CHAPTER 8 #2
She smiled at Aleksandr and replied, ‘We make monsters into fairytales to make them palatable. To digest the horror. We come to watch this opera as we know we will feel a sense of catharsis at the conclusion of Act Three. The audience walks away sated. Justice has been served. Ariane has all the agency in this story—not her captor Bluebeard.’
‘Hear, hear.’ Violet slapped her leg in support.
‘If only it was so simple,’ said Charlie, ‘to write that happy ending in real life. So often over the years in the newspaper I’ve written about women who’ve had their freedom stripped from them. Monsters who’ve beaten them … and far worse.
‘We grow up with all these fairytales with princes … But you know sometimes, they turn out to be a frog in real life,’ said Charlie as her voice caught in her throat.
Her own marriage had been a dizzy coupling that led to a hasty marriage that she’d thrown herself into, believing the fairytale with every piece of her heart.
She’d emerged broken in ways she still didn’t understand …
and it was taking all of Paris’s magic to put her back together again.
She ran her fingers over her dress as though it were a talisman as she gathered her thoughts.
‘Some women don’t get an ending at all,’ Charlie whispered as her disappointment and guilt over Maisy Bell’s failed ransom drop buzzed in her veins.
‘I know things end badly for some women.’ Violet squeezed Charlie’s knee.
‘But we are all lucky that you are here, writing the stories that matter. I know the Maisy Bell story is unfinished … but at least you gave her a voice when all the men who should have been fighting for her were looking the other way.’
‘It doesn’t feel like enough. There must be more to Maisy’s story. She doesn’t deserve for it to end in a park with a scribbled note and an anonymous errand boy.’ Charlie’s chest tightened as she thought of the picture of young Maisy Bell she’d tacked to the wall in her office cubicle. Missing.
Inspecteur Bernard had raised the possibility with a weeping Clementine Bell that the ransom note and the disappearance of Maisy may be two different cases.
Perhaps the ransom note was from a couple of chancers who had somehow caught wind of a missing heiress and saw a way to make a quick 5000 francs.
But then they got spooked by all the people obviously watching Clementine Bell.
Five thousand francs was not enough of a lure for a gaol sentence.
Both police officers still believed—at least in part—that Maisy Bell was a lovestruck tourist. They romanticised her as a giddy young girl with her head turned by an older lover.
A young woman craving adventure, who broke away from her overbearing aunt.
A young woman whose skirt was too short.
Who was asking for the wrong kind of attention.
As if the length of her skirt was the problem, not the fact that men felt the need—believed they deserved—to have a say in what a suitable skirt length was.
A missing foreigner. A short skirt. An inexperienced woman who was dizzy with the sophistication of Paris.
That’s not the impression Charlie had of Maisy Bell. From Charlie’s view of Maisy at the Ritz, the woman had self-possession. She was clearly well educated, articulate and stylish, and she’d dreamed of becoming an actress. Maisy had gumption.
Where was she now? She studied the crowd for Maisy’s face, to no avail.
Charlie brought her fingers to her lips as the orchestra played the first chords, cymbals clashed and the curtains started to part.
Ripples of excitement pulsed along the curved rows of seats from the stage right through to the balconies.
As the music soared and the librettos began, Charlie lost herself in the music.
In the story. Sometimes the music was energetic and jittery, at other times, it was so haunting and ethereal she could feel it in her bones.
As Bluebeard raged and threw himself across the stage, she saw that behind the monster was loneliness.
Ariane was vulnerable, vengeful and her power gathered force along with the music in each act.
Secrets were stolen, vulnerabilities exposed, jewels dangled and teased. Dukas’s opera felt raw and powerful.
At one poignant moment in the third act, when the violins were playing a particularly dark, soulful piece, Charlie stole a glance at Aleksandr and Violet, who were sharing a look so intimate it made her stomach flip and she had to turn her head the other way.
When she’d steadied herself, Charlie resumed looking at her dear friends under the cover of darkness.
She wondered at their love story, which had evolved from casual lovers to business partners, to this intimate shape she wasn’t sure even they themselves saw yet.
