Author's note: Due to an unforseen plot twist, I have had to go back and re-write these next few chapters: 17-20. If you have read them before, please re-read them before going on to chapter 21 because the timing and the plot has changed. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Watching Christine leave the ballroom on the arm of his rival made Erik glower darkly through his mask at their departing backs. Then he recalled himself and glanced around the ballroom. He couldn't afford any distractions tonight, not if he was to carry out his plan.
Item one: Gerard. Oh, there he was in the front corner, waiting for the Cholettis to arrive. Good, he was properly placed.
Item two: Police Inspector Ledoux. Erik spun around on his heel, his red cloak twirling around him as he scanned the room for Ledoux. Ah, there he was, near one of the secret doorways. Erik nodded in satisfaction. If he would only stay there, Erik's plans would be much easier to get underway.
Item three was just arriving, draped in dark pink furs and wearing something on her head that looked as if it had been tortured and draped in flowers before it died. Carlotta Choletti entered on the arm of her husband who was all in white and wearing a silver mask. She wore a matching gold one. The footman announced them as, "Lord Winter and Lady Spring!"
Erik smiled to himself behind his mask, and touched his waistcoat pocket: yes, the small box was still there. Choletti saw Ledoux and made a beeline for him, leaving Carlotta unguarded. Erik nodded to Gerard, who nodded back and pushed himself away from the wall.
Gerard approached Carlotta, mimicking Erik's confident stride. The music began, and Gerard came right up behind Carlotta in a promenade position, so that the two of them were swept up in the dance before she had even seen him.
"Forgive me, madame, but I simply got carried away at the sight of your beauty," he murmured in her ear.
Carlotta smiled and preened. "Ah, monsieur, be careful that your impetuousness does not make my husband jealous!"
"But how could it, madame, when he doesn't even know?" Gerard released her waist and pointed to where Choletti was berating a longsuffering Ledoux. "He is too busy with his harangue to even be aware that his wife is consorting with…" he spun her around to face him, and smiled at her. "…ghosts."
Carlotta sucked in a noisy breath, preparing to scream. Gerard tightened his grip on her and shook his head sharply. "No screaming, if you please, madame. I'm not going to harm you, unless you scream."
"Wha—what do you want from me?" asked Carlotta in a quavering voice.
"For now? Just a dance," Gerard promised.
Erik, making his way slowly over toward Ledoux and Choletti, heard the exchange and admired his father's aplomb. He reached into his waistcoat pocket for the small box, and as he passed the couple, Gerard turned her so that Carlotta had her back to Erik. Erik swiftly emptied the contents of the box onto her tall and flowery headdress. Then he continued on without looking back.
He drew near Choletti and Ledoux, enough to overhear Choletti's furious demands to know what Ledoux was doing to capture the phantom.
"Monsieur, I assure you, I am doing all I can," came Ledoux's patient voice.
"Well, it'sa not enough!" Choletti snapped. "This…this thing 'as threatened my beloved. Threatened my Carlotta! My wife'sa safety is atta stake!"
Erik took one step closer and interrupted the conversation. "Then why do you leave her thus unprotected?" he asked mildly.
"What?" Choletti demanded. "Who are you?"
Erik inclined his head toward the dance floor. "If I were you, I'd be more interested in finding out who was dancing with my wife."
Choletti glanced over and saw Carlotta, white-faced with fear, in the arms of the "phantom of the opera." He let out an incoherent bellow of rage that caught Gerard's attention. He let go of Carlotta, stepped back, and melted into the crowd. Choletti tried to find him, but was forced to stop and tend to his hysterical wife—who became that much more hysterical when she felt one of the spiders crawl from her headdress down her neck to the back of her dress.
Erik snickered, and to his surprise, so did Ledoux. Their eyes met in a moment of sympathy and humour.
Ledoux shook his head. "That wasn't the real phantom," he confided to his new friend.
Erik nodded. "I know. For one thing, I doubt the phantom would come to a masquerade as himself!"
Ledoux chuckled. "He'd have far too much style for that," he agreed.
Erik grinned behind his mask. He stepped closer and leaned over to speak to Ledoux confidentially. "I am curious, Inspector, whether you would be as eager to catch the phantom if Choletti was not threatening your job?"
Ledoux frowned. "I don't know how you know that, monsieur, and with respect, I don't know what business it is of yours. If you are implying that I would willingly let a criminal go unpunished—"
Erik held up a placating, black-gloved hand. "Forgive me, Inspector; I never meant to imply that. It is just that there has been a phantom here for so many years, and there haven't been any… 'incidents'… until the Cholettis took charge. I just wonder what it is about the Cholettis that suddenly necessitate the police inspector having his own office here."
Ledoux sighed, unhappy. "If Choletti hadn't insisted we go down there on some wild-goose chase after Miss Daée, then I would have been content to leave things as they were. After all, Miss Daée did return unharmed. But now, in addition to his harmless (and may I say, highly entertaining) pranks on La Carlotta, the phantom has killed two of my own men. There is no way I could let it go now, even if I wanted to."
"I see," Erik replied, not without regret. Knowing this, he had no choice now but to see his plans through to the end, tonight. He bowed to Ledoux and snuck out through the hidden door behind him. He had to go check on Christine.
He arrived at his listening spot behind her mirror just as Christine was telling Philippe about her "maestro" beating up her attackers. When Philippe made his grand statement about getting out of the way as long as Christine was happy with her maestro, the aforementioned maestro smiled to himself, pleased that Christine was in no danger, and started back to the ballroom. It was almost time for Gerard to be back from his spy mission.
When he arrived, Gerard wasn't there yet, so he stationed himself behind the wall that Ledoux was leaning against, and settled in to have a chat with the good Inspector.
