At the Hotel Lutetia, Christine and Phillippe were together in a private suite, sitting at a table in the middle of the room and drinking tea. Christine was wearing a white blouse with a laced pattern on the chest and a long dark purple skirt. Phillippe was wearing a white shirt, a white frilly tie, a light cream waist coat and darker cream colour trousers. Neither one of them spoke, their minds were too consumed with worry over Catherine's safety. After the Chandelier's fall and Catherine's disappearance, Monsieur Cholet thought it would be best for her to stay away from the Opera House until things had calmed down more and Catherine was safely returned, in the meantime Phillippe offered for her to stay with him in his hotel suite which she agreed to without hesitating. The two were so lost in thought that they jumped when they heard a sudden knock at the door. Phillippe rose from his chair and went to answer it, there was a bell boy at the door. He was wearing an Emerald green uniform with three rows of golden buttons going down the front of the coat, matching trousers with two golden stripes going down both legs on the outside and an a matching bellhop hat with two golden stripes going around the top and the bottom, he was holding a silver tray in his left hand with an envelope resting on it. He bowed to Phillippe.
"Pardon me, Monsieur La Count. A messenger dropped this off at the front desk. It is addressed to Mademoiselle Daae" he said holding the tray out.
Christine rose from her chair, abruptly, and made her way towards the two men. She took the envelope from the tray.
"Merci Monsieur" she said before turning to walk back further into the room.
Phillippe gave the bellboy a tip for his services and dismissed him, closing the door as he saw him walk away. He turned and walked towards Christine.
She quickly opened the envelope and read the letter inside, briskly. When she finished reading the letter she gave a small smile and breathed a sigh of relief.
"What does is say, Christine?" asked Phillippe as he watched her reaction.
Christine turned to face him; her smile grew.
"It's from Catherine, she is safe, and she wishes for us to meet with her tonight" she said happily as she held out the letter to Phillippe so he could see for himself.
He took the letter from her and read it himself, feeling a slight disbelief after hearing what she had said.
"Is this her hand?" he asked.
"Yes, I know my sister's hand anywhere" she said with confidence.
Phillippe could not believe his eyes at what the note said but also felt relieved to know the letter wasn't forged and it was proof that Catherine was indeed safe. But he also couldn't help but feel slightly confused by the 'P.S' at the bottom.
"What do you think she means by 'Monsieur Carriere knows of the situation'? He told us he had no idea where she was when we first questioned him" said Phillippe.
Christine shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe he knows more than what he led us to believe" she said.
"If that is true he will have a lot to answer for. Gerard has always been a dear friend to me. Why would he keep something this important from us?" asked Phillippe, rhetorically.
"I know that her message states to not tell the police of this, but I think we should. For all we know it could be a trap" said Phillippe, walking towards the telephone that was on a small table by the window.
"No! I will not betray my sister...not again" exclaimed Christine.
Phillippe stopped in his tracks when she spoke, he turned back around, slowly, to look at her with an expression of confusion.
"Again? What do you mean again, Christine?" he asked.
Christine gave a sad sigh as she lowered her head in shame and turned away from Phillippe, feeling too ashamed to look at him.
"She and I made a promise not to tell anyone who was teaching her to sing. On the night of her debut as the Bistro, just after you and I parted ways, I came to my room to find Madame Carlotta there, waiting for Catherine. She started asking me all of these questions and when I wouldn't give her an answer she became threatening" said Christine as tears started spilling from her eyes.
"I wanted her to stop so I gave in and told her everything. I noticed that when I told her Maestro wears a mask she looked at me with disbelief and soon she left, just as Catherine entered the room" sobbed Christine as she hid her face in her hands.
Phillippe looked at her with a wide-eyed expression and took a step back in shock and disbelief.
"So, her teacher is really..." he said, he was unable to finish his sentence.
Christine vigorously nod her head 'yes' then looked up at him.
"Yes, Phillippe. Maestro is really...The Phantom. I have known this for some time and allowed their lessons to go on because as time went on I saw how much he cares for her, maybe even loves her, and I could see she was developing the same feelings for him too" admitted Christine and she lowered her head and cried into her hands again.
"And I have a suspicion that Madame Carlotta had something to do with Catherine's voice failing on opening night of Faust. When the Orchestra and I paused I happened to glance to where Carlotta and Monsieur Cholet were sitting and I saw her laughing, triumphantly, at Catherine's failure. I know my instincts are right...and it's all my fault" she sobbed even harder and lowered herself to her knees.
Phillippe looked at her with sympathy, he approached her and lowered himself down to his knees. He pulled out a handkerchief from his inside coat pocket and held it out to her.
She took her handkerchief from him and started drying her eyes. While she was doing that Phillippe wrapped his arm around her and held her close, to comfort her.
"Sh, it's alright Christine. We will make things better. We will not tell the police about our meeting with Catherine this evening, but if what you believe is true then we need to find evidence ourselves" he said as he continued holding her and started rubbing her back to sooth her more.
Christine pulled away from him a little and looked up at his face. Her eyes were red and swollen from the crying.
"You believe me Phillippe? You will help me prove it?" she asked, hoping she hadn't misheard him. She used the handkerchief again to dry the remaining tears in her eyes.
"Of course, I do Christine. I have some suspicions about Madame Carlotta myself. And if she has done something to Catherine, justice must be served" said Phillippe with determination.
A beaming smile grew on Catherine's face.
"Oh, Phillippe!" she exclaimed, throwing her own arms around him, and pulled him in for a kiss.
He returned the kiss, gladly.
