Irving Wallace - The Golden Room

'One of you, properly attired for the evening, could present this card for admittance. First, you'd ask for a girl, and the two of you could have a real costly dinner to prove you're a sport. Then the two of you could go upstairs and have your fun. After that, you could be a witness before Chief of Police O'Neill.'

'Wouldn't that be entrapment?' someone called out.

'I think our friendly courts might shut their eyes to that. Of course, it would be better, once finished, to tell the girl what you're doing. Since she'll be out of a job anyway, you could suggest she come along as a witness to back you up -in return for a sizeable bribe. That would be perfect.'

'Who's the lucky man?' Gus Varney wanted to know. 'Who gets the call?'

'Well, let me think a moment -'

Harrison examined each of his aides carefully, trying to imagine which one might be able to carry out the infiltration best. Most of them had been on his staff too long a time and might be recognized by another customer at the Everleigh Club. At last, his gaze fixed on Gus Varney.

'You,' said Harrison. 'You're the lucky one, Gus. Not because you're so beautiful and sexy.' Varney was, in fact, a beanpole and almost chinless. 'You've been on my staff the shortest time. You're from Detroit and haven't been around Chicago very long. Not that many people are familiar with you. You're the least likely to be recognized. Yes, I should say you'd be about right. You want the job?'

Varney grinned. 'If you're willing to pay for the evening, I'd love to have dinner and drinks, and a tumble in the hay with a beautiful girl.'

'Then you've got the job,' said Harrison. 'Get yourself dressed neater than you are now, get that business card printed, and find out from Coughlin and Kenna how things are managed in the Everleigh Club. Let me work out the amount we can spare for a bribe, presuming anyone can be bribed. Are you sure you can do what you have to do in bed?'

'Haven't failed yet,' said Varney.

After worrying for twenty-four hours about bringing the matter out into the open, Minna Everleigh finally decided that she had no choice. She sent Edmund around the Club to inform his fellow servants, the musicians, and all the girls that Minna wanted to meet with them at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Minna was in the Turkish Room, rearranging the pillows and divans and shutting off the gushing water fountain in the centre of the room, when the girls and servants began to appear.

The coloured servants arrived first, most coming from their comfortable quarters in the basement. Next, the five members of the Everleigh Club orchestra arrived. Standing at the perimeters of the Turkish Room, they watched as the girls filed in, a few fully dressed, most still in peignoirs, a dazzling array of youthful brunettes, blondes, redheads. As they came in to take their places, Minna stood at the head of the room and greeted each by name. 'Hello Virginia… Avis… Margo… Fanny… Belle… Phyllis… Cindy,' and so on until she had welcomed them all.

When the entire group was settled, and with all curious eyes on her, Minna began speaking in her deep voice.

'Aida is tending the front door, so I'm handling this gathering alone,' Minna began. 'It is of great importance, this meeting, and I thought I had better let you in on our problem as soon as possible.'

Minna scanned the still-puzzled faces before her and then she resumed.

'As you all know from yesterday's papers, Mayor Carter Harrison is our sworn enemy. I need hardly remind you that he won re-election on a reform platform. He had pledged to clean up the Levee, and his first priority was and is the Ever-leigh Club. Can the mayor shut us down? The answer is a definite yes, if he can prove that our Club is a house of prostitution. You and I know that is absurd…'

There was a ripple of laughter in the Turkish Room.

'… and so I am glad we all know what this is,' continued Minna, also laughing. 'From now on, the Everleigh Club is a very fine, exclusive restaurant and all of you – I address the girls now – are floor show entertainment. That fact has been conveyed to the mayor by two of our friends, Aldermen Coughlin and Kenna. Now the mayor must try to prove that we are more than a restaurant. He will need actual witnesses if he hopes to shut us down. We must make sure that no investigation will reveal that we are anything but the soul of purity and innocence.'

Phyllis, a tall blonde, came to her feet. 'Minna, what happens to our earnings if we can't have men upstairs?'

Minna chuckled. 'Who says you can't have men upstairs? I just say no one must ever know about it.'

Finding her package of Sweet Caporals, Minna shook a cigarette free and lit it.

'There will be business as usual,' Minna went on, 'but maybe not quite as usual. While we can trust our regular customers, we will have to be entirely wary of strangers. Unless they come in with bona fide referrals, or with suitable identification, we will have to turn them away. This may lead to a slight cut in your income, but you will still be doing well enough, certainly better than any other females in the Levee. Aida and I can screen the customers. You can leave that to us. What we cannot screen is your own behaviour away from the Club when you go strolling in the afternoon or when you have your day off to shop, attend the theatre, or whatever. If any one of you even hints that the Everleigh Club is continuing as a brothel, and a witness to your words goes to Harrison or to the police, then we are lost. If loose talk gets us shut down, then we will be forced to close. That will mean all of you will be out of work. You'll be struggling to get any kind of low-paying and degrading job in some shack in the Levee.'

Avis, a small, curvaceous brunette, rose to her feet. 'Minna, how long do we have to live under these conditions? I mean, worrying about everyone who comes in here and being quiet with everyone on the outside. How long?'

'Not long,' said Minna. 'Just long enough to let the mayor be satisfied that his reform effort has worked, and that he has satisfied voters he has kept his campaign promise. By then he will relax, and devote himself to larger matters. It won't be long.'

'But how long?' Avis persisted.

'Let's say maybe two weeks,' Minna said. 'Think you can stand that?'

There was a chorus of assents.

Minna was pleased.

'All right,' she said, 'our policy of caution goes into effect immediately – today – tonight. Tomorrow I intend to hire a new doctor, who will be instructed to observe the same cautions. If all of you do as you're told, we have not a thing to worry about. We can go forward and continue to live the good life.'

After deciding to get rid of her horse and carriage, Minna Everleigh had gone shopping for the ever more popular horseless carriages or automobiles. She had liked the Peerless, but had found it too expensive at $4,000. Finally she had narrowed her choice down to either the Haynes-Apperson, the Columbia Electric car, or the Model A Ford. The Haynes-Apperson was also a trifle expensive. She had been drawn to the silent, ladylike Columbia coupe, with its curved plate-glass windows, silk curtains, broadcloth upholstery, and vanity compartments, but decided against it because it could drive only five miles before requiring a battery recharge. She had settled on the Model A Ford as the most practical vehicle. Despite the fact that it was a slow car, with a speed of not quite ten miles an hour, and therefore needing no windshield, horn, or lights, Minna had bought one of the 200 produced in 1903. It had cost her $900, and she adored it. Although Minna had never driven it herself, she allowed Edmund to chauffeur her wherever she went.

Now, this morning in the front seat to the right of the begoggled Edmund, with the tonneau seat in the rear unoccupied, she was enjoying the drive to Englewood for her interview with Dr Herman H. Holmes. She was enjoying, also, the attention her Ford attracted, with its red body striped in gold, its vase of flowers near the steering wheel, and gleaming black fenders.