Well everyone, it is my pleasure to inform you that the sequel is now finished (30 chapters long and over one hundred thousand words)! Do not get to excited though, you are still only going to get updates on wednesdays and saturdays. But at least you will have the comforting thought of knowing i am not going to give up on it. Enjoy chapter 9...
Chapter 9- A Little White Lie
Things had not improved a bit over the past few weeks. Meg had not said one word, which concerned everybody around her, especially Byron. What was concerning both Christine and Erik the most however was that Meg had somehow come to the conclusion that the killer in red was her own son.
There were many reasons why Christine and Erik had not dared tell Byron this of course. One was the fact that they were sure he would not believe either of them. The other reason was that they did not feel that it was their place to do so as it was Meg's, if she ever found her voice again.
Ever since Meg had told them that she thought that Michel was the killer, both Erik and Christine had been working together to try and think what possible reasons Meg might have for believing such a thing. Christine had suggested that she must have had some sort of argument with him, whereas Erik suggested that she had just got annoyed with him for not visiting her and Byron for so long, and therefore blamed it on him out of spite.
They both seemed to have come to a silent agreement that Meg was just jumping to the wrong conclusion and had both had conversations with Byron to try and inconspicuously find out if anything had happened between Meg and Michel recently, but from what they had managed to get out of him it seemed that everything was perfectly normal.
Christine could remember only too clearly, the day that Meg had told them that she thought her son was a killer. Today however, this was not the most pressing subject at hand. Christine had a much bigger thing to worry about than false accusations.
She was in her and Erik's bedroom, getting ready to go out and was studying her reflection in the mirror, making sure that she looked her absolute best. For today was the day that she was returning to the Opera Populaire for a very different reason than seeing the latest production that they had put on.
Of course she had been to see Romeo and Juliet because she had promised Carrie. Every time she went back however, she always remembered the fateful performance of 'Don Juan Triumphant'.
Christine had not however told Erik about having to go to the Opera House. This was because of the reason that she was needed. If Erik heard that she needed to go back to answer questions about 'The Phantom' she did not know how he would react.
Christine was just about satisfied with her image. She took a rose from the desk that was in the corner of the room and placed it in her hair. She thought that this would make her look even better. Then she considered how the police may question her about this, as the Phantom was known to have had a habit of leaving red roses around the place. Christine decided to wear it in the end as she used to have one in her hair quite often when she lived at the Opera House.
Erik was downstairs composing more of his Opera. If Christine could sneak out without him noticing then she could leave, come back and then say that she had gone to check up on Meg. She crept downstairs and then tiptoed over to the door as quietly as she possibly could. Christine knew that she had failed however when she stepped on something very fluffy.
Meow! Erik stopped playing the piano at once and then bolted out into the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. When he saw Christine halfway to the door he looked as though he was trying to work out where she was going, without success.
"Going somewhere?" He asked, looking half smug that he had caught her, yet at the same time half upset about the idea of her trying to sneak off without his knowledge.
"Umm, yes I was just going to…" Christine was going to tell him that she was going to see Meg, but now that she was face to face with him she could not lie. "…I am needed at the Opera House."
Erik looked a little puzzled at this sudden announcement. "Needed at the Opera House… why?"
Christine felt that it would be both easier and better to show rather than tell, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter addressed to her. She began to read it aloud to Erik. "Mother, I am sorry to have to ask this of you, I know you have much better things to be doing with your time, but I have been requested to ask you to come to the Opera House for a short interview concerning 'The Phantom'." Christine paused for a minute to let Erik take this in. "If you ask me they are wasting their time as the man does not seem to exist, but that is their choice, time and date is on the back of this letter. Again I am sorry to have to ask this of you, Love Carrie."
Erik took the letter from her to look at the time and date on the back. "Why didn't you tell me?" He sounded very melancholy.
"Because I didn't want to worry you with something like this…" Christine replied very quickly. "…and I thought you would be angry."
"Christine…" Erik began, "… if anything is going to make me angry it is going to be you not telling me what is going on… it upsets me."
Christine put her arms around him. "I'm sorry…" Letting go of him she checked her watch. "I must go. I don't want to be late."
Erik did not feel the need to ask her not to say anything about him. "Ok, I'll see you when you get back…"
She turned and left. Erik did not feel like going back to his composing, so he decided to pore over more newspapers concerning 'The Two'…
-
"Miss Daae! Delighted to see you again! "Boomed Firmin as he welcomed Christine into the familiar entrance hall.
