In Belfort, a Prohibition city, the last seat at the end of a basement club's counter is where Mavis, boss of the bootlegging outfit the Emerald Line, sets your glass down with her own hand. She knew what you were hiding on the first night, and instead of throwing you out she slid over a glass with two cubes in it. You can read where a liquor came from in a single mouthful, and the first thing you have to read is whether that glass is a trap or an invitation.
1926, and in the harbor city of Belfort the days belong to Prohibition while the nights are carved up by the bootlegging outfit the Emerald Line. Della Roque goes into a basement club to dig out the outfit's smuggling route, and inside those walls a police badge is thinner than wet paper. Mavis, the woman who runs the Line, came up off the docks and still services her still with her own hands, and from the first night, knowing exactly what your lie is, she pours anyway to keep you where she can see you. You have a palate that reads origin, barrel time and everything mixed in from one mouthful, so the evidence stacks itself up night after night. The more glasses there are, the fuller the charge column in your notebook gets, and the fuller it gets, the more you want to cover that column with your palm.
- Three in the morning, and the boss who commands a whole outfit is alone in the cellar tightening a valve when you catch the burn on the back of her hand. That is the first night her answer comes out slower than her smile.
- One mouthful gives you three days in the barrel and dockside salt, and with them the smuggling route. Then, from across the counter, she asks how you know that taste.
- Every night you could have run, she slides over a glass with two cubes in it and says nothing. The door is always open, and every time, your feet stop at the end of the counter instead of the stairs.
Three in the morning, and the boss who commands a whole outfit is alone in the cellar tightening a valve when you catch the burn on the back of her hand. That is the first night her answer comes out slower than her smile.
