(1988) The Golden Room (23 page)

He was surprised, upon his arrival this morning, to see that there was already a visitor in his office. The visitor was Harold T. Armbruster, admitted half an hour earlier by the mayor’s administrative aide.

‘I hadn’t expected you,’ said Harrison, removing his hat, shaking hands, and sitting down across from the meat-packer. ‘What brings you here?’

‘Something that may be of use to you,’ said Armbruster.

‘Please go on.’

‘This morning my mind was on your campaign for mayor. That was the first time we met.’

‘I remember very well.’

‘What I remember is something else. My interest in you was based on your desire to expand our railroad system. But I recall you didn’t speak of that much when I heard you. You spoke of reform, of getting rid of the whorehouses in this city.’

‘Correct,’ said the mayor. ‘I am dedicated to fulfilling that pledge.’

Armbruster nodded. ‘Until two days ago I knew only vaguely about the Everleigh Club. Now I know a good deal more. Mayor, why haven’t you closed the Everleigh Club?’

The Mayor sighed. ‘Mr Armbruster, the legal fact is that I can’t move against it until I have evidence first-hand that it is operating as a whorehouse. The sisters have become more cautious about their activities. Thus far, it’s been impossible for me to prove the Club is presendy anything more than a restaurant.’

Armbruster stood up. ‘Mr Mayor, I assure you, the Everleighs are still in the business of prostitution.’

‘You know for certain?’

‘For certain,’ said Armbruster. ‘They are in business and I can prove it. As you know, my son is getting married this week. I thought - repugnant as it was to me - it would be valuable to him to gain some experience with a woman before his marriage. Everyone I asked told me to take him to the Everleigh Club. So last night I did.’

The mayor was fascinated. ‘You took your boy to the Everleigh Club?’

‘To let him have a woman.’

‘Did he have a woman there? Did you pay for it?’

‘He had a girl, by his own admission. He won’t give me any details, except to say he did have sexual intercourse. And yes, I paid for it. It was added to my dining bill, which is in my pocket.’

The mayor was on his feet. Coming around his desk, he took Armbruster by the shoulders. ‘Am I hearing you right, Mr Armbruster? Are you telling me you have first-hand evidence that the Everleigh Club is — right now — operating as a house of prostitution?’

‘As a whorehouse, a real, working whorehouse.’

The mayor’s excitement was growing. ‘You can prove it, testify to this?’

‘Definitely. That’s why I’m here. To side with you in your reform movement. Last night, after my son was sent upstairs to cohabit with one of those professional chippies, I learned by accident that the house is owned by Minna and Aida Everleigh, who have misrepresented themselves to me as socialites. They were to give the bride — their niece — away. I was shocked. I instantly called off the wedding. No son of mine is marrying into the family of whorehouse madams. The wedding is cancelled.’

‘I’m saddened to hear that, but the banquet… Will you still have the banquet for the prince of Prussia?’

‘The banquet is on. The wedding is off. And I’ll not be satisfied until the Everleighs are in jail and their establishment shut down for ever.’

The mayor was beaming. ‘I need only your sworn testimony before my chief of police, Francis O’Neill, to accomplish that end.’

Armbruster raised his right hand. ‘You have my promise that I’ll testify against the Everleighs and their Club immediately.’

The mayor linked his arm inside Armbruster’s. ‘Let’s get you downstairs to the chief of police, swear you in, and take your deposition. Then I’ll be free to accomplish what I’ve been trying to accomplish all these weeks - bring an end to the careers of Minna and Aida Everleigh.’

Minna had been sitting in the Gold Room in the early evening trying to distract herself from thoughts of the run-in with Harold T. Armbruster. She was reading the collected poems of Shelley when Edmund appeared in the doorway.

‘There you are, Miss Minna,’ Edmund said. ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you. There’s someone here to see you.’

‘Without an appointment?’ Minna said, surprised. ‘Who is it?’

‘Chief of Police Francis O’Neill.’

Minna put aside her book of poetry. ‘That doesn’t sound promising. All right, show him in.’

Edmund disappeared, and a minute later reappeared to usher the corpulent chief of police into the Gold Room.

Minna offered her hand as O’Neill waddled over to her.

‘It’s been a long time, Chief,’ she said, shaking his hand. She patted the sofa cushion beside her. ‘Please sit down.’

With a wheeze, the chief of police took a seat next to her. ‘I’m sorry to come by so abruptly, Minna,’ he apologized. ‘But I had to.’

