Sara Paretsky - Total Recall

Thanks

Thanks to Wolfson College, Oxford, where I was a Visiting Scholar in 1997, which enabled me to pursue archival research. Thanks to Dr. Jeremy Black of Wolfson for making my time there possible.

The archives of letters and audiotapes in the Imperial War Museum, London, are an important source about the Kindertransport, Englands generous acceptance of ten thousand Jewish children from central Europe in the years immediately before the Second World War. As is true of librarians everywhere, those at the Imperial War Museum were extremely helpfuleven allowing me into the archives on a day they were closed when I confused an appointment date.

The Royal Free Hospital, London, gave me access to their archives, allowed me to send Lotty Herschel to school there, and were in general most helpful.

Dr. Dulcie Reed, Dr. Lettice Bowen, Dr. Peter Scheuer, and Dr. Judith Levy, all of whom trained in medicine in Great Britain around the same time as Lotty Herschel, were generous in giving me time and information about that period in their lives.

In the case of all archival material, as well as the reminiscences of these four doctors, I have avoided turning peoples real-life experiences into fictionwith the exception of Lotty and her roommates making lingerie out of parachute silk: Dr. Bowen and her friends did thisan amazing feat, as anyone who has ever tried to construct lingerie from scratch will appreciate.

Professor Colin Divall of the Institute of Railway Studies, York, was helpful with information about train routes and timetables in the 1940s.

Because of the constraints of a novel focusing on Chicago, contemporary crime, and V I Warshawski, I was not able to make as deep a use of any of my English research as I would have wished; perhaps it will find a home in a different story on another day.

In Chicago, Kimball Wright advised me on the guns used in the book. Forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Kirschner was helpful in making accurate the deaths and near deaths of various unfortunate characters; the events described in Chapters 38 and 43 do happen. Sandy Weiss was helpful as always on forensic engineering arcana.

Jolynn Parker did invaluable research on a number of topics, including finding street maps of Jewish neighborhoods of Vienna in the 1930s. More important, her astuteness as a reader helped me pick my way through some thorny problems as I developed the story line. Jonathan Paretsky helped with German, Yiddishand star gazing.

Special thanks to Kate Jones for her insightful discussion of this novel, both at its end and at its beginnings.

As always, the first C-dog was there with advice, encouragementand renewable kneecaps.

This is a work of fiction. No resemblance is intended between any character in this novel and any real person, living or dead, whether in public office, in corporate boardrooms, on the streets, or in any other walk of life. Similarly, all the institutions involved, including Ajax Insurance, Edelweiss Re, Gargette et Cie, are phantasms of the authors fevered brain and are not intended to resemble any actual existing body. The issues of slave reparations and Holocaust asset recovery are very real; the positions taken on them by characters in the novel do not necessarily reflect the authors own, nor should they be taken to reflect the positions taken by people in public life who are debating them.

Note: Anna Freuds An Experiment in Group Upbringing is in Volume IV of her collected works. The adult lives of the children she describes are explored in Sarah Moskovitzs Love Despite Hate.

Also by Sara Paretsky

HARD TIME

GHOST COUNTRY

WINDY CITY BLUES

TUNNEL VISION

GUARDIAN ANGEL

BURN MARKS

BLOOD SHOT

BITTER MEDICINE

KILLING ORDERS

DEADLOCK

INDEMNITY ONLY

About the Author

SARA PARETSKY is the author of eleven other books, including the bestselling Hard Time, Tunnel Vision, Guardian Angel, and Burn Marks. She lives with her husband in Chicago.

I

Baby-Sitters Club

They wouldnt even start the funeral service. The church was full, ladies were crying. My uncle was a deacon and he was a righteous man, hed been a member of that church for forty-seven years when he passed. My aunt was in a state of total collapse, as you can imagine. And for them to have the nerve to say the policy had already been cashed in. When! Thats what I want to know, Ms. Warashki, when was it ever cashed in, with my uncle paying his five dollars a week for fifteen years like he did, and my aunt never hearing word one of him borrowing against the policy or converting it.

Isaiah Sommers was a short, square man who spoke in slow cadences as if he were himself a deacon. It was an effort to keep from drowsing off during the pauses in his delivery. We were in the living room of his South Side bungalow, at a few minutes after six on a day that had stretched on far too long already.

Id been in my office at 8:30, starting a round of the routine searches that make up the bulk of my business, when Lotty Herschel called with an SOS. You know Maxs son brought Calia and Agnes with him from London, dont you? Agnes suddenly has a chance to show her slides at a Huron Street gallery, but she needs a minder for Calia.

Im not a baby-sitter, Lotty, Id said impatiently; Calia was Max Loewenthals five-year-old granddaughter.

Lotty swept imperiously past that protest. Max called me when they couldnt find anyoneits his housekeepers day off. Hes going to that conference at the Hotel Pleiades, although Ive told him many times that all hes doing is exposingbut thats neither here nor there. At any rate, hes on a panel at tenotherwise hed stay home himself. I tried Mrs. Coltrain at my clinic, but everyones tied up. Michael is rehearsing all afternoon with the symphony and this could be an important chance for Agnes. VicI realize its an imposition, but it would be only for a few hours.

Why not Carl Tisov? I asked. Isnt he staying at Maxs, too?

Carl as a baby-sitter? Once he picks up his clarinet the roof of the house can blow off without his noticing. I saw it happen once, during the V-1 raids. Can you tell me yes or no? Im in the middle of surgical rounds, and I have a full schedule at the clinic. Lotty is the chief perinatologist at Beth Israel.

I tried a few of my own connections, including my part-time assistant who has three foster children, but no one could help out. I finally agreed with a surly lack of grace. I have a client meeting at six on the far South Side, so someone had better be able to step in before five.

When I drove up to Maxs Evanston home to collect Calia, Agnes Loewenthal was breathlessly grateful. I cant even find my slides. Calia was playing with them and stuck them in Michaels cello, which got him terribly cross, and now the wretched beast cant imagine where hes flung them.

Michael appeared in a T-shirt with his cello bow in one hand. Darling, Im sorry, but they have to be in the drawing roomthats where I was practicing. Vic, I cant thank you enoughcan we take you and Morrell to dinner after our Sunday afternoon concert?

We cant do that, Michael! Agnes snapped. Thats Maxs dinner party for Carl and you.

Michael played cello with the Cellini Chamber Ensemble, the London group started back in the forties by Max and Lottys friend Carl Tisov. The Cellini was in Chicago to kick off their biannual international tour. Michael was also scheduled to play some concerts with the Chicago Symphony.

Agnes gave Calia a quick hug. Victoria, thank you a million times. Please, though, no television. She only gets an hour a week and I dont think American shows are suitable for her. She darted back into the drawing room, where we could hear her furiously tossing cushions from the couch. Calia grimaced and clutched my hand.