Dr Holmes did not shut the door. He left an inch open so that he could hear the rest.
‘I told you,’ the male voice resumed. ‘I work for Mayor Harrison. He guaranteed me that if I had sex with any Everleigh girl I could offer her $5,000 if she would testify that the Club is still a brothel. You were smart enough to take me up on it.’
‘What happens next?’ Fanny inquired.
‘We get dressed. I leave the room first and find Aida and pay up for the evening. Then I’ll step outside and find a public telephone and call the mayor’s office. I’ll say we’re coming right in. Then I’ll go to the corner and wait for you. Any problem getting out?’
‘Of course not,’ said Fanny. ‘This isn’t slavery. I’m allowed to go out and get some air.’
‘Let’s get moving.’
Grimacing, Dr Holmes softly shut the door. His heart was beating fast. That stupid girl in there was about to double-cross the Everleighs. Holmes didn’t give a damn about the Everleighs, but he did give a damn about the Club and keeping it open for ever as his fleshy playground.
Dr Holmes’s first reaction was to race downstairs and inform Minna Everleigh, but he thought twice about that. Minna would not know the proper way to handle the mayor’s secret spy. He could not see her killing the man or hiring someone else to kill him. She wasn’t the type. She’d try to reason with him or bribe him. Holmes was afraid the man would get away, contact the mayor, and close the whole Club down. Holmes knew that for his own sake he could not risk letting the man go free or let that double-crossing Fanny out on the loose.
Dr Holmes knew what to do. He alone could do it.
He rapped sharply on the door, then pushed it open slightly.
‘Fanny?’ he called out. ‘This is Dr Holmes, your new physician. I’m here to give you a routine examination. I’d like to come in.’
‘Can’t it wait?’ Fanny called back. ‘I still have a customer here.’
‘I don’t mind the customer,’ said Holmes. ‘I’ll just give you a brief examination and leave.’
He pushed the door fully open.
They were both staring at him. The thin man had one leg in his trousers, and Fanny, entirely nude, was heading for the bathroom.
‘Can’t you see we’re busy?’ she shot out irritably.
Calmly, Holmes advanced towards her. ‘It seems to me you’ve finished your business. Unfortunately, I haven’t finished mine. I promised Minna I’d examine fifteen girls today, and I’ve done fourteen. You’re the last, Fanny. Please be cooperative. It’ll only take a few minutes.’
‘What am I supposed to do?’ she said, still irritable.
‘What you’ve done with the previous doctor. It’ll be a similar examination.’ Dr Holmes turned to the man. ‘Once you’re dressed, sir, I’d suggest you wait, just in case there is something wrong which you may have contracted … All right, Fanny, let’s have a look.’
Pouting, Fanny returned to the bed and lay back, legs apart.
Dr Holmes kneeled down between her legs. What he saw was truly mind-rending.
A pity to do what he had to do, he told himself, but it was a dire necessity.
Using his speculum, he tried to look inside. Then he inserted two fingers into her vagina.
‘Hey,’ Fanny protested, ‘what are you doing? The other doctor never did that.’
‘I have to because I’m afraid I see something. I’ve got to be sure.’
After a few moments, he removed his fingers.
‘Just as I suspected,’ he said. ‘Give me a moment in which to wash my hands. You can sit up now.’
When Dr Holmes returned to the bedroom, Fanny was sitting up, eyes fixed on him.
‘What’s going on?’ she said. ‘You found something wrong?’
‘Yes, definitely,’ Dr Holmes said. ‘There’s an infection, sores, a febrile disturbance that would indicate secondary syphilis.’
‘That can’t be,’ Fanny protested again. ‘I’m clean, always have been, and so is everyone who works here.’
‘How can you be certain?’ said Dr Holmes, putting aside his speculum. He looked up at the young man seated on the chair, nervously watching. ‘As for you, sir, you may have contracted Fanny’s syphilis. We’ll find out soon enough, and I’ll do what I can to help you both.’
‘You’re not going to tell Minna, are you?’ Fanny wailed.
