The Golden Room

infamous Gomorrah!'

He dragged Minna out of the restaurant, through the entry hall, towards the staircase landing.

They both halted as they looked up in time to see Alan, fully clothed, a benign smile on his face as he descended.

As he reached the foot of the stairs, Alan grinned at his father. 'Thanks, Dad. You were right. I had a girl, and now I have enough experience for the wedding.'

Armbruster let go of Minna and snatched his son by the arm. 'Wedding, you say? What wedding? I'm not letting my son marry the niece of two whorehouse madams. It would destroy me in Chicago for ever, ruin everything I ever tried to build. Come on home!' Armbruster wheeled to confront Minna. 'As for you, don't you dare to come near me or any of us. You're not setting foot in my home again. There'll be no wedding! The wedding is off!'

With that, he pulled Alan away. Minna watched them go and then burst into tears.

EIGHT

Mayor Carter Harrison always came to his City Hall office at promptly nine o'clock in the morning.

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 Ever-leighs 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.'