From Angel's Eyes
Chapter Nine
Christine had gone outside and was stood under the wide door ledge to the theatre, leaning against the wall with her hands clasped over her mouth to try and stop the irrepressible sobs. Nadir looked at her and she glanced at him, cuffing at the unbidden tears. He didn't say anything but offered her a handkerchief. She accepted it and wiped her eyes. Then she said miserably,
"You know, if they see me with your handkerchief, that'll only convince them that I'm sleeping with you as well."
Nadir smiled slightly and said,
"It's alright, I'm sure we'll manage to convince them that it isn't true. It's just rather unfortunate that the paper chose to run that particular picture." She laughed humourlessly,
"God, this is ridiculous… that bloody picture…"
"Try not to worry about it. I know that it'll be difficult, particularly with Miss Griffins leading them, but the only thing you can do is rise above it all. Be the bigger person."
"I know but… oh, God, what is Mr Destler going to think? He'll hate me!" Christine whimpered. Nadir shook his head.
"I can assure you that Erik has had more than enough practise at dealing with this sort of thing. He simply ignores it and occasionally breaks whatever he happens to be holding at the time."
She couldn't help smiling. Nadir smiled and opened the door.
"Now, get inside before Erik and Dr Carter have my head." She went inside and handed him the handkerchief.
"Thank you. Could you give this to Mr Destler?" She gave him the jacket and Nadir nodded. He smile and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Remember. Be the bigger person."
"OK. Bigger. Got it." She said solemnly, turning towards the theatre. She didn't move and Nadir gave her a little push. "Right." She muttered, walking into the room. Nadir stood in the doorway. The girls started to laugh again but Christine walked straight past, picked up her music and sat at the piano, playing loudly to drown out their giggles. Nadir smiled.
"Good for you." he murmured, turning away.
The rehearsal seemed agonizingly long for Christine. She made sure to avoid Rebecca and her friends at all costs and when they were dismissed, she made sure that they had left before collecting up her things. Max had already left, saying that he had a dentist appointment. Christine brushed her hair out her face, where it had fallen free from the loose ponytail and pulled on her jacket. But as she stood to leave, she heard the door open. She looked up and saw Erik stood in the doorway to the office. Christine looked at him and then swallowed. She found she didn't know what to say and picked up her bag.
Erik looked down at the newspaper in his hands. She saw it too and went red. He said quietly,
"Nadir told me what happened."
"Oh…" she whispered.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just… oh, it's so stupid! Why should I care what they think? Especially Rebecca." She practically spat the girl's name out and Erik saw fire flaring up in her eyes. He watched as she ran agitated hands through her thick hair and then shook her head.
"Oh, forget it. It's all a load of-" She hastily bit her lip to prevent the word escaping and Erik couldn't resist smirking at her temper.
She picked up her things and looked at him.
"I'd better go. I'll… I'll see you tomorrow?"
"You will." She nodded and headed for the door. But before she left Erik said,
"Christine?"
She paused and looked at him. He continued,
"Christine, I have great admiration for you and no newspaper article could remove that." She stared at him and then smiled briefly before leaving, going rather pink.
Erik sank onto the piano bench and rubbed his face agitatedly. This was so demeaning. It really was a load of –
Christine took Trister for a walk when she got home, pulling on a thick coat, with a hood over her hair. She walked through the rain lashed park, muttering under her breath and kicking at puddles, sending water spraying. Trister was thoroughly enjoying himself, soaked through and splattered with mad, tongue lolling as he ran around.
Christine reached the end of the path and turned to go back. She blinked fiercely as raindrops landed on her eyelashes, splitting her vision into rainbows. Trister trotted alongside her, tail waving cheerfully. Christine couldn't help but think back to the last time she had taken Trister for a walk in the rain.
Erik.
"Stop it!" She told herself fiercely. Trister looked up at her and she patted his head. He rubbed his wet face against her knees and pattered off. Christine continued on to the gate and waited for Trister to catch up before clipping his leash on. They trudged home through the rain, but as they walked, a heavy gust of wind and rain hit them, blowing Christine's hood down. As she reached to pull it up again a truck drove past, sending an enormous spray of water up over her. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open as she blinked, the water soaking through her clothes.
"Well, yeah. Of course." She muttered, wiping her face and storming along the pavement, glowering at the houses. Trister bounded ahead to sit on the doorstep as Christine caught up. She pushed the key into the lock and opened the door. As she took off her coat, Trister shook himself, sending water everywhere. Christine glared at him but his cheerful expression was too much and she smiled. He instantly ran at her, rubbing his wet body against her jeans. Christine groaned and pushed him away.
It was then that she noticed the envelope. There was no name but she opened it anyway. From inside fell photocopies of the picture from the newspaper, over and over again, with words scribbled over them. Slut, whore, bitch and others that were even worse, foul accusations and insults. Christine stared at the pictures in dismay and then stuffed them back into the envelope.
Nadir looked up sharply from his place on the stage as Christine barged into the theatre the next morning. Her face was twisted in anguish and he frowned.
