Irving Wallace - The Golden Room

'But how?' Evans wanted to know.

'I haven't the faintest idea yet. That's why I called all of you together. To find out if any of you had any suggestions.'

'You could send one of us into the Club, just the way you sent in Varney,' said Evans.

The mayor slowly shook his head. 'No, I can't risk it. Even if one of you got in and verified the truth, you might not come back alive. Look what happened to Gus Varney. No, I can't risk sending another man in.'

Karen Grant was raising a hand. 'But, Mayor Harrison, you could send in a woman. You could send me to the Ever-leigh Club.'

Mayor Harrison was openly surprised. 'You?'

'Yes, me,' repeated Karen, coming to her feet. 'I could get into the Everleigh Club posing as a girl who's down on her luck and needs a job. Maybe I'd get that job.'

'As a prostitute?' said the mayor, looking a trifle shocked. 'Never. You… you're far too refined.'

'Am I?' said Karen, fluffing her hair and adopting a sultry voice. Slowly she pirouetted between the staff and the mayor, clearly emphasizing her figure. 'Think it over.'

The mayor had never thought much about Karen since hiring her a few months before the election. He had known her mother, Naomi, long before his own marriage – known her mother very well – and enjoyed her, a reckless, wild woman, a suffragette actually, who had advocated the cause of female independence. Naomi had married an artist and Karen had been their only child. The artist had died when Karen was quite young, and last year Naomi herself had died of tuberculosis. Karen, grown up, had studied stenographic skills, and when she had heard that Mayor Harrison needed a new secretary, she had applied, invoking the name of her mother. Harrison had meant to hire a male secretary, as most executives did, although young women were beginning to enjoy a new freedom and gain a foothold in the workplace.

Harrison had hired Karen, not only because he could not resist the memory of her mother but because Karen had seemed so self-assured and competent.

No, Harrison had not thought about her much after hiring her, and he certainly had not had the time to look at her carefully.

Now he did look at her carefully as she stood before him in the centre of his office. Examining her from head to toe, he was quite astonished at what he saw. Karen Grant was tall, perhaps five feet seven. Her silken brunette hair was long, her widely spaced grey-green eyes, overly delicate nostrils, generous rosy lower lip, attractive and pouting – somehow it all added up not to a look of refinement but to something wanton. With the clothes women wore, their shapes were none too revealed – although Karen's blouse was somewhat diaphanous, hinting at full, young breasts. Her sewn-down pleated skirt clung to the contours of full hips and thighs, and draped closely around slender calves.

The mayor knitted his brow and pondered on what was before him.

An Everleigh girl. No doubt she could pass. But still -

'All right, Karen,' the mayor said, 'I take it all back. I'm sure they'd find you qualified at the Everleigh Club. You could fit in as one of their more attractive girls and get a lot of information for me. But have you any idea of what you'd be letting yourself in for?'

'Of course I do.'

'You'd not be behaving as a secretary. You'd be performing as a prostitute.'

'I'm aware of that,' said Karen. 'I'd have no problem with whatever happened. You only need one witness for proof. I think I can manage it. After I was assigned a customer, I'm sure I could get out of it with sufficient proof of what the Everleighs are up to. If I couldn't, well, e'est la guerre. I'll still feel pure when I come back to you with the evidence.'

'Evidence,' repeated the mayor, savouring the possibility. He sat up. 'I don't know. I might let you go ahead, if you think you can get a job there.'

'I'd like to try.'

'How would you get the job? Just walk in?'

'I'm more clever than that, Mayor. There's a Tribune reporter who I've become friendly with. He's covering City Hall. Thomas Ostrow.'

'Oh, yes. Good man.'

'I've heard him speak of Aida and Minna Everleigh. He seems to know them well, and he has the run of the Club. I'll ask him to help me.'

Mayor Harrison smiled. 'Mr Ostrow might be startled at what you're proposing.'

'I'll let him know that underneath I am that kind of girl. And that I want some of the big money, no matter what it costs. Let me try it, Mayor. What do you say?'

'What can I say – except go to it and good luck!'

When Thomas Ostrow arrived at the Everleigh Club with Karen Grant, he left her comfortably seated in the foyer and went on alone to keep his appointment with Minna Ever-leigh.

Across from Minna, the political reporter from the Chicago Tribune said, 'You want to know why I came to see you?'

'You never have to have a reason, Tom.'

'But I have one,' said Ostrow. 'She's outside. Minna, I have a sensational girl for you.'

'That's like bringing coals to Newcastle. Still, I'm always interested in someone new. What about her?'

'Her name's Karen Grant. She worked briefly in a house in New Orleans. Then she decided to make a change, so she came to Chicago. She had a letter of introduction to me from an old newspaper friend down South.'

'Has she been working in any house in Chicago?' asked Minna.

'No. She tried to go straight. Went to work as a clerk in a milliner's shop here. You know what they pay.'

'Starvation wages.'

'So then she came to me. She decided to be one of the girls again. She doesn't want to work just anywhere. She only wants to work in the Everleigh Club. She wanted to know if I knew the Everleigh sisters. I told her she'd come to the right person, and that I'd introduce her to you. But that's not the point, Minna. As you know, I have an eye for the ladies. This Karen Grant is the best-looking young woman I've seen in years. I thought you might want to have a look at her.'

'Of course I do,' said Minna. 'But I have no place for her right now. My limit is thirty girls. However, the other day,

one of the girls – Fanny, you remember her – went for a walk and didn't come back. Now she may come back, and if she does I'm full up again. If she doesn't, there may be an opening.'

'Well, Minna, see for yourself.'

Minna stood up. 'I will, in a few minutes. Tell you what, you take Karen to room seven upstairs. Fanny's room. Have her wait for me. You can come back down and have yourself a drink.'

'Thanks, Minna.'

'I may be thanking you, Tom,' Minna said.

Ostrow left Minna in her office, and went off to the foyer to find Karen Grant and take her upstairs to await Minna Everleigh.

Karen Grant was seated on the brass bed in the boudoir, her apprehension mounting. The door of the bedroom opened and a small, attractive, auburn-haired woman entered.

Immediately, Karen came to her feet somewhat nervously, as the woman approached her with hand extended.

'I'm Minna Everleigh.'

Karen shook her hand. 'I'm Karen Grant.'

Minna sized her up briefly. Karen was shapely in a street dress of grey cheviot with a white mohair blouse, a white vest with pearl buttons and a wide suede belt. 'Not bad,' Minna observed. 'Despite all that padding you're wearing, I think Tom Ostrow is right. You're a well-put-together young lady. Do take a chair. Let's talk a minute.'

'Very well.' Karen sat down in an easy chair, while Minna dropped into a chair across from her.

'Now then,' began Minna, 'I rarely take on a girl if she is over twenty-three. My customers like young ones. I often think they are mistaken, but that's what they like, so I cater to their wishes. How old are you, Karen?'

'Twenty-one.'

'Tom tells me you've had experience. Amateurs wouldn't do well here. Our customers are generally men of the world. They know a good romp when they meet one. That's why they leave their wives and come here.'