Chris Wiltz The Last Madam A Life in the N

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.She thought Big Mo would never leave; he even accepted a drink, something he rarely did, saying her house was his last stop that night, and sat in the courtyard—only a few feet from the entrance to the hideout!—to drink it.When he finally left and Norma’s girl opened the hideout, she expected the trick to go clickety-click-click off into the night.Instead he came out aflutter with happiness.“Oh,” he breathed, “I’ve been in a raid! I’m Madeleine, a girl in a raid!” He went directly up the stairs and carried on with the night.But Norma and Jackie held their breath during the following week.Norma said, “He’ll think about it and we’ll lose him, I bet you.”The next Saturday night, though, the doorbell rang, and there he was.On the off chance he’d come, Norma had bought him a new pair of red satin high heels, the biggest size she could find.When he saw those shoes, he went into ecstasy.CHAPTER NINEBirds on the WireNorma was fifty-three years old in 1954.It was a memorable year—the year she bought the property in Waggaman and the year she seduced Wayne Bernard, an act that would change her life.In the meantime she was caught up in politics, police probes, and federal grand juries.After her first grand jury appearance in 1952, her photograph had made the front page of The Times-Picayune.She could have been a politician’s wife in her modest below-the-knee shirtdress, pulling on her white gloves—except for the company she was in.Gertie Yost, a grandmotherly-looking woman wearing sensible shoes, and Dora Russo, who had pulled her coat up to hide her face, were walking out of the Fifth Circuit Courthouse with Norma.Both Gertie and Dora were notorious madams, but neither had Norma’s glamour, or her dark glasses, which added a touch of intrigue.The newspaper photographs of Norma through the years, especially in the fifties, are large and shot close up, suggesting that she was a media favorite.She is always dressed in tailored suits and dresses that were ladylike rather than madamlike.An earlier photo shows “Norma in her heyday,” wearing another of those cockeyed hats she favored, her hair short and dark.She looks like one of the girls from the Lucky Strike Hit Parade, big smile, head at a coy angle, an innocent come-hither look.In 1954, called for the second time before the grand jury, she was once again front-page news, caught by the States photographer as she walked into the hearing.She is in a dark suit with a nipped-in waist and her dark glasses.She exudes the imperturbable aura of an under-world figure with the seductive allure of a 1950s movie queen.She is all mystery and sex, powerful as an absinthe aphrodisiac.By 1954 Norma and McCoy’s marriage, nearly ten years old, was in trouble.Mac, uncomfortable with his wife’s making front-page news as a known proprietor of a house of prostitution, kept after Norma to give up the business.He sometimes chauffeured the girls to hotels or to Bourbon Street in his black Buick, but according to the SCIC report he’d also been arrested twice in connection with prostitution, though the records of these arrests had disappeared.He didn’t like staying at the Conti Street apartment with her, and Norma often thought that their place on Governor Nicholls Street wasn’t far enough away.She was straining at the bit of marriage again, torn between wanting her freedom and her love for her good and kind husband, who needed something to do besides play golf, drink, and keep an eye on her.Norma found ten acres in Waggaman, only twenty minutes by car from downtown New Orleans.It had been the site of the old Cedar Grove Plantation and was located on River Road on the West Bank of the Mississippi, just upriver from Avondale Shipyards.Over the years the main house had been changed—taken off its tall piers when it was moved farther from the river.A smaller house, a barn, and stables were also on the land.Behind them ran railroad tracks, the property’s only drawback.Otherwise it was beautiful, romantic because of the ancient live oaks dripping with moss that surrounded the house.Norma and Mac could have horses there, and Mac would have plenty to do to improve the property.And, business never far from her thoughts, Norma saw the place as a definite option should Conti Street get too hot.Norma and Mac introduced themselves to their new neighbors as Mr.and Mrs [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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