(1988) The Golden Room (28 page)

Grinning, Bruce recounted the astonishing events of the past hours.

‘The prince of Prussia arrived in Chicago this morning. The mayor, Mr Armbruster, and an entire reception committee were there to greet him. What the prince did was to throw the mayor’s complete agenda out the window. He would have none of it. He was very forthright. He told everyone what he did want. The only place he wanted to see in Chicago was the Everleigh Club.’

It dawned on Karen first. ‘Oh, no!’ she blurted, and began to laugh. ‘And the Everleigh Club was out of business, shut down, closed.’

‘Exactly,’ said Bruce. ‘Well, the mayor was on the spot. So was Alan’s father, who wants to be our ambassador to Germany. They both knew that they couldn’t disappoint him. They simply couldn’t deny his one request. So the mayor and Mr Armbruster agreed, as one, that the Everleigh Club must be opened. But there were only two persons who could do that.’

‘Aunt Minna and Aunt Aida,’ said Cathleen.

‘Yes - and both were in jail,’ said Bruce. ‘You can bet they were freed at once. Then Minna drove her hard bargain. She and Aida would get the Club in shape and throw it open for the prince (/“they could host the prince’s welcoming banquet in the Club, and if Cathleen and Alan were allowed to be married there before the festivities.’ Bruce grinned at his sister. ‘Mayor Harrison and Mr Armbruster offered no opposition. The Everleigh Club is being readied right now and you, Cathleen and Alan, are going to tie the knot there this evening.’

That moment the front doorbell rang and continued to ring, and there was a hammering at the door.

‘It can’t be the police so fast,’ Bruce said. ‘Who the devil can that be?’

Cautiously opening the front door a ,crack and then flinging it wide, Bruce found himself confronting a man in a braid-trimmed police uniform, another burly man in a business suit, and five policemen in plain blue.

‘Who are you?’ the man in the street clothes wanted to know.

Taken aback, Bruce announced, ‘I’m Bruce Lester. What are you doing here?’

‘I’m William Pinkerton, a private investigator working for Miss Minna Everleigh. You must be the nephew. This is Chief of Police Francis O’Neill. The other men are his officers.’ Pinkerton swallowed. ‘We’ve come about the ladies -Cathleen Lester and Karen Grant - are they all right?’

‘They’re safe now,’ said Bruce. ‘Come in and see for yourselves.’

Bruce led the seven men into the office. With the chief’s help, he introduced everyone.

The chief of police looked around, as if missing someone. ‘Where’s Dr Herman Holmes?’ he wanted to know.

‘He’s unconscious in the next room,’ Bruce said. ‘Alan and I jumped him just as he was about to kill the women with gas. Holmes had a gun. He shot at Alan and missed, and was about to shoot again, when I smashed him on the head with a heavy vase and knocked him out. We locked him in the next room.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said the chief. ‘Are you sure he’s not dead?’

‘For all I know, he might be. You want to find out?’”

‘Immediately,’ said the chief.

‘Let’s go,’ said Bruce. ‘I’ll open up the next room.’ While Alan, the chief, and Pinkerton followed him out of the office, Bruce went straight to the rubber tree at the far end of the blank wall. ‘Holmes has a button concealed back here. You push it and it automatically opens up a portion of the wall that leads you into an airtight room - where Holmes intended to gas Karen and Cathleen to death. Look.’

Bruce worked his arm behind the branches of deep-green foliage, found the button, and pressed it.

With only the slightest rumble, a portion of the wall slid smoothly to one side.

Bruce pointed into the room. ‘There’s Dr Holmes on the table the way we left him. I think he’s still unconscious.’

The chief grunted. ‘Let’s hope he’s not dead. Let me have a look.’

Bruce and the others stood aside as Chief of Police O’Neill entered the room by himself. He walked straight to Dr Holmes’s inert body, peered down at it, saw the eyes closed, the face almost bloodless. Then he lifted a wrist and felt for a pulse.

After a while, he lowered Holmes’s arm, turned away and left the room to rejoin Bruce, Alan, and Pinkerton. ‘He’s alive, but barely,’ the chief said. ‘His pulse is very feeble. I don’t know if he’ll make it. We’d better get him to the County Hospital at once.’

That moment the doorbell rang, and Alan answered it. The policemen summoned by Bruce rushed into the room.

The chief, hastening back to the office, called out, ‘Sorenson. Prescott. Nadler. What are you doing here?’

