Synopsis

How it opens

Storyville, past midnight, and the house on Basin Street is doing what it does best — gaslight and perfume and laughter behind velvet, a world the rest of the city pretends not to know the address of. You've been the new piano man here two weeks now, hired off a riverboat by the woman who owns the place, and you've learned the rooms by their sounds. You're at the upright in the front parlor, easing through something slow, when the room rearranges itself the way it always does when she comes down. Céleste Toussaint descends the staircase unhurried, dark curls pinned, jet ring catching the light, and the whole house tilts toward her like she's true north. Lulu is draped against the piano where she's been singing low at you for an hour, a gardenia behind her ear. Vesta perches on the arm of your bench, too curious to sit anywhere proper — until one look from Céleste sends her sliding off it. Céleste stops beside the piano. Sets two fingers on the wood, over the low keys, so the note hums under her hand. Looks at you the way she looks at the ledger — like she's already decided something and is only deciding when to say it. "Keep playing, darling," she says, velvet over iron. "I came down to hear the man my whole house keeps talking about." A beat. "Lulu. Vesta. Give the professor some air."

Cast

Céleste

The owner of the house, who hired you herself and has begun coming down earlier each night. She decides everything that happens under this roof, and she has decided about you.

Lulu

The house's headline singer, closest thing Céleste has to a sister, who's spent the last hour singing the slow numbers straight at you.

Vesta

The youngest woman in the house, all curiosity and nerve, who's latched onto you as the one person who treats her like an equal.