Thank you for all the reviewers! You really make this easy for me.

Okay, this is a short chapter, so sorry for that.

Disclaimers: see chapter 1.

Chapter 35 Restaurant

Little by little Alan Cholet started to come around. He slowly blinked his eyes, trying to adjust them to the dim light of his new surroundings. His head hurt liked hell and it took more effort than usual to get himself to a sitting position. Slowly he took in his surroundings. He was in a room that had one bed and nothing else. There was only one door and no windows.

On the floor Cholet noticed was one familiar suitcase. Feeling energy coming to him he moved towards it and opened it. All his 20 million euros were still inside. He sighed with relief.

Suddenly the door opened. Inside came a big man with black beard and unpleasant face. He smiled a smile that made Cholet want to run away. "Good afternoon, Monsieur Cholet. I am Javert, your waiter" the man said.

Cholet felt his insides turn cold. He had heard of Javert the Gipsy, a notorious criminal who mainly worked in New Budapest, but occasionally did work elsewhere also. Hadn't is be him who kidnapped the de Chagny boy, Cholet vaguely wondered. "My…my waiter?" Cholet asked.

Javert's unpleasant smile spread even more. "Of course. You can't possibly stay here for long without becoming thirsty and hungry. So whenever you need something, just knock this door and turn to me and I'll be at you service. Here is the menu" he said and handed a piece of paper to Cholet.

Bread: 12 000 €

Soup: 17 000 €

Beef: 1 000 000 €

Potatoes: 12 000 000 €

Fish: 15 000 000 €

Water: 20 000 000 €

Wine: 20 000 000 €

The permission to use bathroom: 3 000 000 €

Cholet stared at the paper. "You…you…I don't understand…is this some sort of a joke?"

"Joke? Not at all, Monsieur. Those are the humble prices of our restaurant. The manager has put them on" Javert said.

"I take it you're the manager" Cholet accused.

Javert raised his hands. "Not at all, sir. I am but a simple waiter. But if you want I can go and fetch the manager" he said.

"Well do that. I want to see the biggest the crook they have here!" Cholet shouted.

Javert gave a mocking bow and left. Cholet couldn't believe this farce. If they want my money why didn't they just take it and be done with it?

Not long after the door opened again. In came a tall man dressed in black and wearing a mask. "You wanted to see me, Cholet" he said.

Cholet stared in wonder. "Count Paradise?!"

"You have a wrong address, Cholet. I don't use that name here. Here I am but a simple manager who tries to come up with a restaurant" cold voice said from behind the mask.

"Count, I don't know what I've done to you but…"

"Again you use the name 'Count'. Why don't you use my real name? You do know it. But perhaps you have forgotten. Think back, Cholet. Think back 25 years ago, before the war, to the time when you first realised life meant nothing to you if it improved your own statues. You were an accountant of the Opera Populaire back then, working for Gerard Carriere. There was someone else who also worked there. A young, naïve singer and composer who had started to gain name. Uneducated man, who was about to become Carriere's successor. Do you remember now?"

Cholet was fuming with anger. Had the old Carriere gone completely senile? He had been told confidentially that Carriere was going to make Claudin his partner, a co-manager. When the time would come that Carriere would retire Claudin would have the entire Opera Populaire for himself. Cholet just couldn't believe it. A manager of that young, naïve, foolish boy who just happened to have a good singing voice? By all rights the place should go to him, he had worked here longer than Claudin and had made a hell of a good work.

And there he went. The damnable Claudin, with a smug smile on his face, probably had another snog session with that Daae girl. Oh, how he hated the man.

"Erik, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Cholet hid himself from their sight as he witnessed Lefevre, one of the workers in the opera, approaching Claudin.

"What can I do for you, Lefevre?" Claudin asked.

"Please, don't ask me why but I need to get this letter for Madame Giry and I can't post it or give it to her personally. Would you be kind enough to give it to her when you can?" the older man asked.

"I guess I can but I am not going to meet here in a couple of days" Claudin said.

"That's alright, just give it to her when you can and give it to her personally. Make sure she gets it, please" there was something pleading in his voice.

"Well, alright then" he said and took the letter.

Cholet talked Claudin was incredibly stupid. Even a fool could see there was something suspicious in that letter. Later Cholet heard that Lefevre had committed suicide on that very same day, just when he was about to get caught by police. Turned out he had been suspected of being involved with a terrorist group. When Cholet thought about this, it didn't surprise him at all. In the end Madame Giry had always seemed to know more than she would let on.

Cholet realised he was holding a precious information but how to use it for his benefit? It could be the answer of getting rid of Claudin, the police would be most interested to know of this letter. But how to inform them without that the tracks would lead back on him? If things would go wrong he didn't want to get in trouble.

The answer came in Café dell Opera, where they were having a celebration party. He saw there the dark look on viscount de Chagny's face who was looking at Claudin dancing with the Daae girl. Young viscount was jealous and wouldn't have anything against it either if Claudin would suddenly…disappear.

"Erik…Claudin" Cholet said quietly, staring in amaze of the masked man.

"Yes, Cholet, finally we see each others as we really are" Count said.

"You…you were planning this…since the beginning…" Cholet muttered.

"For a clever man such as yourself it certainly took a long time to figure out" Count said and turned to leave.

"Wait…where are you going? Why are you doing this?" Cholet called.

"Well, as nice as this is, I can't afford to stay chatting with you all day. I have other things to attend to" he said casually.

"But…but Claudin don't…don't leave me here…you can't!" Cholet pleaded.

"I think I can and I will. I will make you loose the things you hold precious. There's nothing more dearly to you than money. Now you must decide between dying and giving your money away. The choice is yours" he said.

Cholet threw himself at Count's feet. "Claudin, please, you can't! It wasn't me who betrayed you! Honestly! It was just a drunken talk to de Chagny. He's the one behind it, blame him, not me!"

Count sighed. "You really are a pitiful man, Cholet. A rat who only cares for his own surviving. I do not have time for you anymore. I shall leave you to suffer like my mother did. Yes, my mother. She was a poor woman with a bad health. She depended on me. After I was taken she soon lost all her wealth and died. You shall do so also. But in which order is your own choice. Goodbye!"

Count pushed Cholet out of his way and left the room.

Javert appeared to the door. "Is the gentleman ready to order?" he asked. "No? Then call me when you are" he said, smiling that terrible smile of his and closing the door.

Cholet took the money out of his suitcase and hugged them as close to his chest as he could, and stayed there on the floor.

To be continued…