Back on the surface, the stagehands had covered the destroyed Chandelier with a grey tarp and were getting ready to remove it. Inspector Ledoux had returned to the room after talking with Phillippe and Christine, he was watching the men work until he saw Carriere walk across the stage.
"Gerard! Gerard!" he called out.
Carriere stopped for a moment and turned toward the Inspector.
"I know nothing, Inspector" he said abruptly, holding his left hand up and continued on his way.
"No, no, please! Please Gerard!" begged the Inspector but Carriere had disappeared from sight.
The Inspector soon left the room when he saw there was nothing else, he could do.
XXX
The Inspector gathered a group of police officers together and led them to the back of the building, where the door to the cellar was. Cholet was waiting for them with the key. He unlocked the door then held it open for them.
"Go down" said Ledoux as he pointed down into the cellar.
The policemen filed in one by one and Ledoux followed after them.
He paused for a moment in the threshold, turned around and knocked on the door.
"Are you coming, Monsieur Cholet?" he asked Cholet who was still standing behind the door.
"It's not my job, Inspector" said Cholet from behind the door.
Ledoux shrugged his shoulders then followed behind his policemen.
Cholet peaked around the door as he went.
With torches and lanterns in hand, Ledoux split his men into groups.
"Spread out, you go left" he told the first group.
"Yes Monsieur" said the leading officer.
"And the others follow me to the other side" said Ledoux as he led his group in the opposite direction.
The Inspector's group walked down a few flights of stairs when suddenly he heard a faint sound, like soft singing, and his group stop walking for a moment.
"Do you hear something?" he asked the officer behind him.
"No2 said the officer.
"Sounded like some sort of music" said Ledoux as he looked around the room for a moment.
He then brushed it off as him just hearing things and continued to lead his group further down the cellars.
XXX
Meanwhile, the second group were making their way down a different way.
"The last man who came down here never returned" said the leading officer as he held a gas lantern up.
"Are you joking?" asked the officer behind him in a nervous tone.
When they finally reached the bottom, they found themselves in a storage room full of old props and took precautionary steps as they moved further in, making sure not to bump into anything and make a noise.
XXX
The first group continued going down further into the cellars.
XXX
The second group found another staircase going further down and followed it to see where it led. At the bottom they found themselves in another storage room. Some of the props stored in this room though looked beyond repair.
XXX
The first group searched the second cellar for a while but then Ledoux decided to turn back.
"Too many places to look. We'll come back with more lights and more men. Call the others back" he told the officer behind him.
"Back, everyone! Back!" exclaimed the officer as he stood at the top of the staircase the second group had gone down.
The second group were making their way up the stairs quickly and the officer waiting at the top did a head count as they did but noticed there was one officer missing.
"Where is Robert?" he asked the men.
The second group all turned around and saw their comrade was missing and started calling out for him.
"Robert!?" they shouted one after the other.
"Get him back!" said the officer at the top of the stairs.
The officers called out for their missing comrade as they retraced their steps and went back down to the last cellar they were in before they were called back.
"I hope someone's dropping breadcrumbs" said an officer moustache, trying to make light of the situation by telling jokes.
"Robert!?" he called out.
At the bottom of the steps the officer in front turned left.
"Robert!?" he called out again.
Ahead of him he caught sight of a silhouette hanging a few feet off the ground. He lifted the lantern he was holding up a little more and was horrified at what the light revealed. It was Robert hanging by the neck, dead.
"No! No!" he shouted.
When the officer behind him saw Robert hanging, he jumped back in shock and almost lost his balance. He grabbed a hold of a piece of rope hanging from the ceiling but when he did it set off a trap, a wooden contraption swung down from the ceiling and snagged the first officer around the neck and slowly strangled him to death.
XXX
Sometime later at the entrance to the cellars, Inspector Ledoux and Cholet watched as the two fallen policemen were carried out by their comrades on stretchers with white sheets covering the bodies and their hats resting on top.
