Breakdown

ALSO BY SARA PARETSKY

Body Work

Hardball

Bleeding Kansas

Fire Sale

Blacklist

Total Recall

Hard Time

Ghost Country

Windy City Blues

Tunnel Vision

Guardian Angel

Burn Marks

Blood Shot

Bitter Medicine

Killing Orders

Deadlock

Indemnity Only

SARA PARETSKY

g. p. putnam’s sons / new york

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

Copyright © 2012 by Sara Paretsky

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

ISBN 978-1-101-55407-4

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.

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.

For Tom Owens, Bill Towner, Michael Flug, and the many other librarians who’ve helped me navigate the great sea of learning—including my mother, Mary E. Paretsky

“He who owns books and loves them is wise.”

—ROGER DUVOISIN

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Doctors Nancy and Ed Burke talked me through Leydon Ashford’s mental illness. They also put great effort into helping me find someone who could give me inside information on the operation of a forensic wing of a state mental hospital. In the end, I relied on my imagination. Ruhetal State Mental Hospital is a completely fictitious facility. I invented all of its protocols, personnel, history, budget, and architecture. Aaltje Baumgart helped me select medications for Leydon, Xavier, and V.I.

Professor Mark Heyrman at the University of Chicago Law School persuaded me that it would be a terrible mistake to have V.I. go undercover as a patient in a mental hospital. He explained law and procedures that would give a lawyer access to someone charged with a crime but considered unfit to plead by reason of mental defect. All the errors in interpreting law and due process are mine alone, and shouldn’t be imputed either to Professor Heyrman or to V.I. Warshawski.

Jonathan Paretsky stepped me through the different obligations of trustees, guardians, and those entrusted with durable powers of attorney. Again, all mistakes are mine alone.

Joanna Krotz read an early version of the manuscript and made many helpful comments. Sue Riter read a late version and was similarly helpful. Thanks to both friends for their insight and support.

Tampier Lake does exist in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, but Tampier Lake Township is a completely fictitious entity. Similarly, I have carved out a fictitious Area Six in the downtown area for the Chicago Police Department.

I am indebted to Dave Case, watch commander at the 018th District in Chicago, for letting me sit in on police briefing sessions and letting me ride with his team, who show exemplary patience and dedication in dealing with the public. V.I.’s contentious interactions with Chicago police officers are due to her fractious temper and the demands of the story, and don’t reflect my own experience of the CPD.

I have taken liberties with the Marlboro Festival’s schedule by extending their concert season to Labor Day. Thanks to Laura Shapiro for suggesting that Jake Thibaut be invited to be a musician in residence at Marlboro. Maybe next year, I’ll get to go myself.

Louis Baggetto sketched out the dynamic between brother and sister that provides the linchpin for
Breakdown
’s plot.

Vilnius, Lithuania, was a center of Jewish learning before World War II, when it was known as “Vilna.” The two names are both used in the text, depending on who is speaking.

CONTENTS

1.
Graveyard Shift

2.
In the Garden of Bad and Worse

3.
Bedtime Stories

4.
Charms—or Something

5.
Stimulating News—or Is It Malice?

6.
Leaks Everywhere

7.
Friends I’d Rather Not Have

8.
Motherly Advice

9.
Cable News

10.
Politics as Usual?

11.
Here a Mob, There a Mob

12.
Murder in the Cathedral

13.
A Long Pitch

14.
One Armagnac Too Many

15.
A Hard Day’s Day

16.
Angel Mother—Not

17.
Cleaning Out the Dead

18.
The Writing on the Wall

19.
The Augean Stables

20.
Chatter in the Peaceful Valley

21.
Something Was Happening Here but You Don’t Know What It Is

22.
Wade’s World

23.
A Reporter’s Lot Is Not a Happy One

24.
Talking to the Ex. Sigh.

25.
In the Huddle