An hour later everyone had gone home for the night and the Opera House was shrouded in darkness, but quiet it was not because echoing throughout the whole building was Operatic singing and the source was Catherine practicing an aria in the music room while Erik was sitting in front of the Piano, listening and watching with admiration.
"I'm not very comfortable with the upper register yet" said Catherine after she had finished singing.
"But you will be you're doing so well. You already have a finer voice than most of that company" said Erik with praise.
"That's not possible" chuckled Catherine as she fidgeted with the ends of her shawl.
"Oh, but it is. And soon, sooner than I ever thought you'll be singing not just up here but, on the stage, as well" said Erik with enthusiasm.
"That's like a dream" Catherine sighed.
"But it is real. Sometimes dreams can be real. The Gods smiled when they imagined you Catherine Daae, you are music itself" said Erik with an ounce of flattery.
Catherine didn't speak, she turned and walked towards a chair by the mirrored wall. She looked up at the ceiling and her mind wondered back to memories of her childhood.
"God if only my Papa were alive to see this" she said.
"Was he a musician?" Erik asked.
"Not a great one" chuckled Catherine as she remembered her Father fondly.
"I'm not surprised" Erik commented, judging by how warn her dress and shoes were.
"A Violinist. He then my sister would play, and I would sing. He even brough us here once you know. I was just an infant. It was his dream the two of us would perform here someday" said Catherine with a smile as she sat down on the chair.
"He has watched over you both" Erik commented.
"I'd like to think so" Catherine smiled.
"I have no doubt of it" said Erik reassuringly.
Catherine didn't speak for a moment then looked down at her lap feeling shy.
"Do you know the Count de Chaney?" she asked.
Erik's facial expressions became stoned at the very mention of the Count.
"Why do you ask?" he asked.
"He was the one who told my sister and I to come here. He saw us performing at a Country Fair" Catherine explained.
"He is not worthy of you" Erik answered abruptly.
Catherine looked at him with shock and surprise.
"Why?" she asked.
Erik was reluctant to answer at first.
"Please?" Catherine begged for him to answer.
"Because he comes to the Opera for the wrong reasons. He comes for the beauty of faces rather than the beauty of music" Erik finally plucked up the courage to say.
Catherine's face dropped slightly then she turned her head to the left and looked down at the floor. Her fallen expression didn't go unnoticed by Erik.
"I am sorry, have I hurt you" he asked feeling ashamed.
Catherine did not speak, only gave a small smile, and shook her head.
"That is something I would never want to do" said Erik.
Catherine looked at Erik with a stunned expression for a moment and then smiled, appreciating his word.
The lesson finished then and there, and Erik escorted Catherine back to her basement room where Christine was waiting and bid the sisters goodnight before leaving them and the two sisters went to bed soon after.
XXX
The next morning Carlotta and Monsieur Cholet had a meeting at the police station with Inspector Ledoux. Carlotta wore a red floor length dress with black lace, a black feathered hat with a veil and in her hand, she held a black feather hand fan. Cholet wore a Grey suit jacket and trousers, a White shirt, and a Crimson bowtie. When they came into the Inspector's office, he had blueprints of the Opera House both inside and outside and started flipping through them.
"Now if this creature does exist, supposedly he lives down here on the lowest level" he said as he came to the last blueprint that showed all of the basement areas under the main building and pointed at the very last one.
"They say it has a sort of lagoon, part of a river system that flows underneath all of Paris. All they say is his domain and anyone who ventures down does not return. Or so people say" the Inspector explained before walking towards his desk and sat down.
"So, what is he doing up here?" asked Cholet as he smoked his cigar.
"He comes up because he loves Opera" answered the Inspector.
"What does he look like?" asked Carlotta.
"Frankly, I have never met someone who has actually seen him. But the rumour is he wears a mask and if you are unlucky enough to see his face, you die" said the Inspector.
Carlotta and Cholet were shocked at first, but it would not detour them from their mission to rid them of the Phantom.
"I want him caught" Cholet said in a commanding way.
XXX
A few weeks later, the Opera had opened for a new production with Carlotta as the leading lady once again. Behind the curtain the stage was busy with some of the performers practising their arias one last time before the curtain goes up and the stagehands were setting up for the opening scene. Carlotta, who was also backstage wore a White gown with a lace trim, on her head she wore a dark brown wig that hanged down with curls and decorated with White roses was being assisted by Catherine and another costumer in putting the finishing touches to her costume and Monsieur stood beside her.