"Thank you monsieur. I only wish it were on a brighter subject…" Christine replied to Firmin's greeting.
"I couldn't agree more Miss Daae." Said André, walking up to Christine and shaking her hand in a friendly gesture, "…but wouldn't you rather get this all resolved?"
"We can only try can't we?" The two managers nodded at Christine's statement, then proceeded to show her to the familiar managers' office.
The Opera house did not seem to have changed much. The only thing that appeared to be different was that the decorations on the walls had all been changed, such as the paintings and the lamps.
Christine passed several people that she had never seen before in her life who she assumed worked or lived at the Populaire. There was no sign of Carrie at all, which was unfortunate because Christine really wanted to have a word with her.
Someone that Christine did run into however was Porsche. Christine saw her lurking in one of the shadowy corners of a hall, only distinguishable by her yellow eyes. There was one person however who Christine was very unnerved by, and that was a man who she assumed was a detective. He was standing outside the managers' office, smoking a pipe.
"You would not believe how many times we have told him to do that outside. He won't listen though…" Firmin explained to Christine, opening the door to their office, "… André and I have come to the conclusion that he must be deaf…"
Christine entered the room to find another man who she assumed to be yet another detective in there waiting for the three of them. André closed the door behind them and then went over to sit behind his desk. The detective stood by his chair.
"Ok, I suppose that there is no point beating about the bush. Please take a seat…" Began the detective in a low voice. Christine sat down opposite André yet the detective remained standing, "… I would like to ask you a few questions about a certain individual who calls himself 'The Phantom of the Opera'."
"Please continue." Said Christine in a very casual tone of voice.
The detective did not waste any time after she had said this. "Do you have any idea as to the whereabouts of this man?"
Christine shook her head, and then followed that up by saying. "I never have."
"Ok…" Began the detective, "… have you ever had any sort of contact with him?"
"Apparently I have, but whenever it was I can't remember a thing…" Christine looked over at the managers, "… surely you have already told him this?"
"We have, but he didn't seem to believe us. He wanted to hear it from you." Firmin informed Christine.
"Then what is the point in this interview if you already know everything that I am going to say!" Christine snapped at the detective, getting very annoyed.
André opened his desk drawer, took something out of it, and then closed it again. "We have very good reason to believe that the Phantom is back, Miss Daae…"
He showed her what he was holding. Christine had to try and stop herself from screaming in rage when she saw that he was holding an envelope which was sealed with a blood red wax skull.
"We just need to get all of the information that we possibly can…"
"You are wasting your time…" Christine said quite bitterly. She reached out a hand to take the letter from André, to her surprise he did not pull it back out of her reach.
Christine read through the letter several times, and then she got up very suddenly to her feet.
"Where are you going?" Firmin called after her as she headed to the door.
"It is obvious to me that there was no need for you to bring me here in the first place. I am sorry messieurs but I must bid you farewell… oh, and can I keep this?" She finished, holding up the letter and the envelope.
"Certainly…" Replied André, then opened his drawer again, "…it isn't as though we have not got enough already…"
He then held up no less than five more skull sealed letters. Christine left the room straight away after this, determined to get home and confront Erik about this immediately.
She was storming through the Opera House in such a rage, that she was shocked when she suddenly ran straight into…
"Carrie!" Christine flung her arms around her daughter, momentarily forgetting about her anger.
"Nice to see you again mother." Carrie said, trying to free herself from Christine's grip. "How did the interview go?"
All of the previous emotions that Christine had been feeling suddenly came back to her in a flood of rage. "To be quite honest with you it was utterly pointless." She replied, bluntly.
"Oh, I am sorry…" Carrie sounded a tiny bit hurt, obviously thinking that Christine was annoyed with her.
"It's not your fault. You were only asked to pass on a message, and I am not blaming you." Christine put her hands on Carrie's shoulders. "Any idea what the next production is going to be?"
Carrie shook her head. "No idea… anyway I have got to go. See you soon mother."
"Bye Carrie." They both walked in opposite directions, Christine had to resist the urge to sprint right out of the Opera House and back to the cottage. She knew of course that this would be a very stupid thing to do as it would look so suspicious.
-
"Ok, so I should have just listened to you…" The detective said to the managers.
"You will not be able to talk to her again now. You have lost your chance." Firmin said to him.
"Waste of time, we could have been finding a suitable opera for the next production, but no, you had to question Miss Daae…" André sounded very annoyed. He was reading one of the many letters that he had been sent by 'The Phantom'.