"What's the matter?"
"Look! These were pushed through my door last night." She cried, throwing the pictures onto the stage at his feet. Nadir bent and examined them. He felt his heart sink and looked at the tormented girl before him.
"When did they arrive?"
"Some time between 5 and 5:30. I was walking Trister and when I got back…" She shook her head and buried her face in her hands.
Nadir jumped off the stage and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked down at the pictures and said,
"Is it the same person who sent the note about the light?"
"I don't know. Do you still have the note?" Nadir asked.
"Erik has it."
Erik? Nadir thought, at hearing her use his first name. But he could clearly see that this wasn't the time to point it out and said,
"Stay here." He went to the office holding a couple of the pictures, where Erik was bent over a picture, drawing a set design. He looked up, irritated at being interrupted.
"What is it?"
"Christine is in the theatre. These were pushed through her door last night." Nadir said, putting the pictures on the desk. Erik looked at them and then closed his eyes.
"This is getting ridiculous." He muttered. Nadir said,
"Erik, this is more than ridiculous, this is harassment. Someone has got it in for that girl." Erik looked at the picture again and then walked past to the theatre.
Christine was sat hunched up on the stage, staring forlornly at the ground. She sat up when Erik entered. He walked over to her and looked over the pictures. She avoided his gaze and then he took the note from Christine's bag out of his pocket. He held it to one of the pictures.
Match.
"Who is doing this? Why?" Christine muttered. Erik shook his head.
"I don't know. But I'm considering getting the police involved."
"No! Erik, if anything goes wrong, they'll cancel the show. We can't do that, we've all worked so hard!" Christine protested. He stared at her.
"Christine, your personal safety is far more important."
"Please. Don't do anything yet. Not until we know for sure who's doing this." Christine pleaded. Erik sighed.
"…Fine. But if you get anymore notes like this, or if anything else happens, I want you to come straight to Nadir or I."
"I will. I promise." She said solemnly.
Erik swiftly picked up the pictures.
"I'm going to keep these, for evidence. Start warming up, I'll be out in a moment."
"OK…" Christine said, crossing to the piano. When Erik got back from the office, Tom and Max had arrived. After warm ups, he had them run through the music for Down Once More. This was one of the most difficult songs, as they were all singing different songs over each other and Erik had to keep telling one of them to sing louder, the other to sing quieter and by the time they got noise level right, they'd be out of tune. The four of them grew increasingly irritated until eventually Max snapped and said,
"You know what, Tom? Just take her and get out of here so we don't have to sing the bloody song!"
"Much as I'd like to avoid the song and the strangling, I think Andrew Lloyd Webber would have something to say about that." Tom pointed out.
Christine smiled at their banter and looked down at the music.
"It's like he wrote it to deliberately torture us." She commented. Max snorted.
"Probably did. He may be a musical genius, but that won't stop me kicking him if I ever meet him."
Christine laughed and said,
"Don't worry, we'll get through it eventually. We just need to practise. Really hard."
"Practise makes perfect, as they say." Tom agreed. Erik lifted his eyebrow.
"Ready to try again?"
The three of them groaned but Erik had already started to play. They began again, but when they reached the part where Christine sang '…turn to tears of hate!' the door opened and several dancers entered. Erik waved for them to continue as they did so, wincing at the clash of their voices. Eventually Erik stopped playing and looked at each of them slowly in turn.
"We'll work on this again later on. Go and compose yourselves." He rose and went to the office. Christine groaned.
"God, that was awful."
"I know… we're really going to have to put a lot into this song." Max agreed solemnly. Tom said,
"I've been listening to the soundtrack and they do it OK. Why can't we?"
"Because we haven't got god-knows-how-many-years experience on Broadway?" Max suggested.
Christine considered the two boys and then said,
"Why don't we try it without the piano? See if we can do it like that… it might be easier, as long as we keep time." Max and Tom looked at each other and nodded.
"Sure, go for it." Tom said. "We can't exactly get much worse."
They began again. It was a little easier, but they still found it difficult. Tom suggested taking it bar by bar, which turned out to improve it a bit. By the time Erik and Nadir returned, the three of them were singing much better, with fewer clashes. Unfortunately Tom couldn't stop laughing when he reached the line 'All for you and all for nothing'. Max and Christine glared at him and he shrugged.
"I don't know. It just seemed really funny." He giggled.
Max and Christine exchanged an exasperated glance and started again. They made it most of the way through when Dr Carter entered and they stopped to sit down and listen to what he had to say.
"OK folks, Mr Destler will take Christine, Tom and Max to carry on with Down Once More to the small studio. The dancers will be going through some of the basic moves and the extras I want in the costumes room. Let's go!"
Everyone started to move. Christine grabbed her things and followed the boys up to the studio. Erik arrived a few minutes later with the CD of the backing track.
"I'd like to get all the way through this today so we can start on choreography for it tomorrow." He said, slipping the CD into the player. They stood around a music stand, each with their score, making notes about cues and breathing as they did so.