‘No, I won’t. But I will have to ask you and your friend -I didn’t get his name ’
‘Jack Simon,’ Varney croaked.
‘I’ll have to ask you and Fanny to come to my office where I can treat her - and examine you.’
‘Can’t it wait?’ asked Varney. ‘We had another appointment.’
Dr Holmes wrote out his address and handed it to Fanny. ‘Meet me there in a half hour. No, Mr Simon, it can’t wait. Allowing the infection to remain untreated will only endanger both of you. Once I’ve treated her - and possibly you - with mercury, you will be free to keep your appointment.’ Dr Holmes went to the door. ‘A half hour from now, at my office.’
When they were alone, Varney turned to Fanny. ‘Why don’t you dress? I have to pay my bill and make a phone call. I’ll wait on the corner, and then we can see the doctor together.’
When Varney came down the mahogany staircase to the street floor of the Everleigh Club, he found a diminutive, thin, pretty young woman waiting for him.
‘Mr Simon, I presume,’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘I’m Minna Everleigh,’ she introduced herself. ‘You met my sister. Did you enjoy yourself?’
‘Immensely,’ Varney said. ‘The supper was superb. The girl, Fanny, my companion, was even more superb.’
‘I’m glad,’ said Minna. ‘Then you won’t mind paying the bill for the restaurant and the entertainment upstairs.’ She fished into a pocket, brought out a bill, and handed it to Varney.
He noted the total, took out his wallet, extracted $150 and handed it to Minna. ‘I suppose a tip is in order,’ he said, and pulled out another five dollars.
‘Very good, Mr Simon. I hope you will remember us the next time you’re in Chicago.’
He grinned. ‘My first stop will be the Everleigh Club.’
He watched Minna leave for a room that was presumably her office, and then he turned into the foyer. He spotted the telephone, and glanced about him. No one was in sight. He considered risking a call from here when suddenly the valet appeared to show him to the door.
Continuing on to the exit, Varney hesitated as Edmund opened the door.
‘I’m looking for a public telephone,’ said Varney. ‘I have a number of business calls to make. Is there a public telephone in the neighbourhood?’
‘Just a half block away,’ said Edmund. ‘As you leave, turn right. From the corner you’ll see a small hotel across the street. There’s a public telephone in the lobby.’
Once outside, Varney turned right and walked to the corner. He saw the Zion Hotel, crossed over to it and entered.
At first he could see no public telephone, and then at the far end of the narrow lobby he saw a telephone switchboard with a young lady behind it.
Varney went to her. ‘Is this a public telephone?’
‘Yes, it is.’ She held up a telephone. ‘Give me the number you want and I’ll get it. That’ll be ten cents.’
As he fumbled for the dime, Varney was startled by the costliness of the call. His entire lunch at noon had amounted to three cents two cents for the hot dog sandwich and one cent for the coffee. Nevertheless, he turned over the dime and gave the young woman the phone number to the mayor’s office. Waiting, he felt an undercurrent of real excitement at what he had accomplished. He knew that the mayor, or whomever was in his office awaiting this call, would be just as excited.
‘Here’s your party,’ said the operator, handing up the telephone and receiver.
He heard a feminine voice on the line. ‘Hello, hello.’ He realized that it was Karen Grant who was on the line.
; Aware that the public operator could overhear him, he decided to make his own tone as inaudible as possible and made his words cryptic.
‘It’s Gus,’ he said.
Karen replied, ‘The mayor asked me to stand by for your call, and to phone him at once if there is good news. He’d come over to meet with you.’
‘Good news,’ said Varney softly. ‘Very good news.’
‘Oh, that’s wonderful. I’ll see that the mayor is here to meet you.’
‘Tell him not to rush. It would take me half an hour to get to the office, but I have to make one other stop first. I can’t explain. It’ll delay me another half-hour.’
‘I’ll tell Mayor Harrison.’
‘Tell him. See you.’
‘See you,’ said Karen Grant.
Varney hung up, and returned the telephone to the public operator.