"Look out!" he exclaimed when he saw a backdrop being lowered down towards them.
Carlotta, Cholet, Catherine, and the other costumer moved out of the way and finished what they were doing when some stagehands carrying the top of a fake banquet table came towards them.
"Excuse me sir" said one of the stagehands as he bumped into Cholet.
Carlotta groaned with frustration due to the lack of space but was then reassured by her husband who gave her a kiss on both sides of her neck and then walked to the left-hand side of the stage.
He peaked behind the curtain to see how many patrons had actually come for the performance and was pleased that a lot of people had come. His assistant came up behind him holding a piece of parchment in his hand and looked out at the audience too.
"Sold out, just shows that bad reviews mean nothing" his assistant said and handed him the piece of parchment.
Cholet took it from him and saw it was a profit report for tonight's performance and chuckled with glee and then disappeared behind the curtain.
The curtain went up a few minutes later and the opening scene was a ball room with women walking around in beautiful dresses in different shades of pink and red whilst Carlotta was sitting on an ottoman, surrounded by some men dressed in Black jackets, Black trousers, White shirts and White bow ties, who each took turns kissing her hand whilst the leading man was standing further to the left of the stage singing. After a few moments, the leading man completed his aria, Carlotta stood up from the ottoman and began passing out fake glasses of champagne to the men from a tray a waiter was carrying behind her while she was singing. The performance seemed to be going well, that is until Carlotta went to take the last glass the from the tray because instead of just taking the glass, she also took the tray with it and the whole audience laughed with hysterics. Carlotta kept singing and twirling around whilst at the same time trying to detach the glass from the tray, but it was no good and the audience's laughter kept growing and Carlotta couldn't stand it anymore. She threw the glass and tray away and ran off stage, barging past the leading man who fell against some chorus members who were sitting down on some chairs.
XXX
Later that night, Carlotta was feeling lightheaded from all the stress she had gone through on stage, so she laid down in her husband's office, cooling herself with a fan whilst her husband and Catherine kept applying cold compresses to her forehead.
"Oh, my darling, my poor, poor darling" cooed Cholet as he applied a fresh compress to his wife's head.
Inspector Ledoux entered the room carrying the tray with what was now left of the glass stuck to it, which broke when Carlotta threw it on stage.
"We know how it was done. Glue" said the Inspector.
"I need a Cognac" whimpered Carlotta.
Cholet made his way to the back room where a decanter of alcohol was kept.
"I'm coming my darling" Cholet called out to his wife as he went to pour a drink.
Meanwhile behind him, sprawling on the couch was the greying, bloated body of Joseph Bouquet,
When Cholet turned around, he froze with fear at the sight of the body. He backed away into a cabinet near the doorway and let out a blood curdling scream which was heard by Carlotta, Catherine, and the Inspector in the next room. When the Inspector went to investigate Cholet was still standing against the cabinet, pointing towards where he saw the body which was now concealed behind a wall.
"Ledoux. Joseph Bouquet" Cholet whimpered.
"Hm?"
"Joseph Bouquet" Cholet said a little louder.
Ledoux walked towards where Cholet was pointing but saw nothing was there. Joseph Bouquet's body had disappeared.
"Where?" the Inspector asked.
Cholet stepped forward to point to where he had seen the body but saw it had gone which sent a chill down his spine.
"I am afraid you were seeing Phantoms of another sort" said the Inspector trying to reassure Cholet.
"He wants me to resign" muttered Cholet.
"Who?" asked the Inspector.
"The Phantom, he wants to run this place well I will not resign" continued Cholet as he regained his composure.
He then took a swig of the alcohol from the glass he was holding.
"What are you going to do about it?" he then asked the Inspector.
"Do?" asked the Inspector feeling confused.
"I will tell you what you are going to do. You are going to get some of your best men, and you are going down after this creature tonight!" exclaimed Cholet as he refilled the glass in his hand.
"Monsieur in my humble opinion..."the Inspector tried to reassure Cholet but was interrupted.
"I have friends in high places Ledoux. If you catch my meaning" said Cholet in an almost threatening way and then downed the second glass of alcohol.
Silence fell between the two men.