Beauty Of Music

Chapter 17

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.