Quickly, he left the Zion Hotel lobby to cross over to the opposite corner and await Fanny before taking a detour to Dr Holmes’s office and then going on to Mayor Harrison’s office.
He felt triumphant as the hotel door closed behind him. He just hoped that he had not contracted syphilis too.
Dr Herman Holmes had no sooner pulled on his white medical jacket than the doorbell rang.
He went from his office to the entrance and opened the door.
Fanny, whatever her last name was, stood there, wearing a great feathered hat. She was with the man called Simon, whatever his real name was. Both were unable to conceal their nervousness.
Dr Holmes beckoned them inside, led them to his austere office, and ordered them to be seated.
He lowered himself into a chair behind his desk. ‘It won’t take long,’ he said, ‘but allow me to explain the procedure. I’m going to examine you once again, Fanny, in better light, just to be absolutely sure of my diagnosis. Then if necessary, I’ll examine you, Mr Simon, to learn if there are any signs of your having the disease.’
‘I certainly hope not,’ said Varney.
‘There’s a fifty-fifty chance. If you show no evidence of the disease, you have not a thing to worry about. If you do show any signs of syphilis, I’ll treat you just as I’ll treat Fanny.’
‘I’ve never had it before,’ said Fanny. ‘What are you going to do to cure me?’
‘If the syphilis has been absorbed into your blood, I’ll prescribe the mercury treatment,’ explained Dr Holmes. ‘I’ll give you mercury in the form of pills, and then you’ll need your friend as well - a mercury vapour bath.’
‘It won’t take long, will it?’ asked Varney.
‘No more than the examination itself.’ Dr Holmes stood up. ‘Now follow me down the hall to my examining-room.’
‘I thought you were going to examine us here,’ said Fanny, rising.
‘I prefer to undertake examinations of this sort in an isolated room,’ said Dr Holmes. ‘Please come along.’
He walked them both to the rear and pushed a button, sliding open the door to his airtight room.
‘Come inside,’ he ordered.
Dr Holmes went into the chamber, followed by a bewildered Fanny and Varney.
The physician led them to an oversized examining-table in the centre of the room, and waved his hand at the features of the room around him.
‘The sheeting and covered windows are to give absolute assurance of privacy. I suggest you both undress and seat yourselves side by side on the examining table.’
‘Together?’ Fanny asked. ‘Both of us at the same time?’
‘Do it,’ Holmes replied sharply.
Turning his back, he left the room. Once outside the room, he secured the heavy door.
He walked leisurely to his office.
Once at his desk, he took up a pipe, filled it, lit it and smoked, taking his time to give them the interval to undress. Their nakedness would save him a lot of time later.
After three or four minutes, he put his pipe down in a copper ashtray, and strolled over to the concealed levers.
Coolly, he flipped on the lever that would send gas into the room where Fanny and Varney awaited his reappearance. The poisonous gas would begin to pour from four jets into the airtight room. In seconds Fanny and her friend would become aware of it. In a minute, they would realize that something was amiss. In a few minutes, they would begin choking, strangling, crying for help.
But no one anywhere would hear their pleas.
Dr Holmes smiled broadly. He pulled out his watch. In five minutes they would be asphyxiated. First one, then the other, would drop to the floor.
He peered at his watch.
One more minute and they would be dead.
The Everleigh Club would be safe for Dr Herman Holmes.
The watch in his hand ticked on. A full minute had passed.
The two of them were dead. The double-crossers had been silenced for ever.
Dr Holmes turned off the gas. Then he pressed a second lever upward to open the narrow windows on top of the secret room. This clearing process usually took about ten minutes.
In fifteen minutes, the chamber would be safe for the return of Dr Holmes.
Waiting, Holmes shuffled through several medical journals, but had no patience with them. He had recently purchased two novels by E. P. Roe and George Barr McCutcheon. He picked up the Roe book and tried to begin reading, but his excitement made it too hard to continue. He brought up his watch twice, and after twelve minutes had passed he threw the novel aside, walked out of his office, and made for the lethal chamber.
