I followed Nico out of the ballroom and to the main hall. He was really hoofing it.
“Wait up!” I yelled when he got to the stairs at the side of the building. “What’s this all about?”
“You’ve got a major in chemistry, right?” he said, galloping down the steps.
“A minor.” What the hell was up with Nico?
He waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. Then he beckoned me to follow. We hurried down a long corridor with no windows. At the end of it, he turned left into a small room.
The first thing that hit me was the odor. What was that awful smell?
Bertoni and Lou were sitting at a rickety wooden table. Sitting might not be the correct word. Bertoni had his head down on the table and appeared dead. Lou was slumped against the back wall.
An empty bottle sat on the table. Cases of similar bottles lined the right wall of the room.
“Hi, Gina,” said Lou, opening an eye. “Wanna try some grappa?”
Holy shit! This must be bootlegging headquarters. What a good cover, in the bottom of the banquet hall. Who would ever think to check here?
“They’re drunk,” said Nico with disgust. “They were supposed to be looking after the still for Magda, and they’re totally shit-faced.”
“How long have they been like that?” I asked.
“No idea,” said Nico. “But it doesn’t look right in there.”
“Wuz Gina doin’ ’ere?” muttered Bertoni.
“She took chemistry in college. She might be able to help,” explained Nico. He walked to the far door and threw it open.
I started to follow Nico into the room and stopped dead in the doorway.
A wall of vapor whooshed at me. The stinging kind that hurts your eyes and turns your throat raw.
“I don’t know anything about stills, Gina. But this doesn’t seem right. Should it be overflowing like that?”
I peered into the room.
I’d only seen stills before on tv and in movies. I had visions of a large copper kettle over an open flame. Connected to the kettle would be a coil of copper tubing from which a trickle of clear moonshine would run into a glass jug.
The one in front of me was a high-end version, made of polished stainless steel. But the purpose of the apparatus was unmistakable. All the right bits were there, down to the blue flame of the propane burner under the kettle.
It didn’t take a chemistry degree to figure out something was very wrong. Alcohol was bubbling out of the top of the jug and spreading across the floor. Any minute now it would reach the propane flame.
“That’s ethanol!” I said. “It’s highly flammable. Nico, we’ve got to get everyone out of here right away.”
“But—”
“You go upstairs right now and get Pinky and the girls out of the building. DO IT! NOW! Don’t waste a second.”
Nico knew me well enough to know I wasn’t kidding. He turned and ran. I shut the door to the still room very carefully. Then I walked to the table and lifted the end of it with a jerk. Bertoni slid to the floor.
“Get up!” I yelled to them both. “We’ve got to get out of here. The still’s going to blow.”
“Wha’?” said Lou.
I kicked Lou in the leg. Then I kicked Bertoni even harder. I would have liked to kick him more, but there wasn’t time.
“Get out of here right now. Take the nearest exit. I MEAN IT!”
I helped to haul them up. Then I shoved their miserable drunken bodies out the door.
There wasn’t much more I could do. I had no idea how to stop the overflow.
I closed the door to the connecting room carefully and followed the boys into the hall.
Bertoni had made it to the end of the corridor. He pushed open a steel door and disappeared into daylight. Lou was right after him. I followed Lou but stopped just short of the door.
I scanned the walls for a fire alarm. There it was! I ran to it and pulled the bar hard.
The alarm was deafening. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer. Loud noises do that to me.
I hit the steel door, pushed hard and vaulted out into sunshine. Bertoni and Lou were standing a few feet away, looking dazed.
“Get over to the parking lot! As far away as you can,” I ordered.
I didn’t wait for them. I ran around the side of the building and up the laneway, to the front entrance.
Nico was standing by my car with Pinky and the old ladies. “Get farther back!” I waved my arms and yelled, “Down the driveway!”
Nico put his arm around Great-Aunt Rita and together they skedaddled. Pinky helped Mrs. Pesce, and Loose Trudy lived up to her rep. She was fast.
I took one look back at The Forum and hoped I wasn’t right. Yes, it would be embarrassing, especially since I had pulled the fire alarm. But rather that than—
Boom!
“Holy shit!” yelled Bertoni, behind me.
Lou wet his pants.