Free Breakdown by Sara Paretsky Page A

questions would lead to further trouble for them.
    “Her father is the one who gives money to politicians?” I said. It had been Tyler, or maybe Kira, who had said that in our early-morning conversation.
    “Yes, yes,” Julia Salanter interrupted me impatiently. “He’s a hedge-fund manager who dabbles in politics. Jessie goes to Vina Fields with Arielle and Nia. Her parents hired a PR specialist to help their lawyer coach Jessie through her police interview, but they promised me they didn’t tell the specialist or the lawyer that Ari and Nia were with Jessie. Sam Morgenstern owes a chunk of his success to tips that—well, never mind that.”
    Julia added wryly to Sophy Durango, “I can see Lawlor’s headlines: Nazi Supporter’s Granddaughter Sucks Christian Blood. Is This Who You Want Advising Your Next Senator?”
    Durango made a face. “If I’d known they were going to attack Chaim in such an ugly way, I’d never have let him sign on to my campaign. Ms. Warshawski, you didn’t leak news about last night’s escapade to the Kendrick campaign, did you?”
    “Dr. Durango, I had quite enough on my hands with the remnants of your daughters’ group without getting involved in a political campaign as well.”
    “Don’t get on a high horse with us, Ms. Warshawski: we don’t know you, so we don’t know what you might or might not do,” Julia Salanter said. “We need to do some damage control before the damage gets worse. Someone fed Helen Kendrick the news that Nia was at Mount Moriah last night, but didn’t make the connection to Chaim. Either they didn’t know Arielle was there, or they didn’t realize she was Chaim’s granddaughter—Zitter is her father’s last name.”
    “I certainly didn’t know that,” I said. “Chaim—Mr. Salanter—he’s running Dr. Durango’s campaign?”
    “Heading my finance committee,” Durango said. “Why don’t you tell us what you saw last night.”
    “Ms. Salanter mentioned my cousin on the phone,” I said. “She’s worried that she’s going to be in hot water, either with you or with the cops or both. And I, of course, am concerned that she not be held responsible for last night’s events. She did what she could to look after the girls in her group, but she had no authority over them.”
    Salanter nodded, her face grim. “We know that. Just tell us what happened.”
    I went through my spiel: Lucy, Kira, the full moon, stumbling on the girls by chance, finding Wuchnik’s body, trying to get the girls to wait for me at the Dudek place while I ran interference with the police. “As to what lies the girls told to leave home in the first place, and whether they were really sticking needles into each other’s bodies—you’ll have to get that from your daughters. By the way, where did Nia and Arielle go when they left the cemetery? Petra kept trying to text them but they went blank on her.”
    “They went back to my house,” Durango said. “They knew I was at an event downstate last night, and hoped they could con me into believing they hadn’t gone out. I didn’t know anything until someone called me from Chicago for a comment on the accusations Kendrick made this morning. I was not happy.”
    Nia and Arielle looked at their feet.
    “What’s this about needles and sucking blood?” Salanter demanded.
    “It was our ritual,” Arielle whispered, after a glance at her friend. “Tyler was such a crybaby, we shouldn’t have let her take part, then this wouldn’t—”
    “I told you, I don’t want to hear you shifting your responsibilities onto someone else!” Durango’s voice was a whip.
    “There’s another problem,” I said to the mothers. “A murder took place near them. Tyler being a crybaby meant that we all came on the body, but I think the murderer was still there when the girls got to their chosen spot. Someone claimed she’d seen a vampire; I think she caught a glimpse of the murderer. Arielle and Nia are going to have to talk to