(1988) The Golden Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

sides get what they want.’
    Kenna squirmed. ‘Sounds impossible.’
    Coughlin finished his whisky. ‘I don’t know. All hell’ll bust loose, but we can do it. I have a few ideas. Trust me, Hinky Dink. Everyone’s coming out on their feet - I think.’

TWO
    Minna Everleigh stood beside the desk in her study, angrily rereading the front page of the Chicago Times. She glared at the headlines:

CARTER HARRISON WINS MAYORAL RACE
    INCUMBENT DEFEATS STEWART 146,208 TO 138,548

SLENDER MARGIN DUE TO
SURPRISE TURNROUND IN FIRST WARD
    REFORM CANDIDATE HARRISON
    PROMISES IMMEDIATE CLEANUP OF CITY VICE

Minna looked up as Aida returned from her telephone call. ‘Well?’ Minna asked.
    ‘I spoke to Bathhouse, told him you wanted to see him,’ said Aida. ‘He expected the call. He and Hinky Dink are already on their way.’
    Still seething, Minna flung the newspaper on the desk. ‘Those double-crossers!’
    Aida picked up the paper. She scanned the bold headlines. ‘It was close, anyway.’
    ‘Close only counts in bed,’ snapped Minna.
    Aida continued to scan the front page. ‘Minna, listen to this. Prince Henry of Prussia, the brother of the kaiser of Germany …’
    ‘What about him?’
    ‘He’s coming to Chicago soon. Minna, he’ll attract a lot of people. It could mean more business for us.’
    ‘What business? We’ll be out of business. Harrison will see to that.’
    ‘Why don’t we find out what Bathhouse and Hinky Dink
    have to say?’ pleaded Aida. ‘Here, let me pour you a whisky.’
    ‘Make it a double!’
    Fifteen minutes later, as Minna and Aida sat brooding, Edmund the valet knocked, opened the door, and showed John Coughlin and Michael Kenna into the office.
    Minna snatched up the paper and waved the front page at Coughlin. ‘After taking all of our pay-off money, how do you explain this? Your very own ward turned the tide for Harrison. How did that happen?’
    ‘We passed your money around,’ Coughlin said with sincerity. ‘Apparently it wasn’t enough. Someone else must have come along and outspent us.’
    ‘I don’t believe you,’ said Minna sharply. ‘I’ll bet you pocketed it all yourselves.’
    ‘Minna, I swear -‘ began Coughlin.
    ‘We spent it all,’ interjected Kenna. ‘Somebody on the mayor’s side just came along and bamboozled us.’
    ‘It makes no sense,’ persisted Minna. ‘The Levee vote was suicidal. Everyone voted against themselves. Everyone is going to be wiped out, and first of all the Everleigh sisters.’
    ‘No, that’s not true,’ said Coughlin. ‘That’s what I was coming over here to tell you.’
    ‘What do you mean, not true?’ Minna demanded.
    ‘Please sit down, Minna. You too, Aida, and let me explain what really happened.’ He waited for the sisters to sit, and then picked up the newspaper. ‘It says here you lost, but I can tell you that you really won.’
    ‘That’s a slick one, Bathhouse,’ said Minna bitterly. ‘We lost but we won.’
    Coughlin pushed on. ‘Just listen to me. Hinky Dink and I were with Mayor Harrison this morning. To congratulate him. I tell the mayor, “You can do whatever you want to do with the other houses in the Levee. But you can’t close the Everleigh Club.” The mayor rears up at that. “Who says I can’t close the Everleigh Club? It’s the one whorehouse I mean to close and fast.” Then Hinky Dink speaks up and
    says, “Mayor, we have it on good authority it is not a whorehouse. Sure, it was once. But it isn’t one now. The Everleigh Oub is a restaurant, and the girls there are dancers and entertainers.” The mayor is furious. He says, “I know it’s a whorehouse.” So I says to him, “Mayor, you better prove that for certain before you can close it down.” That shut him up for now.’ Coughlin beamed at Minna. ‘So there you are, home free.’
    ‘Who’s home free?’ Minna demanded. ‘If I haven’t got our house and our girls, what have I got?’
    ‘An expensive restaurant, with special