Authors note:
Alright, I just wanted to say, if anyone was wondering what the deal was with the fire, and were thinking, 'what the hell is going on?' I am going somewhere with this! I promise! Please keep reading and reviewing!
Chapt. 17
There was a great cry from the crowd. I looked around at them and really let them register for the first time. It seemed as though the entire neighborhood had come out to watch the slow death of the building.
Out of all these gathered people I only recognized eight of them; Tom had been standing in front of the other tenement building, however now he was walking toward us. Beyond him I could see Dumas. More police men must have come with the firefighters, because standing next to Dumas was none other than that foppish Le Roy. It appeared he and Dumas were deep in conversation.
The five people we had rescued from the fire stood huddled together, a fireman was talking to them, and they had all been wrapped in blankets. The two children were very young and blond; the older boy was clinging tightly to the younger girl's hand.
The mother from the other room was cradling her crying baby, trying to comfort it. Her young daughter stood with her arms wrapped around her mother and her face buried in her skirts.
"Dumas wants to talk to you two," Tom had reached us and now beckoned for us to follow him, he spoke quickly, but his tone was not callous
We made to follow him. Now that air had returned to my lungs and the likelihood of burning to death had lowered considerably, I was acutely aware that most of the eyes of the crowd were fixed upon CJ and I. Walking over to Dumas I saw the heads turn to follow our movements. I slipped my mask back on.
We reached Dumas and he opened his mouth to speak, however he checked his voice; there was a commotion in the crowd. They had been still, a motionless field mesmerized by the fire, but now it looked as though a storm had blown down one section of the field. The spectators swayed to make way for this wind in the form of a distraught woman.
"Oh God have mercy, let me through!" She was yelling franticly, and CJ turned to watch. I stopped and looked as well.
"Oh God!" She cried as she saw the tenement house; the fire had been prevented from spreading too badly, but it had been too late for the original victim. The whole building was now wrapped in flames. She fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. By the way she was shaking, she was sobbing wildly.
"Mother!" The little blond boy now broke away from his fellow fire survivors and began a stumbling run toward the crying woman, his sister close behind.
The woman looked up and turned toward her approaching children. She spread her arms to embrace them. Despite the innumerate amount of words scholars and philosophers have developed in order to perfectly describe human feeling, they seemed to have failed to find a word which perfectly expressed this woman's emotions when she saw her children, for she said not a word, rather she uttered a poignant cry.
Her children reached her and were quickly enveloped in her embrace. She kissed the tops of both of their heads as the crowd gathered round her, congratulating her and embracing her and the children she had just been reunited with.
"Nice work," Dumas's voice pulled me out of the trance I had fallen into as I watched the mother with her children. I turned to face him. He was still gazing into the blaze of fire,
"Oh yes! Very well done!" Le Roy added far too animatedly, "I would have not thought it possible for anyone to escape that fire," I narrowed my eyes at him, he could have said anything and I would still have hated him. Le Roy opened him mouth to say more, however Dumas beat him to it,
"Are either of you hurt?" He asked, sounding almost more impatient than worried,
"No," we both said in unison,
"Good, because you are still going to the opera today,"
"Oh now Eugene!" Le Roy implored, "They have done enough for one day!"
"Unlike the rest of this confounded investigation, when they have done enough is up to me to decide!" Dumas burst angrily, "And if you had any sense of how to do your job you would realize how important it is we catch this killer before he takes someone else!"
Le Roy made a face which resembled a child who had be scolded by an adult, and his response was just as juvenile, "Do you know who I am? My father is the one who donates the money that make it possible for you to have a job! Don't forget that; and I can have Fillips on your back in a minuet! Then we will see how you like being homeless and jobless!"
"Call him!" Dumas turned and angrily yelled at Le Roy, "Get Fillips down here and tell him you want me fired! I don't care, but if one more girl dies it's on your head!"
At this moment I felt a tap on my shoulder and I whipped around. The woman who had earlier been reunited with her children was now staring at me and at CJ, who had turned away from the two warring captains as well. The woman had her daughter in her arms and her son clinging to her side,
"The…the people in the crowd, they said you two ran into the building and got my children out," I blinked, not knowing what to say,
"I do not want you to think I meant any harm to come to them," The woman continued, tears in her eyes, "I have to leave them alone because I work all day, but I never meant for…" She choked,
"Nobody blames you," CJ said quickly, "There was no way you could have known, the fire was not your fault,"
The woman shook her head, "I should have been there, if it hadn't been for you two," and without another word she embraced first CJ and then myself. As she wrapped her arm not holding her child around me; I stiffened and held my breath, slowly I wrapped my arm around her, hardly touching her before I let go.
She stepped back from my, "Thank you, thank you so much," Her daughter was pulling at her hair and her son at her skirts. The children both looked bewildered, and their mother's eyes were still bright with tears.
