“There you go little lady”.

A man said holding  the door as I entered , He was lengthy with a thin build. He was wearing a brown suit with gold buttons and suspenders with a top hat; which was now in his hands as he greeted me at the entrance. I walked ‘head at a faster pace, as being a flapper ain’t safe at this time of night in a city like New Orleans. You never know what kind of dangers lurk near you. As I headed in, the sound of Jazz music and rowdy men filled my ears, 

“You best fix your hair, Otto isn’t going to let you get up on that stage looking like that.”

 Ruth muttered to me as she walked past me holding what seemed to be 4 or 5 whiskey bottles for a table of men a couple feet behind me. Otto was the head honcho at the Cadillac club, he had little to no respect for the women that he employed and was always taking credit and ownership of the work us girls did around the club. He was an older man, mid 50’s with narrowed deep brown eyes and peppered curls. One thing about Otto was that you always knew when he was near; He had terrible heart disease and all other sorts of illnesses that caused an horrendous cough anytime he exhaled.  I walked to the little ladies dressing room a couple doors down the hallway. I was expecting 8 or so other girls in the room but was shocked when I walked in to see only 4 others. Virginia turned to look at me, her blonde bouncy curls were already laid and swooped neatly on top of her head, at first glance it was hard to notice the blood dripping from her nose. 

“I don’t know why we stick around for Otto when he treats us like we don’t got no business being round here”

. Helen said holding a now blood soaked napkin to Virginia's face, We could all hear his cough echoing throughout the room as if he knew we were talking about him, 

“Lord knows there's no Cadillac Club without us show girls, he’s already lost 5 girls just this week, at this rate the club will be cut by next month.”

 The Cadillac club was the most popular speakeasy in New Orleans, It opened just weeks after the prohibition started last year. 

“I just want to know what Otto would do if his little secret got out, he knows he can’t sell alc-”  “No, no, no! I Can’t lose another job Helen, It’s not that big of a deal,”

Virginia said, wiping the last bits of blood and tears from her face, 

“Lets just have a good show tonight” As she finished her sentence, Ruth walked back into the dressing room, 

“We got to be out in-” as she was talking, the music came to an abrupt stop, I’ve never heard the club this quiet. Ruth started back up,

 “Hey, What’s going-” 

Suddenly the lights were cut out. A blood curdling scream was let out from the main dining area, a man’s scream. All of us looked at each other before we all split into different directions of the dressing room for cover. What seemed like hours was actually 3 minutes before the lights randomly were cut back on. I peered around the room to make sure the other girls were okay before I headed to the door. I peaked my head out to see everyone gathered around the center table near the stage. Below them, I could make out two freshly shined, pointed shoes, and slacks laid out on the floor. I approached to see it was Otto, he was dead. 

It wasn’t long after we discovered Otto when people began to panic. Otto’s body was eerily calm; it looked as if he was only peacefully asleep. Clink, clink, I turned to see the men had now lined up by the exit and were waiting fearfully to leave. Clink, Clink, the door made a tapping sound as it rubbed against the large lock that was placed on the door, we were stuck. Around Otto’s body was a now spilled glass of whiskey. I picked up the glass from the floor and held it to the light, I was apprehensive and breathing so heavily, that the glass a foot away from my face had fogged up.  Beneath the ice, There was a white powdery substance at the bottom of the glass. He had been poisoned. My cold hands, now shaking with angst, dropped to my mouth causing me to shatter the glass. Suddenly a hand was placed on my shoulder, I turned to see a large man who was one of our regulars. He let out a large sigh,

 “Don’t go blaming yourself now darlin, there's nothing we could’ve done for him,”

 I was confused,  “You know Otto had heart disease” I went to respond but before I could, I noticed 3 men attempting to push a 4th out a small window sitting above the stage, there was a phone booth just in front of the alleyway a couple stores down the road. I knew we had to leave before law enforcement showed up to the scene, we would be arrested if they knew what kind of place the Cadillac Club was. I ran to the back where the rest of the girls were resting,

 “What’s with all that noise, Meredith?”

 said Helen as she pinned the last curl on top of her head. 

“Umm,” 

I stuttered, 

“he’s dead”. 

They all turned to look at me “Well.. what do you mean he’s dead?” muttered Helen, “I don’t.. I don’t know what happened, I walked out and he was on the floor”. The silence was deafening, they all had wide, blank stares. Except for Virginia, she had a vacant expression and was staring herself in the face. 

“We best get out of here before the police show”

 I stated, It was quiet as we packed our things, I waited as the other girls headed out. I peered over to the back of the dressing room in Virginia smoking a freshly lit  cigarette, I could hear the sirens beginning to surround the building. 

“Grab my bag for me would ya” 

 she asked, I turned around to the stack of small lockers behind me where the girls and I kept our stuff. I grabbed the black and blue striped bag from Virginia's locker, causing a small capsule of white powder to fall from the pocket of her bag. I peered upwards in her direction to see her eyes staring back. The red and blue lights began to seep through the window at the top of the room. Just then, the lights cut out again.