Parting the sliding doors, he stepped inside. A faint aroma of gas was still in the air. Inhaling, Holmes was satisfied the chamber was clear enough. His eyes held on the two bodies crumpled on the floor in front of the examining table. Fanny was nude, but, curiously, the man named Simon had not undressed.
Holmes went to them, kneeled, and felt for a pulse.
No beat in either.
Dead. Both dead.
Pleased, Holmes took hold of Fanny underneath her armpits and dragged her to the trap door leading to the basement. Lowering her to the floor, Holmes tugged open the trap door. Unceremoniously, Holmes lifted Fanny’s corpse, settled it into the chute, and let go. It slid down and away and out of sight. Then he sent her clothes down after her.
Holmes decided he’d dispose of Fanny first, before coming back to get rid of Simon. Holmes strode to the second trap door, yanked it free, and carefully descended the staircase.
Once downstairs, Holmes opened the furnace and started a fire. He turned to lift up Fanny’s body, carried it to the tank of quicklime, and lowered it inside. After a short interval, he emptied the tank, and, donning long rubber gloves, picked up Fanny’s corpse and carried it to his dissection table. He stretched the remains out flat, peeled off his gloves, picked up a scalpel, and resumed his work.
Slowly, with considerable precision, Holmes dismembered the body part by part, until seven parts lay before him.
Opening the furnace, he took each part and tossed it into the blazing kiln. Then he threw in her clothes.
He shut the furnace. While the remains were being cremated, Holmes carefully washed and cleaned the dissecting-table. When he was satisfied, he went to the staircase and climbed up into the secret chamber.
There was still the man to be dealt with. Holmes headed for this second corpse, prepared to cast it down the chute, when he hesitated.
Simon’s complete disappearance might not deter Mayor Harrison’s investigation, Holmes decided.
He thought about it some more. If Simon’s body could be found, and identified, the mayor would somehow learn about it. This would shock Harrison, and remind him that his effort to infiltrate the Everleigh Club had been of no avail. This might deter Harrison from risking another agent to expose the Club.
Holmes stared down at the lifeless body. Finally, Holmes went to his knees and began to search Simon’s trousers and jacket. There was only a wallet stuffed with money and a pack of richly embossed calling-cards that plainly identified the man as Jack Simo
n, president of Quality Beer Company in St Louis. Obviously a fake but it had been enough to gain Simon entrance to the Everleigh Club, and it would be enough to have the corpse brought sooner or later to the mayor’s attention.
Instantly, Holmes’s mind was made up.
No chute, no quicklime, no dismemberment, no cremation for Jack Simon.
His corpse would be found whole, a victim of murder, but whole and identifiable.
That surely would give Harrison pause and make the mayor quit his investigation.
Dr Herman Holmes would then have the Everleigh Club to himself.
He put his mind to the problem of disposing of the body.
At three-twenty in the morning, Dr Holmes drove his new one-cylinder Packard touring car to the front door of the Castle. Even though the car was a bit conspicuous, it had the advantages of a roof, as well as separate back seats.
Leaving the automobile, Holmes stood in the street and surveyed the neighbourhood. There was not a human being in sight. It was sleep time, the silent time of the night -perfect for his purpose.
Going into the Castle, Holmes continued past his office to the sliding door of the death chamber, pushed the button, and went inside. The corpse lay sprawled on the floor. The body was thin, but it was dead weight; with an effort Holmes carried it out of the chamber and up the hallway to the front door. He propped the body half-seated against the pillar inside the front entrance, opened the door, and stepped outside.
He looked around the area.
No movement. No one anywhere.
There would be minimum risk.
With growing confidence, Holmes hoisted the body upwards, keeping it upright - if someone noticed, he could claim his companion was drunk - and pulled the body outside, to the rear of the Packard. The car had a tonneau entry from the rear, leading into the back seat. After pulling out this extra door, Holmes strained hard to lift the body higher, and
with difficulty succeeded in stuffing the corpse inside the car. Quietly, Holmes closed the door.
Wiping his brow, he once more cast his eyes about the neighbourhood to observe if there had been any witnesses. He could reassure himself there had been none.
(1988) The Golden Room Page 6