"Well, I will not trouble you again unless it is something very important. Good day to you gentlemen…" He left, leaving the managers by themselves.
"Let's hope you don't have to trouble us again then…"
-
So if that took place on that day, then it would only make sense if… Erik was thinking about the two again, trying to piece a load of dates together, trying to make sense of everything that had been going on.
"Erik!" Christine shouted, crashing the door open and walking very quickly into the music room where she knew he would be.
She entered the room in an absolutely fuming state. She was surprised to see that he was not composing but in fact looking at newspapers again. Erik looked up from the paper that was in front of him to look at Christine.
"Yes?" Erik said in a very casual tone that infuriated Christine even more. She started to breathe very heavily. "Is something wrong?"
"Wrong!?" Christine shouted back in a very angry yet sarcastic tone. "Oh no, there is nothing wrong!"
"Then why the hell are you shouting?" Erik asked, though he knew that Christine was being sarcastic.
"You know…" Began Christine, sounding as though she was thinking carefully about what she was saying, "…I don't know why you wanted to send Porsche to the Opera House… or was that just a cover-up?"
Now Erik was confused, he did not have any idea what Christine was trying to say. "Is there something you want to tell me Christine?"
Christine took the letter out of her pocket and waved it about in front of her. She was doing this so quickly that Erik could not see the skull on it. "This! This is what you want to explain to me I think!"
She threw the letter at Erik. He caught it, and could now clearly see the skull which had sealed the envelope. He took the letter out from the envelope and began to read what it said.
My dear Managers,
Have you missed me? Fear not for I have returned to you at last. I think that a few reminders are in store, my salary of twenty thousand francs a month will be left for me in box five as usual. I will decide myself on the next production gentlemen, so there is no need to trouble yourselves with that. On the note of productions, your pianist seems to be past his prime. Sack him immediately, for your own good as well as his.
I remain gentlemen, your obedient servant.
O.G
Erik looked down at the letter with wide eyes. Christine seemed to think that he was only acting though.
"Shocked to see your own letter?" Christine asked him.
Erik looked up from the letter straight into Christine's eyes. "I didn't write this." He said, very seriously. "This is the first time I have ever seen this letter."
Christine scoffed. "It's your handwriting!"
Erik looked back down at the letter and started examining the handwriting very carefully. It did look extremely similar to his handwriting, but it could not be his handwriting, after all he had not written it…
"No it isn't, this is somebody trying to copy my handwriting…" Erik argued, looking back up at Christine. She seemed to be wondering whether to believe him or not.
"The twenty thousand francs a month?" She asked, her voice sounding much more polite than it had done previously.
Erik pondered his answer. "Lots of people must have known that I asked for twenty thousand francs a month… I mean think how many people the managers must have told!"
Christine could see exactly where Erik was coming from. Yet there were still things that needed explaining. " 'I remain gentlemen, your obedient servant, O.G'?"
This took a little time for Erik to work out. "Somebody must have got hold of one of the letters and seen how I signed them… that would also explain how someone managed to copy my handwriting…"
Everything was now starting to make sense. Christine was trying to see if there was anything else that seemed out of place.
"What about…"
"Christine…" Erik said, getting to his feet and looking her straight in the eyes, "… would I lie to you?"
This question made her feel extremely guilty. Erik seemed to notice this, yet that did not stop him from repeating himself.
"Please answer me… would I lie to you? Or better still do you think I could lie to you?"
"No." Christine replied simply, looking down at the floor as she was unable to look at Erik.
"Exactly…" Erik said, tilting her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "So let's start being sensible and try to work out who it is that did this, eh?"
"Yes…" Christine said, sniffing.
"I think I have a pretty good idea who it might be already…" Erik informed Christine, who looked amazed at this.
"Really?" She asked, her mood changing at once. "Who?"
"One of these two…" He replied, picking up one of the many papers that were on the desk and handing it to Christine for her to look at. This latest one had a police sketch of the description of the killer. Now that Christine saw this sketch it was hard to believe that she ever thought it was Erik in the first place.
"And what makes you think that it is one of these two?" Christine asked.
Erik started to explain a very long theory about how these two linked in with the death of Frelques, Jacques Lemont, Paris and the Opera House, for at least half an hour he went on with lots and lots of different possible explanations for all of the events that had been taking place. By the end of it Christine was completely confused, leaving her with only one thought in her mind.
You are becoming completely obsessed, Erik…
Authors Notes: Please leave a review as usual, I would like to know what you think of it so far. Next update on saturday and I hope you enjoyed this one!
R
