Everyone's guesses have been on the mark thus far. Much love and gratitude to you for humoring my Prima-Donna-Wannabe-ness! Thanks Solecito, fireflyjunction, and Moonjava, and anyone else just reading! You're too kind! I hope that this story will continue to hold your interest! For the delay (and since this chapter ended abruptly and without consulting me first) you get 2 chapters in 1 day!
A double shot of
Fear
La peur
—
Scene I
Focus: la Suédoise
A sound unlike any other echoed through her mind, and unknowingly she began to weep. Up, up, up, running up the stairs, they fled through the passages, into the gilded corridors, down the grand staircase and burst out upon the steps. Heartbroken, she stared up at the dim quarter moon, blindly following the hand that clutched hers and pulled her down the street.
It was hours later before her mind was capable of structuring a logical thought. All three of them packed together around the table, she pressed between the two men. None of them even noticed their waitress's reaction to their shell-shocked expressions. Eventually, the other two's proximity and warmth restored her.
'Someone died to-night,' Charlotte thought, and tried not to imagine how.
—
By the way, this is your first tie-in to the title. Charlotte thinks someone has died; she is Mistaken. It only sounded that way. For the moment never mind who Charlotte is, go read the next chapter.