Sea Change

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C H A N G E

T H E S P E N S E R N O V E L S

T H E J E S S E S T O N E N O V E L S

School Days

Stone Cold

Cold Service

Death in Paradise

Bad Business

Trouble in Paradise

Back Story

Night Passage

Widow’s Walk

Potshot

T H E S U N N Y R A N D A L L N O V E L S

Hugger Mugger

Melancholy Baby

Hush Money

Shrink Rap

Sudden Mischief

Perish Twice

Small Vices

Family Honor

Chance

Thin Air

A L S O B Y R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

Walking Shadow

Paper Doll

Appaloosa

Double Deuce

Double Play

Pastime

Gunman’s Rhapsody

Stardust

All Our Yesterdays

Playmates

A Year at the Races

(with Joan Parker)

Crimson Joy

Perchance to Dream

Pale Kings and Princes

Poodle Springs

Taming a Sea-Horse

(with Raymond Chandler)

A Catskill Eagle

Love and Glory

Valediction

Wilderness

The Widening Gyre

Three Weeks in Spring

Ceremony

(with Joan Parker)

A Savage Place

Training with Weights

Early Autumn

(with John R. Marsh)

Looking for Rachel Wallace

The Judas Goat

Promised Land

Mortal Stakes

God Save the Child

The Godwulf Manuscript

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

G. P. P utnam’s Sons New Y ork

S E A

C H A N G E

g . p. p u t n a m ’ s s o n s

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, Panscheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, 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 © 2005 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.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Parker, Robert B., date.

Sea change / Robert B. Parker.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-7865-7713-4

1. Stone, Jesse (Fictitious character)—Fiction.

2. Police—Massachusetts—Fiction.

3. Police chiefs—Fiction.

4. Massachusetts—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3566.A686R33 2005

2004043150

813'.54—dc22

Book design by Meighan Cavanaugh

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.

For Joan il miglior fabbro

T hey were out of the harbor, off Stiles Island, inthe weather. The day had turned bad. The skywas dark. The wind had gotten hard, and a thinrain slanted in front of the wind. They had drunk all the wine andtalked most of the talk and now it was time to get home.

The person at the tiller said, “It feels as if there’s something foul-ing the centerboard, could you check it?”