Read No Return: A Contemporary Phantom Tale for Free Online

millionaire made the odd request that he locate a local voice student with dark curly hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and a pure coloratura, and then dig up every fact about her, well, he was being compensated handsomely enough that he was more than happy to find out everything he could. It also caused Jerome to do more loitering around college campuses than he probably would have cared to do otherwise, but a man could put up with a lot when he was being paid in the low six figures to do so.
    There had been a few near-misses over the years. One time the girl was physically perfect but was, unfortunately, a mezzo. Another had a lovely voice and was quite beautiful, but she was a flaming redhead, and apparently that wouldn’t do at all. Yet another had a notable voice and a head of gorgeous brown curls, but the presence of a longtime boyfriend and a penchant to smoke the occasional joint on the weekend combined to make her completely undesirable.
    And then, after Erik had almost given up hope, Christine Daly was found. It was unfortunate she hadn’t been located earlier, since she was now in her senior year at USC, but apparently she had transferred in midway through the junior year, and Jerome had missed her. Since he traveled amongst a huge number of campuses all over Southern California, it wasn’t completely surprising that she had been overlooked—Jerome had paid someone to hack the music department’s records, and her name had appeared on the list said hacking produced, but her student photo was missing. It wasn’t until he visited the campus himself and saw her leaving a class that his interest was caught. From then it was a simple matter to gather all the information he could about her, from her orphaned state to her precarious financial situation, her utter aloneness in the world. Now all Jerome had to do was get her voice on tape, to prove finally that this was the girl Erik had been seeking for so long.
    After that, well—Erik lifted the cognac and drank deeply, this time savoring the aromatic warmth that caressed the back of his throat and tickled his nostrils. If her voice truly matched her looks, then she would be his, even if she didn’t know it yet. As for Randall Cagney—he was an irritant, a nuisance, nothing more. He could be dealt with. But it was important to procure Christine, and soon, before hers and Randall’s relationship could progress much further. The thought of her untouched beauty was deeply arousing, and he did not want it sullied by Cagney’s common gropings.
    After all, if the Phantom could steal Christine out from under the Vicomte de Chagny’s nose, then it shouldn’t be that difficult for him to do the same thing to Randall Cagney. The Phantom, however clever, certainly didn’t have the immense resources that he, Erik Deitrich, had at his disposal. Very soon Cagney would realize he had crossed the wrong person…and then the true fun would begin.

Chapter Four

    I stood in front of the bulletin board in the break room at work and groaned silently. A new flyer highlighted yet another one of my boss George’s fabulous ideas, something designed to lure in more patrons and give me yet another headache to deal with.
    “So who are you coming as?” Meg asked, leaning over my shoulder to read the announcement for herself.
    “A starving college student?”
    “Oh, come on!” she said, her brown eyes crinkling at the corners as she grinned in anticipation. “How many people get paid to dress up on Halloween?”
    “Apparently a few more this year,” I replied. Great—huge Halloween party this year, since we were lucky enough to have the big day fall on a Saturday. All staff on board, special buffet, costume contest, the works. No doubt it would be a big success.  
    Of course George couldn’t make it easy, either—the flyer tacked to the bulletin board specified that all restaurant employees dress “in theme,” which, since the place was named L’Opera , made it fairly obvious