"Monsieur, I must protest!" Madame Giry told the policeman. "Miss LeFontelle had, to say the very least, an extremely trying day yesterday. As you can guess, she is in a lot of pain. She only awoke a few hours ago. Is there any way you can come back after she has recovered?"
The officer shook his head. "I'm sorry Madame, but we need to know what happened while the memories are still fresh. I understand that she is injured and so I'll try to keep this as short as possible."
"It's okay," Ella whispered. Any movement, or even talking caused her immense pain in her stomach. "I…I can do this."
Madame Giry glanced at her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "It's not like I'm doing anything else right now. I can try to be helpful, but I don't know how much I can tell you. What happened was pretty self-explanatory."
"What happened to you in the chapel mademoiselle?"
Ella looked up to Madame Giry, remembering what excuse Erik had come up to explain her absence from rehearsals. The ballet mistress whispered something to Meg before disappearing out the door.
"I had been sick," Ella lied. "But I was feeling better and decided to take a trip to the chapel. Archer came down, saying something about secret tunnels and the Phantom of the Opera. He threw me against the wall, I hit my head. When I woke up, he had his sword out. I tried to run but he was swinging it everywhere. The next thing I knew, he stabbed me."
"That's all that happened?" he pressed. "Nothing else?"
"I don't like your tone Monsieur," Meg snapped, leaping to Ella's defense. "What exactly are you implying? Why would Ella lie to you?"
He shrugged. "I'm just trying to get all the facts."
"No you're trying to find some way to pin this on Ella!" Meg accused. "You're trying to make it seem like it's her fault because Archer has money! You don't want to offend his family! Look at her! No matter what happened, she's still hurt! It was his sword and her blood! You saw the evidence for yourself! Why would Ella hurt herself?"
"Mademoiselle, if you cannot control yourself, I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"
"Meg, don't do this," Ella pleaded. "It's nothing. I'm fine really." She reached out to calm Meg down, but an antagonizing pain shot through her abdomen, making her cry out.
"That's enough!" the doctor said sharply, being led into the room by Madame Giry.
"Monsieur, she's told you what you've needed to know," the ballet mistress added. "Ella has had enough. She's very clearly in pain, and you're doing nothing but stressing her more. If you need more information, you can come back at another time. Until then, you need to leave."
The officer glanced at Ella. "We'll be in touch Mademoiselle."
Once the policeman was gone, the doctor turned his attention to Ella, who had tears of pain streaming down her face. "It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling? On a scale from one to ten, one being minor discomfort, ten being the absolute maximum you can take, how strong is the pain?"
"Eleven!" she gasped.
He nodded. "I figured. In a few days the pain will begin to lessen. But for now I something that will help you sleep through it." The doctor reached into his bag, pulled out a small bottle, and held it underneath her nose for a moment, making her breathe in its fumes. Ella's eyelids began to droop and the pain began to lessen as she drifted off.
"It was an accident!" Archer explained.
"How do you accidentally stab someone with a sword Monsieur Dubois?" the police captain asked. The two were settled in armchairs in the captain's office discussing what had happened at the opera house.
"It was the Phantom of the Opera's fault!" he cried. "He's been after her for weeks now! He kidnapped her and hypnotized her into thinking she loved him! I was trying to save her! We were fighting yes, and when I was on the verge of defeating him, he threw Ella in front of himself to take the blow instead."
The captain nodded, before pouring two generous glasses of brandy and handing one to Archer. "And just how long have you been aware of this phantom following Miss LeFontelle?"
Archer took a gulp of the amber liquid before telling him the full story. "I had been seeing Ella for a few weeks when we went to the New Years' Masquerade together. About an hour into the ball, she disappeared. Later I saw her with a man I didn't recognize, he had her pulled against him and was kissing her. When I tried to get closer, she looked right at me, she was utterly terrified. He dragged her away and I couldn't find her for the rest of the night."
"The next morning she told me she couldn't ever see me again. After that she came to me after a rehearsal, bruises on her wrist and face, but wouldn't tell me what was going on. Eventually I convinced her to leave with me, for her protection, but she ran away the night of our wedding."
"Another one of the dancers came up to me and told me that she was worried about her, and had been following Ella. She said that the Phantom had taken Ella prisoner and threatened my life if she married me. I went to her dressing room and heard a man threatening her. The door was locked, so I did the only thing I could. I had her brought to my mansion outside of Paris with plans to depart for America. Poor Ella was so scared that the Phantom was going to come after us, she ran back to the opera. She disappeared again, this time for days. I found her in the chapel, trying to escape the Phantom. The fight broke out, and Ella was hurt."
"If Miss LeFontelle had been kidnapped, then why was she in the chapel?"
"I don't know," Archer replied honestly. "As far as I could tell, she was trying to run from the Phantom. One of the walls had a secret door, which I figure must lead to his lair."
"Monsieur Dubois, you realize this story is awfully far-fetched," the captain replied. "Phantoms, secret doorways, how do you expect me to believe this?"
Archer thought about it for a moment. "I can show you the passages! And the ballerina, you can ask her! Come Monsieur, I will prove it to you!"
Erik stood guard over Ella like an angel of the night. He hated that she had to be sedated all the time, but it was the only way for her to handle the pain. Movement of any kind caused her such agony that it broke his heart. It was all his fault that she was suffering like this.
The door opened. Erik spun around, but it was only Meg. "He's coming!" she cried. "He's here! He's in the chapel!"
"Stay here with her and lock the door!" he ordered. "Don't let anyone in but your mother!" Meg nodded and Erik immediately took off.
"I know there's a door here somewhere!" Archer was shouting. He was banging on the wall in frustration. Erik had to smirk; the switch Dubois was so desperately looking for was less than a foot above his hand. "I saw it!" Finally he gave a sigh of defeat. "Her dressing room! There's another passage there!"
Dubois was with half a dozen police officers, and he knew that even the Phantom of the Opera would have a hard time taking on that many. Luckily, he when he made the mirror a door, he had thought of everything.
He skidded to a halt and had just slid the locking mechanism into place, when Archer and his men burst into the room. Dubois raced to the mirror and began pulling on it with all the strength he had. To everyone, it looked just like a regular mirror. "It leads to a tunnel I swear! I just can't get it! Help me open this!"
"Monsieur, there is nothing there," one of the officers insisted.
"There's a girl who can tell you the truth! One of the ballerinas!" Archer ran out of the room, followed closely by the men and Erik.
Dubois ran into the dormitories, making several of the ballerinas cry out in surprise. "Where is she?" he shouted.
"Where's who?" one of the girls asked. "Other than Meg and Ella, this is everyone."
"No!" he screamed. "There was one other girl! I know! I saw her!"
"Monsieur, you need to come with us."
Archer shook off the police officer. Erik kept close behind him as he made his way to where Meg and Ella were. Dubois began trying to break down the door. "Let me in!" he shouted. "The Phantom has to be here!" On the other side, Erik could here Meg screaming for help.
A few men came and pulled him away. Taking advantage of the uproar, Erik slipped into the room. Meg looked to him, fear in her eyes. "What's happening?"
"I don't think we're going to hear from Archer for a long time," he replied simply.