41) Time to follow me
Even a few minutes after Erik´s remark there was still a lot of laughter. Carlotta was reduced to tears, burying her face at Signor Piangi´s shoulder and uttering a stream of swearwords in Italian. Suddenly Ariane gasped in shock. "Look!", she called, pointing at Box Five. All heads turned into the same direction, and several girls let out a scream.
Mme.Giry could be seen in one of the seats, her head hanging down limply and her eyes closed. "She´s dead!", Marie yelled, her voice breaking. The next moment she fainted, sinking right into the arms of the very surprised Antoine. He stared at her incredulously, then shrugged and dragged her aside. A few steps away from the others he tried his best to wake her up with the help of a bit of water.
It had been quite tumultuous on stage before, but now there was pure chaos. Fortunately the other girls kept themselves from passing out, though some of them were so pale that they had to sit down for a while. Janelle, the youngest member of the chorus, who was barely twelve years old, covered her face with her hands and started crying. "I liked Mme.Giry so much.", she whispered. "What will we do without her?"
"I´m sure she´s not dead.", a cello player tried to comfort her, putting an arm around her shoulders. By now the orchestra pit was empty; all musicians had come onto stage to have a better view at the ballet teacher, who was still not moving. It was Signor Piangi who finally said: "Someone has to go up there and find out what has been going on.".
The idea was greeted with horrified gazes. "I won´t do that!", a girl exclaimed, hastily grabbing the arms of the person next to her. "Nor will I!", another girl added. Signor Piangi exchanged a helpless glance with M.Reyer, the only other relatively calm person. "I´ll fetch the managers.", the older man announced. "It´s their opera, so they´ll have to sort this out." With these words he left the stage.
"And I´ll alert a doctor.", Antoine said, abandoning his task of caring for the no longer unconscious Marie and following M.Reyer. The girl looked a little disappointed by being left alone by her saviour, but didn´t dare make a comment. She merely joined the other people again.
The next minutes passed in tense silence. All eyes were fixed on the box as everyone was anxious not to miss anything important. At last the managers arrived. ""Has there been an accident on stage?", M.Firmin wanted to know. The things M.Reyer had told them could not possibly be true. Yet seeing all the serious faces he slowly understood that it wasn´t just a joke.
At once the two men were surrounded by excited people. Everybody tried to tell his or her personal view first. "It was an attack…" "…in Box Five!" "…right up there…" "…while we were on stage." Annoyed by not being heard one girl took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her voice: "The Opera Ghost killed Mme.Giry!". The others stopped speaking and let the girl through. It was Ariane, who apparently enjoyed the attention.
"Are you aware of what you´re saying, girl?", M.André asked cautiously, only to be interrupted by his partner: "Have you seen what happened?". "Well, not exactly.", Ariane admitted. "But it´s clear, isn´t it? The Opera Ghost gave Meg a too small part, so Mme.Giry went to Box five to talk to him. They argued and he killed her." The girl looked around for applause, not unlike Carlotta a short while ago.
Yet to her surprise no one except herself found the explanation this obvious. "The Phantom has never killed anybody.", M.Reyer stated. "When he´s allowed to have his will he´s a very decent… person." The conductor couldn´t believe that the composer of such a wonderful opera was capable of murder, let alone of murdering one of the few people who always were on his side.
"Maybe he hadn´t killed until now.", Ariane argued, unwilling to give up her theory that soon. "But he scared us half to death with the raw meat. Murder is just the next logical step." The men shook their heads, yet some of the girls seemed to consider it possible. Realising that her opinion was gaining followers Ariane smiled even more brightly.
Again it was Signor Piangi who made a useful suggestion, although he actually simply repeated what he had said before. "Why do you try to make the second step before the first?", he asked. "Later we´ll have plenty of time to discuss who has done what. Now we have to take care of Mme.Giry. Has the doctor arrived yet?" He made an attempt to find Antoine in the crowd, but he hadn´t returned.
Shrugging he decided: "Then we´ll have to go up there alone and the doctor can join us as soon as he is here. Who will come with me?". Ariane´s hand was the first in the air, the ones of the managers and M.Reyer followed. Everyone was surprised about how resolute Signor Piangi could be when he wasn´t hiding behind Carlotta. The woman had been unusually quiet, apparently annoyed by the lack of attention. But looking up to Box Five she seized her chance. "That won´t be necessary.", she declared. "Mme.Giry is gone!" She indicated the empty space where the ballet teacher had been moments before.