Dear readers, I apoligize for the very late update. I will continue this story and hope you are still interested in it.
Erik's life was turned upside down again. Just when he had settled down in his underground home and decided he was done with the world, that pug Beau had decided to end his chosen solitude and draw him out into the daylight again. And now Christine changed Erik's comfortable lack of routine and schedule again. And the Daroga decided to take Erik at his word and demand to see him regularly, offering they could go for a walk in the park with Beau. Erik would have declined, but the Daroga knew that the pug loved food so he made sure he always had some dried meat with him in a small metal box. Usually these boxes were used for cigarettes, but the Daroga used it for slices of dried meat for Beau. Erik wondered how many people were always carrying treats in their pocket, just in case they met a dog. But Beau loved these walks at daytime at the park. Beau was a very sociable dog, like most pugs, and loved attention. So Erik reluctantly agreed to regular meetings and walks - for Beau's sake.
So Erik's schedule was rather complicated because he needed to coordinate Christine's lessons with her rehearsal schedule, her other appointments at the opera, her wish to attend church regularly and her desire to eventually sing at soirees, especially when there were charity soirees, raising funds for some charity project. Then he had to coordinate Beau's walks with the Daroga - Erik insisted that these were Beau's appointments with the Daroga, Erik was just there to make sure the Daroga wouldn't feed Beau something the pug shouldn't have - with that schedule.
And of course he needed to take care of his household, eventually the fake household concealing his private entrance, get some money mostly through theft from the Opera's cash box and picking pockets... he felt like he was as busy as he had been running a construction enterprise. Only that time he had had an assistant who coordinated his schedule and appointments.
Somehow Erik found he enjoyed his new life. He had noticed before that when he was taking Beau with him - and he took his pug everywhere, knowing the pug hated being alone - people tended to laugh at the odd couple, especially if he dressed Beau. They were no longer scared of him or aggressive, they just laughed and children and women even approached them, wanting to pet Beau who loved attention. Beau turned out to be a little showman, knowing perfectly well how cute he was and using his cuteness to get kisses and cuddles and treats. Erik was just the one holding his leash and most likely ignored. For Erik Beau was his entrance ticket to a more normal life. Not really normal. He still needed his special mask - glasses with a false nose and false beard attached to it - to look just ugly, but not so terrifyingly ugly people would scream and run from him.
The Managers of the Opera soon realized that someone was stealing money and started an investigation. But whatever they did, whomever they suspected, it turned out to be wrong. They even stared to suspect each other, keeping an eye on each other, but still wrong. Money kept disappering. Sometimes smaller sums, sometimes larger sums. When they noticed that a rather large sum had been withdrawn from the bank account they had a discussion with the bank. It turned out that someone had cashed in a cheque, the cheque signed and accepted by both managers, over a rather large sum. The bank had checked the cheque, the signatures, and found nothing wrong with it. Poligny and Debienne agreed to burn the cheques they had signed as blanks. It made the office proceedures easier if there was a chequebook signed blank, but obviously someone had stolen some of the blankcheques and cashed them in. This had not been noticed as long as smaller sums were withdrawn from the account, but when a larger sum was missing the bookkeeper had asked questions. Now they agreed that they would never have blankcheques - not even in the safe - to prevent this from ever happening again. Unfortunately this did not prevent money disappearing from the safe and the cash box.
The Opera still faced the problem that someone obviously brought a dog to some opera performances. That dog was barking and howling and whining at certain points during the performance, then again silent. They had security guards keeping an eye on the audience. A dog, even a small one, was a lively animal and not easy to smuggle. Someone would have to hide it in a bag, so they especially kept their eyes open for people with larger bags. They could not know that Erik - carrying Beau in a large shoulderbag - entered and left his box five through the hollow column and used the hollow walls as passageways to go wherever he wanted to unseen.