We stood in an awkward silence until Dumas put his hand on my shoulder,
"We have to go," He said quietly, and with one last nod at the grateful mother, CJ and I turned and followed him back to the cab. Dumas parted the throng of people blocking the way to the cab; most eyes were on CJ and me. Unexpectedly, someone in the crowd began to clap as we passed by. The gesture spread through the mass of people much as the fire had spread through the decrepit tenement building.
I turned to CJ; she shook her head and shrugged. I felt embarrassed knowing everyone was looking at me and that they could plainly see the odd mask on my face. However, there was an odd feeling which came with knowing I had just prevented the fire from claiming several more victims.
There was also a pleasure in hearing the sound of people clapping, and of several loud cheers, for something I had done. At the opera, I had always listened to the thunderous applause at the end of each act, and I wished I could have had them applauding for my music.
At the time I had thought it was not possible, that no one would ever congratulate me on anything I had done. I had had nightmares of sharing my most prized music with the audiences of Paris, and then at the end the audience would silently stand and leave.
True, this was not what I had in mind, but it was something. Just as we stepped up into the cab, one single villainous thought stole my happiness away. These people thought I was someone honorable, another policeman of firefighter. However, I was a fraud; I was a convicted murderer and assassin. They should not have shown gratitude or appreciation to someone like me.
We all sat down; Le Roy, who was riding with us, sat next to Dumas, despite an effort to sit next to CJ; I had ruined that plan. I looked out the small window and stared at the burning tenement building.
The flames were subsiding slowly, revealing the blackened skeleton of the once home. Over head, the sky, which had been threatening for some time, loosed a mammoth boom of thunder, and then unleashed a torrent of rain. The crashing droplets smashed against the remaining flames, finally beating down the beast.
I leaned back, trying not to wonder how all those displaced by the fire would shelter themselves from the rain. I felt very tired; I would have liked nothing more than to have dropped down and slept. The prospect I was now facing; of searching for hours in the deep caverns of the opera house, did not appeal to me at all.
CJ looked exhausted as well. I saw her raise a hand to her injured shoulder,
"Does it hurt?" I asked her,
She nodded but said nothing. Outside the remaining rundown tenement buildings passed by, slowly changing into more respectable shops and houses. It seemed forever before we were turning down a familiar street and the large silhouette of the opera house appeared.
The moment it came into view my body tensed again. I had thought I was too exhausted to be overly nervous about going back, however at the sight of the building I knew I was wrong.
My empty stomach began twisting in knots, my palms were sweating and I shifted in my seat. The cab stopped beside the road entrance to the labyrinth of tunnels which would eventually lead to my former home.
"Alright you two," Dumas looked sternly at us, "You know what you are looking for, any sign of the killer or the missing girls. If you find the man down there, try to bring him up alive, but if you cannot, by all means, kill him,"
We both nodded and hopped out of the cab and into the pouring rain. Dumas and Le Roy would wait on the surface level; it was a good situation for them. Dumas knew that we would come back; he was holding too much over our heads for us to try to run. It also spared him the danger of having to travel into the killer's lair.
I walked up to the grated entrance of to the opera. CJ stared at me as I unlatched the door and let it swing wide.
"It looks dark in there," CJ said, peering into the blackened gloom of the tunnel,
"It is dark in there," I rejoined, "No need to be nervous though, I can see where I am going," I did not add that although I could see in the dark, there were numerous places from which someone else could spy, and if the killer was there, we would be dead before we saw anything.
I stepped into the tunnel, CJ close behind. It was the antithesis of the burning tenement building; it was cool and dark, and instead of the threatening crackle of fire, we heard the eerie drip-drop of water as it seeped through the stone walls of the tunnel; Instead of smoke, a ghostly mist floated out to us from the lake far below.
We had not gone far before we were in complete darkness.
"Erik?" I stopped moving forward and turned around. CJ walked into me and I stumbled back a bit, "Sorry," she said,
"What is it?" I asked her gruffly,
"I can't tell where I am going,"
"Here," I reached out and took her hand, "Just follow me,"
I had a strangely familiar feeling as I walked down the tunnel; remembering a time when I had led Christine down to the very place we were headed now. I hoped the ramifications of bringing another woman down to my home would not be quite so disastrous.
Not too much further, I stumbled a bit on something on the floor. I stopped immediately, causing CJ to walk into my back.
"Sorry," she muttered, but I was not really paying attention. I looked down at the ground and I saw that it was covered with debris, and I assumed this was where the cave- in had taken place. It was strange that such a thing should have occurred, I thought as I instructed CJ to step over the wreckage, all the years I had spent under the opera there had never been a cave-in.
Not far from the scene of the cave-in the tunnel started to slope downward, and CJ slipped on the smooth floor and fell to the ground. Of course, I had her hand in mine and I tried to keep her from falling, unfortunately it turned out I was holding her hurt arm, and as she fell I pulled it upward, making it worse.
