Irving Wallace - The Golden Room

'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?'

'Bruce and I will be going back to Kentucky. I'll make up some story for Dad about the wedding being cancelled. He'll believe me.'

'You'll find someone else,' Minna assured her. 'There are plenty of men in Kentucky -'

'There's no one I want except Alan,' Cathleen said. 'If I can't have Alan, I'd rather be a spinster.'

Minna made no further effort to placate her niece. She turned to her nephew. 'What about you, Bruce?'

'I'm a little luckier than Cathleen,' he said. 'From what I won at the Derby, I can go back to Kentucky and set up a breeding farm.'

'No marital prospects?' asked Minna.

'No. I -'

'That's not true,' Cathleen broke in. She fixed her gaze on her brother. 'Why don't you tell Aunt Minna that you're in love with Karen Grant -'

'With a prostitute?' said Minna with a frown.

'She's not a prostitute,' Bruce objected. 'Karen Grant is Mayor Harrison's secretary. She was sent to the Everleigh Club to get evidence of illegal activities. After she met me, she changed her mind about being a spy for the mayor.'

'I see,' said Minna slowly. 'Are you considering marrying Karen?'

Bruce thought about it. 'I'd like to. Yes, very much. Still, I won't be that rich. And I don't know how Karen would take to life on a Kentucky farm.'

'Find out,' said Minna. 'Ask her.'

'Maybe I will.'

Minna considered her niece and nephew. 'When will you leave for Louisville?'

'In a few days,' said Bruce. 'I have to arrange to ship Frontier out of Washington Park to Kentucky.'

'Then you'll need somewhere to stay after we're closed down,' said Minna. 'Let me put my mind to it. I have a few matters to settle first. We'll talk again late this afternoon. Meanwhile, better pack up.'

By three-fifteen that afternoon, all the Everleigh girls had assembled in the Moorish chamber and gathered about Minna and Aida.

Minna counted the twenty-seven of her girls.

When her eyes fixed on Karen Grant, Minna dismissed her. 'You don't belong here,' Minna told Karen. 'I know the truth. I can only say that I appreciate that you held back and are not responsible for what I'm about to announce. Go upstairs and keep Cathleen and Bruce company. I'll get to you later.'

After Karen had exited, Minna directed her attention to the rest of the assembly.

'I'll make this short and bittersweet,' Minna began. 'Speaking on behalf of Aida and myself I must inform you that the Everleigh Club is no more. It is being shut down this evening – permanently, I gather – on the order of Mayor Harrison and Chief of Police O'Neill. This lovely place is being shuttered, and we're all out of work.'

There were outcries of anguish from most of the girls, and several broke into tears.

'I know, I know,' Minna continued. 'It's terrible news. We've had good times, haven't we? You've all been darlings.'

Feeling miserable as her girls, Minna found a gold-tipped, perfumed cigarette, lit it and began to puff nervously.

'If the mayor says we must close, that settles it,' she resumed. 'He sent the chief of police last night to inform me. The closing order will be posted at six. Then Aida and I must go to jail, I hope only briefly. What the mayor and the chief say goes, as far as I am concerned. I'm not going to be angry about it either. I never was a complainer and nothing that the politicians and police of this town can do to me will change my disposition. I'll close up shop and walk out of the place with a smile on my face.'

One girl called out, 'What about us, Minna?'

'There are plenty of other houses.'

'Not like this one,' the girl called back.

'No, not like this one,' Minna agreed. 'I'm afraid there never will be one like the Everleigh Club. You all have a little money due you, enough to last a month or two. After you get it, I suggest that you clear out of the Levee entirely. It has nothing substantial to offer. The reformers have shut us down and within a few months they'll get to the other houses. You're young. Find a job, a husband, anything, but don't depend on this life for a career. It's washed up, as we used to say in the theatre. It's done for, good and done for. We must all find different ways to live.'

Minna surveyed the room one last time.

'Go back to your hotels or wherever you're staying. Since you're all paid up for the week, remain where you are until Edmund can come by and settle accounts with you on our behalf.' She choked. 'I'm going to miss you, every one of you, and I'm going to miss this comfortable place. I love you one and all. Good luck and goodbye from Minna and Aida Everleigh.'

Late in the afternoon, Minna sat alone in her study behind her empty desk and began to make phone calls to hotels in the area, trying to find two rooms, one for Bruce and one for Cathleen and Karen Grant, whose own boarding house apartment was still sublet.

During this process, her office door opened and Dr Herman Holmes entered looking bewildered. He took up a chair and drew it closer to Minna.

After Minna hung up the telephone receiver, Holmes said, 'You wanted to see me. What's going on here? All I see in the Club are piles of furniture and crates being filled. Are you moving?'

'We're moving somewhere, I don't know where yet,' Minna said. 'Dr Holmes, we're being shut down in less than an hour by the chief of police.'

He was plainly astonished. 'You're what?'

'Being shut down,' Minna repeated. 'Aida and I are out of work. The girls are out of work. And you, Dr Holmes, are also out of work – at least for the Everleigh Club.'

Holmes was shocked. 'What happened?'

Minna told him the details of her meeting with Chief of Police O'Neill last night.

'So that's it, I'm afraid,' she concluded. 'You've done well for us, and I'm sorry to lose you. I wanted to tell you so in person.'