‘Why?’ asked Minna calmly.

‘I’m not here of my own free will, I assure you. I guess you know who sent me.’

‘Mr Armbruster, I presume.’

O’Neill nodded. ‘And the mayor. Technically, Mayor Carter Harrison sent me at the instigation of Armbruster.’ The chief fiddled with the buttons of his uniform. ‘Minna, I heard about your niece’s wedding - that it’s off. I’m sorry.’

‘No loss,’ said Minna, ‘although we’ll miss Alan, who’s the best one in that family. Cathleen will manage without the Armbrusters. She’ll go back to Kentucky and find plenty of eligible men there.’

‘I’m sure she will, Minna.’

‘But you’re not here to discuss my niece,’ said Minna. ‘You have something else on your mind.’

‘That’s right, Minna.’

‘And it’s bad news.’

Clearly unhappy, the chief of police jerked his head up and down. ‘That’s right.’

Minna had known this chief, and others before him, for a long time. Usually, when they came by with bad news, that bad news was simple to define. It meant additional pay-offs, or higher pay-offs, to keep the Everleigh Club open. This visit, Minna knew, was more serious.

‘Go ahead,’ Minna prompted him. ‘Let me have the bad news. Has it got to do with the mayor’s reform campaign?’

Chief of Police O’Neill gave a weary sigh. ‘Mayor Harrison has ordered me to shut down the Everleigh Club.’

‘That’s no surprise.’

‘For good, Minna.’

Minna’s expression remained impassive. It was not unexpected news, but still, the finality of it was unexpected. She’d gotten out of scrapes like this constantly. She sensed that she would not be able to elude this one.

‘Based on Armbruster’s evidence?’

‘Yes.’

Minna started shaking her head. She kept shaking it. Not indignantly, but as a comment on the injustice of this turn of events. ‘It’s not fair, you know. Armbruster himself brought his son over here. We recognized him from the newspapers, and we did him a favour. So that’s not what he has against me. What he has against me is that he was misled into thinking I was a society lady. When he found out I wasn’t, he couldn’t stand by and let his son’s marriage bring me into his family. Not in his position. It’s really not fair. I’m cleaner in my business than he is in his.’

Chief of Police O’Neill nodded sadly. ‘I couldn’t agree with you more, Minna. Yet, there it is. I have to follow orders.’

‘I’m not faulting you, Chief.’

‘Worse than that, Minna, I’ll have to arrest you and Aida.’

This time Minna was genuinely surprised. ‘I didn’t know you could do that.’

‘It’s a law in the books,’ said O’Neill. ‘It’s always been there, gathering dust, but Harrison has dusted it off. You and Minna are to become object lessons to the Levee.’

‘What happens after we’re arrested?’

‘We take you down to the jail and book you. We’ll put you in a cell until your lawyer meets the bail that’s set, which may be considerable. After that, you’re free until the trial date.’

Minna sighed. ‘What a mess.’

‘There you are, Minna. It’s out of my hands.’

‘What is in your hands? Shutting me down?’

‘First shutting you down. Then ordering your arrest. The mayor insists that you be out of business when the prince of Prussia arrives.’

‘When is that?’

‘Not tomorrow morning, but the morning after. That gives you tonight and most of tomorrow to make arrangements to get your people on the road. When that’s done, we’ll post the notice outside and two of my men will escort you and Aida to the local prison.’

‘Not much time to act,’ said Minna.

‘The best I can offer,’ said the chief, rising. ‘My job is to see that there is no Everleigh Club and no Everleigh sisters visible when the prince of Prussia sets foot in this city of purity. Again, I’m sorry, Minna. Forgive me. But orders are orders. Now you better get ready to leave.’

Minna did not inform her sister of their bleak future until early the next afternoon. She wanted Aida to have a restful night before they tackled what lay ahead.

In the morning, while cleaning out her desk, she tried to think through all that had to be done.

First, she must notify Edmund to assemble all the girls living on the outside for a three o’clock meeting that afternoon in the Moorish Room.

Second, she must find a decent hotel where Cathleen and Bruce could stay before returning to Kentucky.

Third, she must summon Dr Holmes and let him know of her fate, the fate of the Club, and the end of his job.

Then she would have to find a hotel suite for Aida and herself until they could make more permanent plans.

