Molly was doing all she could to learn exactly what Tom's job was and the more time she spent doing that, the more she realized that a lot of things were being neglected.
"What a total buffoon."
"Hey, you haven't even seen the new act yet." Sally laughed. "What's up?"
"Not you." Molly stared at the forms. "It's Tom. He didn't do anything. Makes me wonder how the hell we ever got anything we needed. All these forms were turned in late or missing information."
"Well, it's a good thing the Boss has you on the job."
"Still... How did this all go past Madame Giry?"
Sally shrugged and before she could say anything, Christine called out to them.
"Hello? Ms.? I'm sorry but could you help me?"
Molly looked up. "Oh hi, Ms. Daae! What can I do for you?"
Sally whispered. "You know she's married, right? Maybe use her married name."
Molly murmured back. "You know her husband left her, right? Besides, the Boss referred to her as Ms. Daae, so that's what I'll keep calling her."
Sally looked at the clock. "Got to run. Billy only gives me five minute breaks."
Christine came up the stars carrying a small basket.
"Molly? Isn't it?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"I was looking for Mr.….."
"Y." She smiled.
Christine blushed slightly. "Yes."
"He's been with our new…Uh Security Manager."
Christine's eyes widen. "Security?"
"It's nothing for you to alarm yourself over, Ms. Daae. It's just since Mr. Y fired Tom, we thought it be best to take certain precautions. He wasn't too pleased having to be dragged out by Dr. Gangle and Squelch."
"I see….." Christine tried not to look worried. "Well, I'll just….."
"How dare you disregard my order?! Who do you think you are?" Madame Giry yelled at Molly from across the stage.
Molly rolled her eyes. "Not again…. Look, Madame, I'm the Stage Manager now and it's my job to handle these things. We didn't need any more of those items. What we do need is….."
"Just because Mr. Y felt sorry for you and made another mistake in hiring…." She eyed Christine before looking back at Molly. "Doesn't mean that you have the authority to override my order."
"Meg isn't here anymore, Madame. We don't need those items and frankly they were never needed for her acts. I should know, I was in them."
Madame Giry glared at her. "We shall see about that!"
Molly saw the woman leave in a huff and looked at Christine. "Ma'am?"
Christine answered her. "Yes?"
"I need to tell Mr. Y something but I'm afraid to."
"Afraid? Why?"
"I've been going over things lately and….."
"Hello? Hello? I'm looking for Meg Giry." A tall man walked through the side door.
Molly shook her head. "She isn't here. She's taken a leave of absence for a while. How can I help you?"
"She and I have an arrangement and I haven't seen her in almost three weeks."
"Sir I don't know what sort of arrangement you are talking about but I'm the Stage Manager and…"
He looked Molly up and down. "You're too plain for my taste." He then looked over at Christine. "Pretty but you look too old."
Molly stopped him from coming onto the stage. "I told you Meg isn't here and we are busy."
"Tell her that if she stands me up one more time, I'm going to move up the park's inspection date."
"The what?!"
The man nodded. "You heard me. Tell her to start scratching my back again or I will quit scratching hers!"
Molly stared blankly at him as he exited. She then turned to Christine. "Ms. Daae, I think I really need to speak with Mr. Y now. Will you please come with me?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Erik was walking a rather bulky man out of the park.
"I appreciate you being able to come by on such short notice, Mr. Walker."
"Not at all, Mr. Y. When I received word that you were hiring, I made myself available."
Erik nodded cautiously. "I don't want to upset anyone, I just want to make sure that my employees and"… family… "Are protected."
"Have no fear. I'll start first thing in the morning."
"Go see Squelch inside tent # 7 when you arrive. He'll get you set up."
"Thank you, Mr. Y." He extended his hand and Erik shook it.
As soon as Mr. Walker left, Molly and Christine came running up to him.
"Christine, what are you doing here? Molly, why aren't you back at the stage?"
Christine took his arm to help steady him. "Erik, Molly needs to tell you something. It's about Meg."
He looked at Molly impatiently. "Spit it out, Girl!"
"Can we please go to your office, Mr. Y?"
Erik noticed the girl didn't look like herself. He nodded. "Follow me."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So you see Mr. Y, when I saw all these forms incomplete I got worried about the deliveries but we always kept receiving everything, no questions asked….."
Erik looked at the forms in disbelief. "My God, these should have been turned in weeks ago. How could we have gotten the permits, if the forms weren't….." He swallowed hard. "Giry had to have known about this."
"Mr. Y, I'm sorry to say this and I hope I'm wrong but we all saw Meg with a lot of….Admirers. I mean at first we didn't think twice but there were some rumors."
"Rumors?" He sat down fearing the worst.
"After today, when this man came and mentioned something about an inspection being scheduled…."
Erik ran his fingers through his hair and groaned.
Molly panicked. "Did I do wrong, Mr. Y in saying something? I mean I know I just started and all and you've been so good to me and Sally….."
He lifted his hand up to stop her. "You did the right thing, Molly."
"Is there anything else I can do, Sir?" She looked at Erik and then Christine.
"Just go back to work. I will take care of things from here."
"Yes, Sir."
"And Molly?"
"Yes?"
"Good work."
She smiled weakly and left.
Christine didn't know what to say. "Erik…"
"Christine, I need to go to the city and handle of few matters." He went to his safe and began taking out money, placing it into a satchel. "We won't be able to have our lesson today." His eyes met hers. "I'm very sorry about that. I so wanted to…"
"Erik, is there anything I can do? I keep wanting to think this is all some sort of horrific mistake."
"I need to find out for myself before Madame Giry hears of any of this. Can you imagine if…" He wanted to crawl inside a dark hole and never leave. "To think that little Meg could actually disgrace herself in this manner and for what? How could I have been so blind?" He cursed himself for not being more aware.
She could see how upset he was and worried about him traveling like that alone. "Can you come to the hotel before you go?"
He looked at her in confusion. "Why?"
"I want to see if Ms. Fleck can watch Gustave for a while until we get back."
"We?"
"I'm going with you."