‘A Mr Lester telephoned us about a Dr Holmes. He -‘

‘We already know,’ said the chief. ‘Glad you’re here. The three of you carry Dr Holmes out to your car. Take him to the County Hospital. He’s in poor shape. We don’t want to lose him, so take it easy, but don’t waste a minute. Stay there for word of his condition. The minute you know if he’ll live or die, telephone and let me know. Take down this number.’

One of the men copied the number, then hurried to help his partners remove Holmes’s body from the chamber.

The chief of police confronted Bruce. ‘Now tell me again what happened. Why did you hit the doctor on the skull like that?’

‘I had to get Holmes before he got Alan.’

The chief frowned. ‘Better back up a step and tell me how you got mixed up with Dr Holmes in the first place.’

Bruce tried to restrain his impatience. ‘My aunt Minna Everleigh was looking for a place for Karen and Cathleen to stay, and Dr Holmes volunteered his house. When the Club was reopened, Alan and I were sent to pick up the ladies. Dr Holmes was here, but he told us Karen and Cathleen had left already. His answers were so evasive that Alan became suspicious. Alan managed to get his hands on a set of the doctor’s keys. After we’d left here, we let ourselves in for another look. We hid in the entry and saw Holmes tell Karen and Cathleen they had to sleep with him or he’d kill them. They both refused. Holmes locked them up in that crazy room, and he was just about to turn on the gas. Then Alan and I came out of hiding and we overpowered him. That’s when I smashed Holmes on the head.’

‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ said the chief of police sternly. ‘You might have killed him.’

‘He was trying to kill them,’ Bruce protested.

‘You can’t be sure of that,’ said the chief. ‘He may have said he was going to do so, but he may not have meant it.’

‘What do you mean?’ Bruce exploded. ‘I saw him going for the gas lever -‘

‘He may never have used it.’

‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing,’ Bruce said.

‘Wait a minute,’ Pinkerton interrupted. He faced the chief of police. ‘When I went to the police station and showed you all the evidence I’d gathered against Holmes, you agreed to come here with me to see if the ladies were safe.’

The chief of police bobbed his head. ‘I agreed to this because you had some suspicion that Dr Holmes might be up to no good. However, you had no solid proof, Mr Pinkerton, that Holmes was a murderer. A scoundrel, yes, but no absolute evidence that he was a killer.’

‘You heard Bruce tell you what he was witness to,’ Pinkerton argued. ‘I say that’s more than enough evidence that he’s a murderer.’

Bruce broke in. ‘If Holmes lives, I’ll swear in court that he

planned to kill Karen and Cathleen. Until then, Chief, the rest of us would like to get right back to the Everleigh Club.’

The chief of police shook his head. ‘I’m afraid you can’t do that, Mr Lester,’ he said. ‘You took the law in your own hands when you attacked Dr Holmes. There is still not a shred of concrete evidence that Dr Holmes ever committed murder or ever intended to. Unless we can find such proof, you may be involved in a crime, young man. Your partner as well. That is, if Dr Holmes dies.’

‘The whole thing is absurd,’ said Bruce.

‘It’s anything but absurd,’ the chief countered. ‘If we can prove that Dr Holmes is indeed a murderer, you’ll have no problem.’ He surveyed the room. ‘But I don’t see any corpses around.’

Karen pushed forward. ‘When Cathleen and I were locked in here, I searched for some way to escape. There was none. But over there in the floor I did find what may be two trap doors. You’d better see where they lead.’

Chief of Police O’Neill beckoned to his three officers. ‘Captain Zubukovic, let the lady show you where she thinks she saw some trap doors. If they exist, remove them and find out where they take you.’

As Karen walked towards the chamber with the policemen, the chief turned to Bruce.

‘Unless they lead to real evidence that Dr Holmes is a murderer, you’re in trouble.’

While waiting for the outcome of the search down the trap doors, they all sat in the doctor’s office.

Pinkerton sat with Chief O’Neill, going through a file of notes on his investigation of Dr Holmes.

Bruce and Alan sat huddled with Karen and Cathleen, struggling to make conversation about the wedding, and about Minna and Aida and the restored Everleigh Club. The talk was mostly intermittent. Bruce and Alan were plainly worried

by the turn of events, and the unfairness of the chief’s interpretation of the law.

At one point Bruce addressed himself to the chief of police and to Pinkerton. ‘I wonder what’s happening?’ he asked.

‘Maybe nothing,’ said the chief. ‘Or maybe something. We should know any minute.’

The chief went back to Pinkerton. Bruce and Alan continued their conversation with Karen and Cathleen, trying as best they could to reassure the shaken women that they were really safe and could relax at last.