"This is not the work of a ghost" said Cholet as he watched the bodies being carried away.
"We will get him. Don't worry" said Ledoux with a determined tone.
The two gentlemen made their way to Cholet's office to discuss the matter further. On the way in Ledoux collected his hat and coat.
"You understand I don't want to put pressure on you now" said Cholet as they entered the room.
"But if what happened down below were to get out" he continued to speak but then couldn't find the right words to finish his sentence.
"It wouldn't be helpful for the police either" said Ledoux, getting an idea of what Cholet was insinuating.
"Oh, I didn't think it would" Cholet agreed with him.
"You know nothing" said Ledoux, hinting that what he was about to share with Cholet only stays between the two of them.
"Absolutely nothing" said Cholet agreeing not to breath a word of their conversation.
"I have men posted everywhere" said Ledoux, reassuring Cholet that the police were now prepared for when the Phantom would make another appearance.
"Good!" said Cholet with a smile.
XXX
Beneath the Opera House, Catherine rose from her sleep and sat up in the bed.
"Maestro!?" she called out, looking around the room feeling anxious.
Erik did not come.
Catherine slowly rose from the bed and surveyed her new surroundings.
XXX
Meanwhile, Erik marched through his lair and exited. His demeanour appeared as though he were on a mission and he was wearing his black mask that had the expression of anger.
XXX
Catherine first noticed the portrait in the room, it was of a woman with long, thick blonde hair, pale skin, brown eyes, and she wore a white laced dress. In the background it appeared as though she was inside a castle tower because she was surrounded by stone walls and there was a window that looked out onto a lush, green countryside. Next to the portrait was a mannequin and on it was the exact same dress as the woman in the portrait was wearing. Catherine touched the dress delicately before lifting it off the mannequin and held it up in front of her. She noticed there was a full length mirror in the room and carefully carried the dress over to it, turned it around so the front was facing the mirror and held it up against her and when she looked at her reflection she saw the dress would be a perfect fit.
XXX
In the lobby of the Opera House, the lights were turned off and there was silence all around, this gave Carriere a chance to sneak around. He surveyed the lobby to make sure no one was around before pushing the secret button, below the statue of the Egyptian woman, and made his way through the secret door in the wall.
XXX
Erik returned to Catherine's dressing room and began searching the room. He had a suspicion as to why Catherine couldn't sing on stage but first, he needed proof. At first glance, nothing really seemed out of place in the room, so he moved towards the dressing table. He sat down on the chair in front of it, with his right hand he flicked through the pages of a small Bible on the table and then he noticed a metal cup on its side, on top of a hand mirror. He picked it up and brought it to his nose to smell any residue of what was in the cup. Whatever was in it infuriated Erik, he recognized a scent and knew it was the cause of Catherine losing her voice and he already knew who the culprit could be, Carlotta. He threw the cup down onto the table and rose from the chair.
He had already thought of a plan for revenge against Carlotta.
He grabbed a leather suitcase from a shelf and made his way back through the secret passageway.
XXX
In her private suite, Carlotta was sitting at her dressing table applying her makeup whilst singing in the note 'Ah'. She was wearing a brown dress with a golden pattern and a matching fabric headband that kept her thick brown hair out of her face.
Erik appears in the doorway, with the leather suitcase in hand.
Carlotta caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eyes and when she looked up into the corner of her mirror, she saw Erik's reflection and froze.
"Good evening, Madame. I have something for you" said Erik as he walked further in the room and rested the suitcase on a nearby table.
Carlotta dropped her make up brush on the table then turned around in her chair to face Erik, terrified at the sight of him.
Erik opened the suitcase, revealing it was full of rats.
The sight of them terrified Carlotta even more.
"I hope it's to your liking!" exclaimed Erik as he dumped the rats over Carlotta's head.
Carlotta screamed with horror and fainted. The rats crawled all over her.
"Rats for a rat" sneered Erik before he left the room.