"Damn it!" CJ yelled, and I quickly let go of her hand and I saw her in the dark, rubbing her shoulder. I shuttered as her voice echoed back at me from the walls of the tunnel; our presence was most likely no longer a secret.
"Sorry," I murmured, and I heard her sigh and wave her hand,
"Was not your fault," CJ whispered, realizing the damage a loud voice could do, "Alright, where are you? I can't see a thing,"
I thanked the years of living in darkness having given me sight in the gray-black gloom of the caves, and I stooped in front of her, placing my hands lightly on either side of her shoulders and guiding her to her feet. I took her other hand and led on.
It did not take much longer after this point to reach the place where I believe the police went amiss. The tunnel continued on for some time before it circled around and came to a dead end. I suspected the police had missed the door that they had been told to find. This was because the door was a bit more complicated than one would think.
I told CJ to stand still while I opened the door. It worked in this way; the door was on one side of the tunnel, while the trigger which released it was on the other. In order to open the door, there were two points on the opposite wall which needed to be pressed simultaneously. Unless you knew exactly where they were, it was almost impossible to do. The points were so small, even though they had been described to the police, it would have been very difficult to find them.
Having done this countless times, I did not have a problem finding what I was looking for. My right hand found the small smooth stone spot located at about my eye level. My left found the oblong rock lower down on the wall, and I pushed.
I turned around. To anyone who did not know better, it would have looked as though I had done nothing. To add to the difficulty of finding and opening the door; when the correct points were pushed, the door did not actually open, it simply became able to open. If by some miracle someone found the correct spots and pushed, they would then need to find the door and push it open as well.
I walked passed CJ, brushing her arm and causing her to jump,
"Jumpy?"
"You would be to if you couldn't see,"
"Time to go," I said to her and I grabber her by the hand. I led her over to the wall. Finding the door, I thrust it open. A cool wind hit our faces as the door swung inwards, and I felt CJ squeeze my hand,
"Yes?" I asked her,
"What?"
"You squeezed my hand,"
"I didn't mean to,"
"Hand spasm?" I asked skeptically; my guess was that she was nervous,
"You could say that," she responded, she was definitely a bit nervous,
I walked through the door, CJ close behind me.
"Wait a moment," I said once we were on the other side. I turned back and swung the door shut, once it made contact with the wall of the tunnel the locking mechanism reset itself.
This passage led steadily downward; the floor was smooth and the surroundings not terribly treacherous, until just before the opening which would lead out to the lake.
"Is there light ahead? Or have I gone mad?" CJ asked me as we drew closer to our intended destination,
"I have no doubt you have gone mad, but yes there is light ahead," The cavern in which the lake was located was quite large, and light filtered into it from the floors above.
As the light increased, I thought it prudent to let go of CJ's hand. I did so and she came to walk beside me. I was opening my mouth to warn her of what was coming, however she found out herself.
There was a sharp drop off in the tunnel before it reached the lake. Unfortunately it was closer than I had imagined and I watched as CJ picked up her foot only to have it find air before it.
Quickly, I stepped to her and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her back into me. For one awkward moment while she caught her breath, I held her to me.
"You couldn't have warned my about that?" She whispered to me angrily, disengaging herself and stepping backward,
"You should be careful, the floor drops away right there," I pointed in front of us,
"Thanks a lot," She said sarcastically
I gave a small laugh, "I caught you, what more do you want?"
"To not be allowed to walk off into the abyss," She sounded irritated,
"Don't get angry with me, if it was up to you we would both be dead in a fire!" I snapped angrily; I have always had a very short temper, and this day I was so exhausted I had almost no patience.
CJ looked as though she wanted to continue our argument, however she shook her head and looked away, "Where are we going?" she asked, trying to keep emotion out of her voice,
"This tunnel lets out on the edge of an underground lake, beyond the lake there is a house, I used to live there. If anyone has gotten down this far, the house would be a perfect place to hide,"
"The killer and his victims, all in one place," CJ murmured,
"Exactly,"
"So how do we get up to the house without being see by however is inside?"
"I…" I had not really thought about that,
"You have no idea?" CJ sighed,
"Not a clue,"
"So we go to the house, unarmed and ignorant of who is inside and where they might be hiding, and then we catch them and transport them up to the street level and find four missing girls?"
"That's the plan so far," I said darkly, I did not like it either,
CJ looked away for a moment, shaking her head bitterly, then she began to laugh; I could see why, our situation was ridiculous. She lifted her head to face me, and I could see she was smiling wryly,
"I love this plan!" she said in mock enthusiasm, "I am excited to be a part of it! I can't wait to go to this house of yours!"
"Are you finished?"
"Yes,"
"Then lets go,"
