Alan gestured to Bruce. 'I'm still too shaky to be very articulate. I think Bruce can do a better job of it.'
'It was pretty awful, and it was nip and tuck with the girls' lives. I'll make it brief. Here is what happened.'
Quickly, Bruce recounted what had taken place at Holmes's Castle, from the time he and Alan had come calling to the terrible moments when they had prevented Holmes from gassing Cathleen and Karen.
'We knocked him unconscious,' concluded Bruce, 'and after we pulled the girls out of that death chamber of his, we carried him into it, sealed it, and held him there until Chief of Police O'Neill and Pinkerton arrived. The chief was concerned that Alan and I had taken the law into our own hands without proof – actual proof – that Dr Holmes had ever done harm to anyone.'
'But then the police found proof, in the basement, that Dr Holmes was a lunatic killer,' added Alan.
Bruce was nodding his head. 'Aunt Minna, Aunt Aida, the police found the remains of twenty-seven bodies in his basement.'
Aida covered her face. 'Twenty-seven bodies,' she said, shuddering.
Minna was horrified and saddened. 'And our three missing girls – our Everleigh Club girls – Fanny, Avis, Greta – they must have been among his victims.'
Bruce sighed. 'I'm afraid so, Aunt Minna.'
'How gruesome,' said Minna. 'Wait here.' She disappeared into the hallway briefly and returned with her head servant. 'Edmund, would you find Chet Foley in there, the reporter from the Chicago Tribune. Then go out to my car and carry in the ladies' luggage, and unpack it in their rooms upstairs. And see that Cathleen's wedding dress is prepared. But get Mr Foley first.'
When Edmund was gone, Minna turned to Bruce.
'I owe this young man a story. I wouldn't permit him to write about the Everleigh Club when he first came here. We were in trouble then. Now I should make it up to him. Bruce, I want you to repeat to him everything you told us about Dr Holmes. What you saw and what you learned from Mr Pinkerton.'
When Edmund reappeared with a puzzled Foley, Minna introduced him around and then directed him to Bruce. 'My nephew has a story for you, Chet, a genuine scoop. He'll tell you the whole thing.'
Enthusiastically, Foley located the ever-present notebook in his pocket, took out a pencil, and waited.
Concisely, but without loss of detail, Bruce recounted their adventure with Dr Herman Holmes and what Pinkerton and the police had learned about him.
'Twenty-seven bodies,' Foley noted on paper, wagging his head. 'It's the most awful thing I've ever heard. But what a great story. Thank you, Bruce. I'd better call it in for the next edition. Minna, may I use your telephone?'
'Make yourself at home,' said Minna, waving the others to follow Aida into the Club.
Leaving last, Minna could overhear Foley dictating his story on the telephone. She halted momentarily, listening to Foley trying to explain Dr Holmes's psyche. 'The nerve, the calculation and the audacity of the man were unparalleled,' she heard Foley dictate. 'Murder was his natural bent. Sometimes he killed from sheer greed of gain; more often to gratify an inhuman thirst for blood. Not one of his crimes, as far as we know, was the outcome of a sudden burst of fury – "hot blood" – as the codes say. All were deliberate, planned, and concluded with consummate skill. To Dr Holmes murder was indeed a fine art, and he revelled in the lurid glamour cast upon him by his abnormal genius. The field of victims was open to him, since he served as the physician of the Everleigh Club and its thirty beautiful girls. Captured, he will be tried and-'
Minna listened no longer.
Hastening ahead, Minna caught up with Aida and the others as they entered her beloved Gold Room.
Once inside, Minna took command, as was her habit.
The room was crowded. Surrounding the prince of Prussia, who had arrived an hour earlier, were members of his entourage – braid and medals everywhere – and at least a dozen of the Everleigh Club's most attractive girls. The majority of them surrounded Prince Henry, resplendent in his uniform with its elegant high-collared jacket, relaxing on a gold sofa with women on either side of him and at his feet. The sighing, teasing, and flattery of the girls was mixed with the sounds of toasts and music from the five-piece orchestra playing in a distant corner.
Deftly, Minna guided her party around the room, introducing Cathleen, Karen, Alan, and Bruce to members of the German entourage.
When she reached Prince Henry, Minna waited for his attention and then drew Cathleen forward. 'Your Royal Highness…' Minna began.
Prince Henry rose to his feet at once.
'… I want you to meet another guest who is being honoured here tonight,' Minna continued. 'This is Miss Cathleen Lester, whose marriage ceremony to Alan Armbruster will be performed here in your presence shortly.'
'I am honoured, most honoured,' said Prince Henry, bending slightly to kiss the top of Cathleen's outstretched hand.
'Your Highness,' Minna went on briskly, 'my niece will be feted before you are. Ladies first, you know. After that we'll proceed with the banquet in your honour.'
'I am absolutely delighted,' said Prince Henry. 'This long-desired visit to the Everleigh Club – how exquisite it is, how magnificent its occupants – is the climax of my tour of your country.'
Minna introduced the others to the prince, then ushered him back to his place of comfort on the sofa.
Turning away, Minna caught Cathleen by the arm and led her aside. 'Time to put on your wedding gown,' she whispered, 'as quickly as possible.'
Cathleen hugged and kissed her and ran off.
Now, after the close call at Holmes's Castle, Bruce Lester wanted – more than ever before – an interval of privacy with Karen Grant.
Taking her by the hand, he led her first into the Japanese Room and then the Blue Room, but both were filled with chattering male guests and Everleigh girls.
At last, arriving at the Moorish Room, Bruce saw that it was unoccupied and he drew Karen inside.
'I want to talk to you,' he told her.
He led her across the brilliant Oriental carpet and between smoking incense burners to a small sofa. He sat her down, and then seated himself close to her.
'Karen,' he said, 'you've known ever since we met – I made it no secret – that I'm in love with you.'
'Oh, Bruce,' she said, her voice catching, putting her arms around him and kissing him. 'And you know I'm in love with you.'
Separating himself from her, Bruce said, 'I've been in love with you from the start, but I didn't realize how much until I almost lost you at Holmes's place. Now I want to – I want to discuss us.'
'I'm ready,' said Karen.
'I've wanted to ask you to marry me. I want to marry you more than anything -'
'Bruce, dear -'
'No, hear me out, Karen. There are problems. You're a big-city girl. I'm a country boy. You're a working woman, living fairly well on your own, I gather. I'm a fellow who runs a small Kentucky farm – and a home for my half-paralysed father. All I have to my name is a small stud farm and my winnings from the Derby. Eventually, I want to plough that money back into stallions and mares. I'll hope to breed more Derby winners, always a long shot. If you married me, I'd be taking you back to an old house in Kentucky. We'd live with my father, a dear man, but he does need some attention. You'd be isolated from city life down there. I don't know if that's the kind of life I can ask you to share with me.'
Karen emitted a sigh. 'Bruce, how can you be so smart in so many ways, and be so dumb about this? I love you. How many times do I have to tell you? I want to live with you wherever you live, however you live, because I want to be with you now and for ever. Bruce, stop being a donkey and tell me you will marry me, the sooner the better, right now, here and now.'