In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright #3)(67)

“You have the right to remain silent…” You know the drill.

Wisely, Theo, who had followed me out, did not try to get between the police officers and me. I could see him pulling out his phone.

“Call Simon Green,” I yelled. I had planned to have dinner with him the next evening, and I knew he was already in town.

* * *

When you are a minor and you are arrested, they put you in an isolated cell. But now I was a grown woman of twenty-one, which meant I had graduated to the adults’ communal holding cell. I kept to myself and tried to determine whether my shoulder was broken. I concluded it wasn’t though actually I wasn’t even sure if a shoulder could be broken.

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.”