The one who found out where the dog must be was the cleaning lady who had to clean box five. Pugs shed lots of hair, more so in spring and summer, but they are always shedding fur and pug's fur is even more clingy than another dog's fur. Pug hair seems to be burdock-like, sticking to all kinds of fabric, especially velvet like it was used for the chairs, and carpets. So of course the cleaning lady couldn't miss the amount of pug hair in Beau's chair, as Erik didn't like to stay in the column but preferred to sit in one of the chairs with Beau on a chair beside him. But that lady kept cleaning box five first and cleaned it with special care. When Beau had "marked" his box first, Erik had left a large tip for the cleaning lady and a note, apologizing for a mishap and offering more generous tips if she could keep a little secret. With the tips much higher than her actual income as a cleaning lady, she kept silent, knowing if anyone ever found out that the man who had reserved box five permanently would lose his box and be prohibited entrance, thus she would permantently lose her much needed extra income. Little did she know that "Hector Taupe" was just an alias Erik could easily do without as he used that one only for booking the box. It was so easy, really, to do that. He just needed to take down in the cashbook that the box had been paid in advance to make sure "Hector Taupe" would have the box for another year.
One day Christine asked Erik if he had been at the opera the evening before after their lesson. Erik sat at the piano, Christine and Mama Valerius on the couch, Beau between the two women, enjoying the cuddles from two women. Erik smiled at the view. Beau so much loved Christine and she loved the pug. Mama Valerius was so taken with Beau, she had started sewing little jackets and coats for him in various colors and embroidery. Beau didn't care about clothes, but he enjoyed the attention he got - and the treats.
"Of course. I attend nearly every time you sing." Which was true. He loved to hear her sing.
"Did you notice the dog barking? Some string instrument has been slightly off, I guess not well tuned, and the dog barked until the conductor stopped and the instrument was properly tuned. Then the dog was silent and it was a good performance," Christine started telling the story. "Everyone in the opera is discussing the dog. He always barks when someone sings or plays incorrectly, but he ignores all mistakes from the scenes, the ballet or the costumes. Even wrong wording or omitted verse is nothing he cares about."
Erik shrugged, looking lovingly at Beau. "Dogs have a better hearing than men," he explained, "This one seems to have the perfect hearing."
Christine chuckled. "Yes, that's what I think too. But some think that it is no real dog for no one ever sees a dog in the opera. There must be one, but no matter how the managers try to prevent the audience from smuggling in a dog, he is there anyways. So some think it is a Church Grim."
"A what?" Erik knew it was just Beau and the image of Beau as a Church Grim was absolutely ridiculous.
Christine kissed Beau and went on: "The Opera has been build on the catacombes and the catacombes have been a graveyard and this is the guardian spirit, the Church Grim. Or maybe a dog has been used as building sacrifice, so the spirit of the dog is haunting the opera."
Erik burst into roaring laughter. He could not help himself. These ideas were too silly and far too amusing. When he was able to speak again, he said: "I guess it is just some prankster bringing along a dog and by chance that dog has the perfect hearing."
"That's what the managers think" Christine nodded, giving Beau who was now lying on his back a good belly rub, much to Beau's delight. Beau sneezed and wiped his nose on her dress. "Some even suspected you, Monsieur Cordier, because you are often close to the opera with this little cute pug, but I told them this was ridiculous. You are constantly seen somewhere outside the opera because you live in the Boulevard des Capucines. Simple as that."
Christine turned her attention to Beau, speaking nonsense in a loving voice like a mother would use baby-talk to entertain her child. Beau replied with happy snoring and purring.
Erik had something to think about. A dog at the opera. A strange man who is always close to the opera. Unfortunately someone had drawn precisely the correct conclusion, but Christine had provided a nice explanation as she was the only one who knew "Erik Cordier" better. She knew his adress, well, the official adress to his tiny basement flat. Actually that explanation was quite good. Of course he was regularly close to the opera - officially he lived there. He had a pug. Nothing forbidden, nothing suspicious. And Beau definitely looked nothing like a ghost dog or a Church Grim. Beau was a lovely pug, a a little clown who spreads joy and makes everyone who sees him happy. Definitely not a frightful ghost dog.
Erik decided that this was the best illusion ever. The mask of the harmless eccentric Erik Cordier and his totally spoiled pug. He would need to work on that illusion further.