Also, she must hire a storage company to hold all the Club’s furniture and precious objects. That could be done last, while she and Aida were incarcerated and waiting for bail.

In organizing her moves, Minna realized that she had omitted planning for one meeting that was really necessary before any of the others.

She must have an intimate session with her niece and nephew, whom she had not seen since yesterday. She must find out what happened to Cathleen after Alan appeared in her room. She must learn if Cathleen and Bruce knew the truth about their aunts, and - if by some wild chance they didn’t know — she must tell them the truth once and for all.

Leaving her study, Minna went out to find Edmund, who was not far away.

‘We’re being padlocked, aren’t we?’ Edmund asked.

‘You’re right, Edmund. Don’t worry about your own future. We’ll take care of that. Right now, we have a lot to do. I want you to go out and summon all the girls, wherever they are, to a meeting with Aida and myself by mid-afternoon in the Moorish Room. Before that, I want to talk with Cathleen and Bruce. I couldn’t find them when I looked.’

‘They were out late last night,’ Edmund said. ‘They went out again early this morning. They seemed to have a lot on their minds. They’re back now.’

‘Send them to the Gold Room,’ said Minna. ‘They’ve talked enough to each other. Now it is my turn to talk to them.’

Minna waited in the Gold Room until Cathleen and Bruce were ushered in by Edmund.

‘There are some important matters I want to discuss with you,’ Minna said after they were seated. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Walking, talking, seeing more sights of Chicago,’ said Bruce. ‘Mostly, talking about our futures.’

‘Then you know the wedding is off,’ said Minna.

Cathleen nodded miserably. ‘Karen told Bruce, and he told me. Armbruster called it off once he heard about you and Aunt Aida.’

‘Then you know everything,’ said Minna.

‘Only that this is not merely your home,’ replied Bruce. ‘It’s a house of prostitution. We know that you and Aida are not socialites but brothel madams. I’ve never had much regard for madams. But knowing you, I’ve changed my mind.’

Minna shook her head. ‘Too bad that you had to learn the way you did, or at all. I never meant for you to know. I’m afraid I gave it away when I realized that Alan had mistakenly been sent to your bedroom, Cathleen. I’m afraid I lost my head. Armbruster recognized me and went crazy. In his position, he couldn’t allow his son to marry the niece of two madams. It was a foolish accident and I regret it.’

Cathleen forced a wan smile. ‘I, for one, don’t regret it. Karen tried to apologize to Bruce and then to me. There was nothing to be apologetic about. I simply had my wedding night without the wedding. It was wonderful.’

‘Have you spoken to Alan since?’ Minna wanted to know.

‘Not in person, of course,’ said Cathleen. ‘He’s practically a prisoner in his own home. But he telephoned me twice. He tried to get his father to change his mind. No luck. Now Alan wants to elope. I know that’s impossible. It would ruin Alan’s future.’

Minna stood up and paced restlessly about the chamber. ‘Everything became unstrung because I lied to your father from the start. Still, I had to. I couldn’t tell my brother that his sisters had opened a house of prostitution. Not in his condition. He’d have had another stroke, especially since he always felt responsible for us. So I invented the socialite fiction when we moved to Chicago. Your father believed me. When his daughter was to marry someone in Chicago, it was only natural that he would send both of you to me and to my care. I always tried to disguise the true nature of what was going on here. I almost succeeded.’ She opened her hands as if to implore their forgiveness. ‘In the end I failed.’

‘I’m not blaming you for anything, Aunt Minna,’ Cathleen insisted.

‘Thank you, Cathleen. Just don’t blame Aida and me for one thing - our profession. It is an old one, and as honourable as Armbruster’s. We’ve run a respectable establishment here. We’ve given fairly for everything we’ve received.’ Minna shrugged. ‘But now it’s over.’

Bruce came to his feet, puzzled. ‘It’s over? What’s over?’

‘The Everleigh Club is being shut down tonight. Aida and I are going to jail, at least temporarily. Armbruster went to the mayor, who went to the chief of police. The chief came over with the closing order last night.’

‘They can’t do that to you!’ Bruce exclaimed.

‘They’re doing it, Bruce. Legally, there is no way I can prevent it. We’ll be out of business. But both of you never mind about Aida and me. We’ll manage. We’ve made enough to get along on. We’ll either retire and travel, or go somewhere else and open up again. More important, what’s going to happen to the two of you?’ She looked at Cathleen and added, ‘What about you, Cathleen?’