It was more than an hour before the three policemen, somewhat dusty and dirtied, finally reappeared. All three came out of the airtight room, crossed the central hall, and came into the office.

Everyone instantly fell silent. All eyes were on the police.

Chief O’Neill spoke first. ‘What did you find, Captain Zubukovic?’

‘Miss Grant was right,’ said Zubukovic. ‘There were two trap doors in the floor. One led to a narrow staircase that Dr Holmes obviously used to descend into a basement-level room. The other trap door opened on to a chute, a kind of slippery slide by which human bodies were dropped into that basement.’

‘Human bodies?’ repeated Chief O’Neill. ‘What gives you that idea?’ He added with emphasis, ‘I want facts, not fantasies.’

‘I have facts, Chief,’ said Zubukovic. ‘You want to hear what we found in the basement?’

‘Tell me,’ said the chief.

‘We found an operating table - blood has been washed off but some still exists in patches - upon which Dr Holmes apparently dismembered the bodies of his gassed victims. There is a vat with traces of quicklime. It looks as though Dr Holmes dipped his dismembered victims into it.’

Chief of Police O’Neill interrupted with annoyance. ‘All speculation, Captain. I told you I wanted facts.’

‘Then,’ Zubukovic resumed doggedly, ‘we found a huge furnace. A huge one. Big enough so I could step inside. I counted twenty-seven skulls, and the worst tangle of charred ribs, pelvic bones, thigh bones, shin bones and other human remains - it’s too gruesome to go any further.’

Chief of Police O’Neill was standing. ‘Twenty-seven human skulls,’ he echoed with disbelief. ‘Twenty-seven?’

‘Precisely,’ said Zubukovic. ‘That’s how many we sorted and counted. Most of them women, I’d guess. That doctor probably tricked them into coming here, then tried to take advantage of them. I imagine he gassed them whether he had his way or not, then dissolved the bodies, cut them up, and cremated the pieces. That’s the truth, Chief. You should see for yourself. Miss Lester and Miss Grant are lucky to be alive.’

Chief of Police O’Neill stood silently, contemplating what he had heard.

Suddenly the telephone on the desk rang. The chief seemed to rouse himself out of a state of shock. He stepped towards the desk to take up the telephone.

‘Officer Sorenson at the County Hospital,’ a voice announced.

The chief said, ‘This is O’Neill. What about Dr Holmes? Is he still alive or did he die?’

‘He’s alive, sir. A skull fracture. They can fix him up.’

‘They’d better,’ said the chief of police. ‘I want him in good shape when he’s tried and sentenced to the gallows.’

His narrowed eyes lingered on Cathleen and Karen. Then they shifted to Bruce and Alan.

His gaze holding on the two young men, the chief said loudly and distinctly, ‘We’ll put Holmes on trial as soon as he’s well enough. I’ll send in our forensic experts to identify the remains.’ He paused, and grinned. ‘You’re free, Bruce, to go to the Everleigh Club - in fact all of you are free. Minna and Aida will be relieved to see you. And, adding my thanks, so am I.’

Bruce drove Minna’s Ford to 2131 South Dearborn Street and parked it in the reserved place in front of the Everleigh Club.

While Alan helped Cathleen out of the car, Bruce assisted Karen to the sidewalk. Together they hurried up the steps leading into the Everleigh Club.

As they hastened through the Club’s entrance, they saw rainbows of flowers reflected in gleaming mirrors. Cathleen, Karen, Alan, and Bruce were met by Minna and Aida, who had stationed themselves in the foyer to await their return.

The moment that Minna set eyes upon the new arrivals, her face lit up with relief and joy.

She rushed forward to fling her arms around Cathleen, and then around Karen.

‘You’re alive, you’re safe!’ Minna exclaimed. ‘Aida and I were desperate when Mr Pinkerton told us about Dr Holmes’s background. We’d been waiting on pins and needles for some word that you were alive. Thank heavens Bruce telephoned.’

‘They’re alive,’ Bruce said, ‘but it was close, very close, I can tell you that.’

‘What happened?’ Aida wanted to know. ‘Did Dr Holmes make advances to you?’

‘Yes, he made advances to Karen and me,’ answered Cathleen, ‘and when we rejected him, he was ready to kill us. We were rescued at the last minute by Alan and Bruce. Tell my aunts about it, Alan.’

Alan gestured to Bruce. ‘I’m still too shaky to be very articulate. I think Bruce can do a better job of it.’

‘It was pretty awful, and it was nip and tuck with the girls’ lives. I’ll make it brief. Here is what happened.’