But an hour later, a dancer burst into the room. Erik glowered at her and she said apologetically,
"Sorry Mr Destler, but Christine…" Christine looked up.
"What?" She said.
"Your… your car…" the dancer said nervously. Christine frowned and pushed past her, hurrying outside. Erik, Tom and Max followed her outside where she gave a cry of dismay.
The windows of the car had been smashed and spray paint stained the white body of the vehicle. The tyres had been slashed and the doors were dented. Christine rushed over to it and touched the paint. It was still wet. Tom and Max stood, staring in horror and disbelief. Erik didn't know what to say.
Christine looked over her car. The thought of the note and the pictures came back to her and something snapped inside her. She gave a furious shout and kicked the flat tyre of the car in overwhelming fury, clutching handfuls of her hair in anger.
"I don't believe this!" She shouted angrily. Nadir and Dr Carter rushed out, along with half of the cast. Christine had sunk onto the curb, holding her head in her hands. She wasn't crying. She just looked as though she had simply given up.
Nadir looked at Erik.
"I think it's time called the police."
"Surely that's not necessary. It could have been a random vandalising." Dr Carter said nervously. Erik looked at him as though he were a particularly stupid and ugly insect.
"Random. With twenty other cars and this one parked closest to the theatre, thus the most likely to have been seen. Do you really think that likely? Nadir, go and call the police. Everybody inside now. I don't want anyone leaving this building."
"You're not suggesting one of the students did it?" Dr Carter demanded. Erik looked at him sharply.
"Do you know exactly where each student was for the last hour?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then we are taking no chances. Everybody into the theatre now." Erik shouted. Everyone started to move inside, talking nervously.
Erik moved towards Christine, who was still sat on the edge of the curb, staring at her wrecked car. He knelt beside her.
"Christine, come inside. We're going to sort this out once and for all."
"…Why me, Erik? Why is this happening to me? Who could possibly want to drive me away from the theatre, from the show, that badly?" She whispered, her eyes fixed on the car, a frown creasing her brow. Erik shook his head.
"I don't know. But we'll find out." He said and helped her to her feet. He walked her through the theatre, where everybody fell silent as they entered. But Erik took her into the office with Nadir and Dr Carter. Nadir handed her a glass of water and said,
"The police will be here in ten minutes."
After ten unbearably long minutes, two police officers, a man and a woman entered the office. Erik swiftly explained the situation and the policewoman sat down opposite Christine.
"Tell us what happened with the lighting fixture." She said.
"I was on the stage, singing my part. And I heard something. I looked up and saw it falling. Mr Destler managed to push me out of the way in time."
"Was it very dangerous?" The policeman asked Erik, who lifted an eyebrow.
"It would have killed her. We simply assumed it was a faulty rope until Christine received the note."
"When was it that you received the first note?" The policewoman asked.
"It was on Monday."
"And your bag was on show the whole time?"
"Yes, I left it on a chair in the theatre. That's why I can't say who did it, it could have been anyone." Christine said. The policewoman smiled and nodded.
"OK. And these pictures were put through your door last night?"
"Yes, between five and five thirty. I had gone shopping. I got home, put the food away and then left to walk my dog. When I got back they were there." Christine confirmed.
"And the car?"
"I have no idea. I was in the studio with Mr Destler, Tom and Max."
The policewoman looked at her co-worker who turned to Erik.
"You think it's someone from the cast?"
"Yes. Whoever is doing this is obviously trying to drive Christine away from the show."
"Is there anyone who has been openly hostile to you, Christine?" the policewoman asked.
Christine hesitated. Erik frowned.
"Answer her, Christine."
"Well… last week, I had a bit of an argument with Rebecca. She blamed me for her not getting the part she auditioned for." Christine said quietly. She sat up. "But… but Rebecca wouldn't… I mean…"
"She was the one who was leading the other girls yesterday though, wasn't she?" Nadir said. Christine went slightly pink and nodded mutely.
The police officers conferred for a moment before the man said,
"Do you have CCTV of the car park?" Erik looked to Dr Carter who nodded reluctantly.
"Well… yes. But I can't believe that one of my students would…"
"Dr Carter, this behaviour has gone beyond simple mischief. This is harassment and vandalism that we're dealing with now." Nadir said calmly. Dr Carter sighed and went into a smaller room off the office. He brought out a videotape.
"This is the tape of the past two hours." He slipped it into the television in the corner and they all turned to watch.
Erik fast forwarded the first hour, where nothing in particular happened. And then Erik, Christine, Nadir and Dr Carter all stared in surprise as a girl appeared on the screen and became to vandalise the car.
"Oh my god…" Dr Carter exclaimed. Christine sat up and stared in horror.
"Is that…?"
"Terri Ennis." Erik confirmed. "Or Meg Giry, as she is otherwise known."
A/N: Betcha didn't see that one coming! I can't believe some of you thought it would be Max. I love Max! Heh heh, can't wait to see Erik's reaction to this one! Sorry this is a day late. I actually went out to be sociable last night. I know, shocking! Anyway, enjoy and leave a review
Lotsa luv
Katie
