(1988) The Golden Room Read Online Free PDF

charges for seeing the girls perform, in whatever way they perform. Maybe a way can be arranged for some of them to perform upstairs if you’re careful to screen all visitors.’
    ‘But, in effect, we still don’t have a house anymore,’ insisted Minna.
    ‘Not exactly. You can earn enough on the restaurant to keep going, and let the girls do floor shows as entertainment.’
    ‘You know our real money comes from upstairs.’
    ‘So you’ll lose a little for a short time,’ said Coughlin cheerfully. ‘Gradually, the heat will be off. The mayor will have other, more pressing matters on his mind. He can claim he reformed you and forget about it. When he does, you can resume business as usual - no more problems. So maybe you think you lost, but Hinky Dink and I say you won, in the long run you won.’
    ‘That’s a terrible scheme, but I’ll go along with it for a little while, as long as you do your part.’
    ‘Meaning?’
    ‘Meaning that you see to it that none of the Harrison-people get in here. I don’t want spies who’ll try to prove we’re still running a whorehouse.’
    ‘Hinky Dink and I will do our best. You have to do your part too.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘You have to get your girls to pledge they won’t peep a word of any goings-on upstairs. That means your servants too.’
    ‘Don’t worry about the girls and the servants. They don’t want the place shut down. They want their jobs.’
    Kenna moved up beside Coughlin. ‘One thing, Minna. Do you have any outsiders who work here?’
    ‘Outsiders? Just one. Dr Myers from the Loop. He comes here weekly to examine the girls.’
    ‘Can you trust him?’ asked Kenna.
    ‘How do I know?’
    ‘Not good enough,’ said Coughlin. ‘Fire him. We have someone to replace him.’ He looked at Kenna, who nodded assent. Coughlin resumed. ‘We know of a Dr Herman H. Holmes, who specializes in female complaints and who has offices in Englewood, which isn’t that far away. We heard he’s the most close-mouthed and trustworthy doctor around. We can tell him what’s going on, and I know you can depend on him. We’ll send him over Saturday. Mayor Harrison’ll never learn a thing. Then you can use the restaurant front, and quietly keep up your business.’
    ‘Sounds reasonable,’ said Minna. She glanced over at her sister. ‘Aida, let’s assume it’ll work, and let’s have a bottle of champagne on the reformed Everleigh Club.’
    When Harold T. Armbruster received the call from Mayor Harrison’s secretary, Miss Karen Grant, inviting him to drop by for a moment that afternoon to convey his thanks for the meat-packer’s assistance in the election, Armbruster hesitated momentarily. He was a busy man, and normally he would have suggested it would be sufficient for the mayor to thank him on the telephone. But then Armbruster remembered something else he had read in the morning newspaper besides the election results. What he had read was very much on his mind.
    He had decided that it might be a wise idea to meet with the mayor in person, after all.
    ‘Yes, fine,’ Armbruster had said. ‘Tell Mayor Harrison I’ll be delighted to come by this afternoon at three o’clock.’
    Now, at five minutes after three, Armbruster sat comfortably in a tufted leather chair across from the mayor’s roll-top oak desk.
    ‘Congratulations,’ Armbruster said again. ‘It was a wonderful victory you had yesterday.’
    The mayor leaned back in his own high leather swivel chair, plainly pleased with his triumph. ‘Thank you for your kind words,’ Harrison said, ‘and more than that, thank you for your contribution. That probably made the whole thing possible. Let me repeat, Mr Armbruster, if there is ever anything that I can do for you …’
    Armbruster interrupted him. ‘As a matter of fact, there is something.’
    ‘Ah, good. You need only name it.’
    ‘There was an item that I read in the paper this morning.’
    ‘And what was that?’
    ‘It was about Prince