After a short amount of time the two pulled away for air. Phillippe too Christine by both hands
"Come, we must return to the Opera House to find clues before our meeting with Catherine this evening. If we happen to find anything we must take it to the police" said Phillippe as he rose to his feet, pulling Catherine up with him.
Phillippe ran to grab his coat and Catherine's dark purple coat, that matched her skirt, and put their things on as they left the suite. Phillippe closed the door behind them. The two then made their way down the stairs.
At the hotel entrance, Phillippe instructed the doorman to have his carriage brought around. The doorman whistled to get the attention of a valet boy.
"Carriage of the Count de Chaney!" he called out in a baritone voice.
Almost immediately, Phillippe's one-horse carriage was brought forward. Phillippe tipped the doorman and the valet for their services while Christine climbed inside the carriage. He climbed in beside her, grabbed their reins and urged the horse to walk on.
XXX
After riding through the streets and over the bridge, as quickly as they possibly could, they arrived at the Opera House. Phillippe drove the carriage around to the side entrance, when he brought the carriage to a stop he dropped the reins and jumped down then helped Christine get down. The two made their way over to Jean-Claude's office, who was sitting at his desk reading the newspaper.
"Bonjour Jean-Claude, do you know if the Inspector is around?" asked Phillippe.
Jean-Claude looked up over his paper at them, he quickly closed it and folded it up.
"Inspector? No, no I haven't seen him" he said, rising from his chair.
"Is Catherine's dressing room still closed off?" asked Christine.
"Yes, yes, but why..." said Jean-Claude.
Before he could finish his sentence, Phillippe and Christine ran inside the building. Jean-Claude watched them as they went inside. He took his hat off and scratched the top of his head feeling confused.
XXX
Christine and Phillippe quickly made their way through the building, passing a few members of the company and two policemen who were patrolling the building. The officer's found their quick pace suspicious and decided to follow them.
Catherine and Phillippe quickly made their way up the stairs towards Catherine's dressing room, the doors were left open, so they walked straight in.
"Search everywhere, Christine. There has to be something the police missed" said Phillippe as he started searching the right side of the room.
Christine went over to the left side and started searching Catherine's dressing table.
The police officers finally caught up with them and watched what they were doing from the threshold.
"Excusez moi, Mademoiselle, Monsieur. But this room is off limits" said the taller one with a thin moustache.
Phillippe stopped what he was doing and turned to address them.
"Forgive us, officers. Mademoiselle Daae had a suspicion about her sister's mishap on stage the other day and we wanted to find proof of this" he explained as he walked a few steps towards them.
"I think I found something Phillippe" called out Christine.
Phillippe and the officers turned to Christine and saw she was pointing at something on the dressing table. They walked towards her to get a closer look.
"That metal cup. That wasn't in here when we came to see Catherine before she went on stage" said Christine.
Phillippe saw the metal cup and couldn't recall seeing it before either.
"Are you sure of this Mademoiselle?" asked the shorter officer who looked to be in his early thirties.
"Yes, this was definitely not here when we were before" confirmed Christine.
The taller officer pulled out a handkerchief from inside his coat, walked towards the dressing table and picked the cup up with it. He brought it up to his nose and took a deep breath. His facial expressions changed from stoned to disgust as he pulled the cup away from his face.
"There is a slight herbal smell. We will take this back to headquarters to be tested. In the meantime, you better come with us and tell the Inspector of your suspicions" the officer suggested.
"We came in my carriage; we will follow behind you" said Phillippe as he wrapped his right arm around Christine's shoulders and his left hand touched her left arm.
"Very good Monsieur, now if you will kindly follow us, s'il vous plait" said the officer.
He and the second officer turned and walked out of the room. Phillippe and Christine followed after them.
The four walked through the building and out of the side entrance. The officers made their way to two black horses. The officer holding the metal cup placed it carefully inside the saddle bag at the front of the saddle and climbed up onto the horse, the other officer climbed onto his horse and the two urged them to walk on. Phillippe and Catherine climbed into their carriage and followed behind them.
XXX
They travelled through the streets for some time until they came to police headquarters. At the entrance, the officers climbed down from their horses while Phillippe and Catherine climbed down from the carriage. The tall officer removed the metal cup from his saddle back while the other officer addressed them.
"We will put a rush on testing the residue left in the cup and dust for finger marks. The Inspector will be in his office, just go straight in" he said.
He and the officer then walked around to the right side of the building, where the entrance to the lab was, whilst Christine and Phillippe made their way up the steps and through the main entrance. They were greeted at the sergeant's desk by a middle-aged officer with greying hair and a thick grey moustache.
"Bonjour, may I help you?" asked the officer.
"Yes, we would like to see Inspector Ledoux on an urgent, personal matter" said Christine, in a nervous tone.
"Of course, his office is the door at the end of the hallway" said the officer as he pointed down the hallway, behind him.
"Merci"
"Merci"
Christine and Phillippe thanked him before making their way around the desk and down the hallway. When they came to the door at the end of the hall marked 'Inspector Ledoux' Phillippe knocked on the door three times.
"Come in" said a muffled voice on the other side.
Phillippe pulled down on the door handle and pushed the door open. Christine walked through the door first and he followed behind her.
In the room, Inspector Ledoux was sorting out some papers on his desk. When he heard the door open he looked up and saw Christine and Phillippe enter.
"Monsieur La Count, Mademoiselle Daae, how can I help you?" he said in a friendly greeting, rising from his chair.
"Inspector, we have some important information we wish to discuss with you" said Phillippe as he turned and closed the door behind him.