Chapter 4

"Well, that was a waste of time," Raoul groaned as Clouseau and him began to walk over to the Opera Populaire.

"A waste of time?" Clouseau asked. "How was that a waste of time? We got the information we needed."

"Your stupid dance was a waste of time! And that stupid song, too! Why didn't you just ask for the information without all that crazy stuff?"

"I told you, we needed the right atmosphere."

Raoul sighed. He decided anything this inspector did would be insane, and he would be convinced it was the right thing to do. It isn't worth arguing, he finally decided.

It wasn't long before the two entered the Opera. Clouseau looked around in deep thought, examining every last detail. "Now, I wonder where Miss Daae's dressing room is."

"I know where, just follow me," Raoul told him.

"Of course you don't know where it is, you silly person."

"I've been in it many times, though."

"But I bet Erik is onto us. He probably hid the room out of sight from us."

"I doubt it."

"I don't." Clouseau then walked up to a wall near the door of the Opera. He put his ear to it, trying to listen for a sound. His eyes moved up and down in a curious way, and he constantly made sounds such as, "Ahhh," and "Oooh." Finally, after a few minutes of this, he said to Raoul, "You should listen, too."

Raoul rolled his eyes, then walked over to Clouseau. He put his ear on the wall and before long, began to hear some voices, but they seemed to have nothing to do with the case.

"Charlie, did you try some of this chocolate yet?" one voice asked.

"No, James, I didn't."

"You should. It's the best!"

"I don't know. I'm on a diet."

"Oh, come on. You don't look that fat."

"Still . . ."

"It's the best chocolate ever! Come on!"

"You convinced me." A moment of silence passed, then, "Wow, this is good! Can I have another?"

"Sure!"

After a few minutes, they then heard, "Charlie, you ate the whole box!"

"I know, but it was just too good. Now where's my Alka Seltzer?"

"Aha!" Clouseau exclaimed, taking his ear away from the wall. Raoul did the same. "The case involves Alka Seltzer!"

"What?" Raoul cried out in shock. "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!"

"We have to interrogate these mysterious people behind the wall!" Clouseau began to look around the lobby and soon found a chair near the staircase. He picked it up and ran into the wall with it. The inspector continued to smash the chair into the wall hysterically, crying, "I know you're in there! I know you're in there with your Alka Seltzer!"

"Inspector!" Raoul yelled at him.

"Come out in the name of the law . . .with the Alka Seltzer. I need one myself!"

"Inspector!"

"I know you're in Miss Daae's dressing room! I can hear you! Come out now!"

"Inspector!"

Clouseau finally stopped smashing the chair against the wall and turned to Raoul. "What?"

"That's not the wall to Christine's dressing room. It's up there," Raoul told him, pointing to a door at the top of the staircase.

"Well, why didn't you tell me there wasn't a hidden door here?"

"I was trying to get your attention."

"You know, you have an excuse for everything. 'Oh, I already told you.' 'Oh, I was trying to get your attention.' Every time I ask you why you didn't do something, you have an excuse!"

Raoul sighed, but didn't argue. Instead, he began to walk up the flight of stairs. Clouseau put down the broken chair and followed him. They soon entered Christine's dressing room. In it was a bed, a small table, a wardrobe, but most importantly, the large mirror Madame Giry had told them about. Clouseau soon noticed that on the small table, there were two small pistols. "Wow, Miss Daae keeps pistols in her room. She must be very violent!"

"No, she's not," Raoul corrected. "Someone else must have put them here. I've never seen Christine with a gun."

"No?" Clouseau asked.

"Never, and I wouldn't expect too, either."

"Well, you've been proven wrong! She has pistols in her room. But for now, let's take them." Clouseau picked them both up and handed one to Raoul. "Now, I once learned from Chief Inspector Dreyfus . . ."

"Chief Inspector who?" Raoul asked.

"Dreyfus, my boss. Anyway, he taught me that I should always keep the hand that has the gun at the level of my eye so that I would be ready to shoot." He placed his right hand at the level of his eye, Raoul doing the same. "It also looks intimidating. Do you think these things have bullets in them?"

"I don't . . .WOAHHH!" Clouseau had pulled the trigger on the pistol to test it out, and had aimed it at Raoul's head accidently. Fortunately, Raoul ducked just in time. "I can't say I trust you with that!"

"I'll be fine. I've used a pistol successfully before."

"You did?"

"Well, if you can call shooting an innocent man's leg successful. I thought he was the thief."

Raoul groaned. "Are you sure you'll be okay with it?"

"Of course I'm sure! What do you take me for, a fool?" Clouseau seemed to be getting offended.

"Maybe," Raoul replied, chuckling.

"I'll prove you wrong!" Clouseau barked. "I'm going to find a way to make this mirror let us in to Erik's house without hurting myself!"

"I bet you fifty francs you won't!"

"Deal!" Clouseau slowly backed up to the wall, staring at the mirror with determination. After a few minutes of studying it, he dashed into the glass, which let him through to the other side. For a moment, Raoul had thought he lost the bet and began to reach into his pocket for the money, but he then heard, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I THINK I BROKE MY LEG!"

Raoul walked through the glass to find Clouseau on the ground, squirming. "I won," he told him.

"Fine." Clouseau reached into his pocket and pulled out fifty francs. Raoul stuffed the money in his pocket. "At least we got through."

"At least," Raoul murmured.

A/N: Thank you opera ghost's pokemon, obsessive.phantom, Blueflamewolf, phantomphan1992, ShadowHawk, and Chloe Rides a Land Shark for the reviews. Please keep on writing them!