stubble on his face was shaved and shaped in such a way as to enhance the power of his angular jawline. He had an

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch Westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Reed Farrel Coleman is the author of the New York Times bestselling Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series. He has published twenty-five previous novels, including nine books in the critically acclaimed Moe Prager series, and most recently, Where It Hurts featuring Gus Murphy. A three-time winner of the Shamus Award, he has also won the Anthony, Macavity, Barry, and Audie Awards. Coleman lives with his family on Long Island.

Praise for Robert B. Parker s Debt to Pay 

His best to date. Kirkus Reviews

Coleman isn t afraid to alter the status quo in his taut third continuation of Parker s series featuring small-town police chief Jesse Stone...a complex cat and mouse game that will keep readers turning pages. Publishers Weekly

Coleman, a three-time Shamus winner, crafts a suspenseful, clever thriller that moves at breakneck speed. Booklist

Coleman, a multiple award-winning author, admirably succeeds in capturing Parker s creative style, using crisp dialogue and short chapters to maintain the reader s attention...the talented author never falters. Lansing State Journal