Gabrielle Zevin - In the Age of Love and Chocolate

I’d been there about an hour when I was summoned to the visiting area.

“That was foolish.” Mr. Delacroix glared at me from across the glass.

“I told Theo to call Simon Green,” I said. “I told him not to bother you. You do not work for me anymore.”

“Fortunately, Theo didn’t have Simon’s number so he called me. You’re bleeding. Show me your shoulder.”

I did. He shook his head, but did not speak. He took out his phone and snapped a picture.

“They want to leave you in here overnight, and I’m not sure it’s a bad idea.”

I didn’t answer him.

“But luckily for you, I still know a few people. I’ve woken a judge, and there’ll be a bail hearing later tonight, where they will probably set some exorbitant number. You’ll happily pay it and then you’ll go home.” He looked at me sternly, and I felt sixteen again. “You always have to go and make matters worse, don’t you? Seemed a grand idea to you to assault a police officer, eh?”

“They were shutting down the club! And I didn’t assault anyone. I only tried to grab his hammer. What even happened tonight?”

“Someone tipped off the cops that there were people at the Dark Room without prescriptions. They started checking everyone’s prescriptions and some people got upset and when people get upset, they get rowdy. The cops began confiscating the cacao, saying the club was dealing chocolate illegally, which, as we know, isn’t true.”

“What’s the upshot?” I asked.

“The upshot is that the Dark Room is shut down until the city decides what to do.”

I worried how the shutdown could affect our other locations. “When’s that Department of Health hearing?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Why are they suddenly interested in the Dark Room? Why now? We’ve been open for over three years.”

“I thought about that,” Mr. Delacroix said. “And the answer can only be politics. It’s an election year, as you well know. And I think this is a plan to make me look like I was involved in illegal dealings. My campaign is predicated on the idea that bad legislation needs to go, that we change the laws and bring new business to the city. The Dark Room is an accomplishment for me. Shut it down, and it takes away from that.”

“You’re wrong, Mr. Delacroix. Your accomplishments extend beyond the Dark Room. Maybe it’s best to cut ties with me and the club altogether. Say you were only involved in contracts and such. It isn’t far from true.”

“Yes, that could be a way to go,” he said.

“Listen, I’m going to bring on Simon Green tomorrow. He’s my half brother, and I trust him. It was foolish of me to put off hiring your replacement. You can’t take this on right now. The election is in less than two months. I won’t let you take this on.”

“You won’t let me?”

“I want you to be mayor. And by the way, I am glad to see you.” I leaned casually on the glass. I don’t know why, but it was easier to speak from the heart with a six-inch-thick panel of glass between us. “I am sorry for the way we parted. I’ve been trying to tell you that for weeks. I just didn’t know how.”

“So you thought you’d attack a police officer? There are easier ways to contact me. Pick up the phone. If you were feeling old-fashioned, a slate message.”

“Several times I apologized to your face on the side of a bus.”

“Yes, I don’t always get those messages.”

“And also, I’m thankful to you. You owe me nothing, Mr. Delacroix. We are even, and I don’t expect you to ruin your campaign to try to help me out.”

Mr. Delacroix considered this. “Fine, Anya. There is no point in arguing. But let me hire a lawyer for you. It isn’t that I doubt your ability to do it, but you won’t have much time before the hearing tomorrow, and Simon Green is too—forgive the pun— green for such a responsibility.”

“Simon’s not so bad.”

“In a few years, he’ll be perfect. And I am glad you’ve made peace with him, but he doesn’t know the ins and outs of how this city is run. You require someone who does.”

I got very little sleep that night, but in the morning, I received a message from Mr. Delacroix that the new lawyer would meet me at the Department of Health, where the hearing was to be held.

When I arrived, Mr. Delacroix was waiting for me. “Where is the new lawyer?” I asked.

“I am the new lawyer,” he said. “I couldn’t find anyone on such short notice.”

“Mr. Delacroix, you can’t do this.”

“I can. And really, I have to. Look, I’ve made mistakes. That is no secret. But you can’t run a campaign by trying to separate yourself from your accomplishments. Not a successful one, at least. I am proud of the Dark Room. I am going to defend it even if it costs me the campaign. Yes, that’s how strongly I feel about this. But listen, you have to hire me again, or I can’t defend you.”

“I won’t,” I said. “I’d rather defend myself.”

“Don’t be a martyr. Hire me. I am your friend. I want to help and I have the skills to do so.”

“I don’t need anyone to rescue me, if that’s what you think you are doing.”

“Hiring someone to assist you is not the same as being rescued. I thought we’d settled that years ago. It’s plain good sense. We can only do the jobs we can do in this life. What happens here is important and will determine what happens in San Francisco with Leo, and in Japan, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and everywhere else. We have to go inside in thirty seconds.”

I didn’t like being forced to do anything. And I wasn’t sure that he was even right.

“Fifteen seconds. One last reason. I am certain that I am the cause of this situation. Do you want my wife to hate me? My son? What good is being mayor if your family hates you? Can I leave the love of my son’s life to defend herself?”

“That isn’t true, and I’m not even sure it’s rel—”

“Five seconds. What say you?”

The hearing was open to the public, and when I got inside, the crowd that had gathered astounded me. Half the city seemed to have taken an interest in this little proceeding. Every seat was filled in the mezzanine and the balcony, and people were standing by the doors. Mouse and people from the Family had come, as had Theo, Simon, and most of my staff from the Manhattan and Brooklyn clubs. In the very back of the mezzanine, I saw Win and Natty. I hadn’t even told them about the hearing, but somehow they had gotten here, and quickly. There was a certain amount of press, but most of the crowd consisted of what appeared to be regular people—that is to say, the kind of people who came to my club.

“This is a hearing to discuss the club on Fifth Avenue at Forty-Second Street in Manhattan County, New York. Today’s hearing is largely discovery, and everyone who would like to speak will have a chance. At the end, we will determine whether the Dark Room should be allowed to remain open. This is not a criminal proceeding though in fact a criminal proceeding may follow depending on what is revealed in this forum.” The head of the board read the complaints against the Dark Room and its president, me: essentially that I was serving chocolate illegally, that some patrons at my club were obtaining chocolate without prescriptions, and that cacao was actually chocolate. “By calling chocolate ‘cacao,’ Ms. Balanchine, who is the daughter of a deceased organized-crime boss and still maintains connections to that family and other known international crime families, has introduced what is little more than a term of art to shield her criminal dealings. Though the city has chosen to look the other way for some time, it has become increasingly apparent that the Dark Room is a front for illegal activity.”