It’s amazing the secrets you could keep from others, but also yourself.
After the applause died down, Charlie sank back in her burgundy velvet seat and sighed as the image of Clementine Bell’s crumpled face on the park bench drifted through her mind. ‘I can’t stop thinking about Maisy Bell. The ransom drop was a farce.’
‘Didn’t you say one of your theories was the aunt and uncle might have arranged the kidnapping?’ Violet asked.
‘I did. Clementine and Mason Bell are suspects. Family almost always is in a missing person case. But if it is true that Clementine Bell is responsible for her niece’s disappearance, she’s a better actor than any we saw on stage tonight. Clementine seemed so devastated in the park last week.’
Violet threaded her fingers through Charlie’s and squeezed. ‘So if it’s not the aunt, then who’s the monster? The uncle?’
‘He was in Dallas.’
‘He’s rich. Could he have hired someone? Or acted in conjunction with Clementine … sounds like the perfect ruse to keep their hands clean?’
‘Agreed. I’m going to stay close to the Bells.
Something’s off. The parents are not able to travel, the aunt is chaperone …
We don’t know why Maisy is missing. Is she being held against her will or did Maisy Bell choose to disappear?
For a while, at least? My problem with Maisy deliberately staying away is that she’s a Southern girl.
And in my core sample of two Southern women—Lady Ashworth and Clementine Bell—manners and etiquette are paramount.
Maisy told her aunt she was going with a man called Louis to visit a villa near Saint-Cloud and listen to Wagner.
Then she sent a telegram saying she was staying the night.
Then nothing … The next note was a ransom note. ’
‘So how’re you going to find Maisy?’
‘No idea. And I have no idea how to tease the monster out of the castle either …’
Violet leaned over and tapped the program. ‘Do it the same way the monsters do in fairytales. The witch in Hansel and Gretel used sweets. Bluebeard used diamonds and precious jewels.’
‘I like your thinking.’
‘Find the lure, Charlie! Maisy Bell’s kidnappers wanted money.
Offer them money. In a big, shiny, public way.
’ Violet pressed her finger into her dimples and said with a cheeky smile, ‘Now, how would I dangle that diamond to lure the monster out of the castle? If only I knew someone with access to a daily international newspaper!’
‘Noted.’ Charlie turned back to the stage where Bluebeard had shaken his fist in fury, a monster in full flight. She knew what she needed to write in the paper tomorrow. One way or another, Charlie James was going to tease the monster out of the darkness.
Aleksandr chuckled and shook his head at the two women. His eyes twinkled with affection. ‘And I thought we were just having a lovely night at the opera, drinking champagne and showing the world some of my dresses.’
The Times, August 1938
Charlie James, Paris correspondent
Reward offered for Maisy Bell missing person case
US nationals Dolly and Jimmy Bell, together with the Cité Metro Police, the American Embassy, the American Consulate in Paris and the S?reté nationale of Paris have announced a reward for information regarding the suspicious disappearance of 22-year-old American tourist Maisy Bell.
A 10,000-franc reward will be issued for information that leads to her safe return.
Maisy Bell was reported missing on 10 August after she failed to return to the Hotel Ritz, Paris, where she had been staying with her aunt, Miss Clementine Bell.
Police were told Miss Maisy Bell went with a male companion, a suspected Swiss national who went by the name of ‘Louis’, to visit a villa near Saint-Cloud.
There have been numerous reported sightings of Miss Bell in both Saint-Cloud and Paris since her last official sighting, but none has been confirmed.
As enquiries continue, the Metro Police are renewing their appeal to the community, particularly residents of the Saint-Cloud region and guests and staff of the Hotel Ritz, Paris.
Officer Rose of the Metro Police said any new leads would be thoroughly examined by detectives.
Mason Bell, uncle of Miss Maisy Bell and representative of the family, has been scathing about the investigation.
‘My niece graduated from Barnard and is a thoughtful young woman. She is incapable of the acts insinuated by the local constabulary. This is no folly or game, and certainly no publicity stunt. We just want our beautiful Maisy home safe and sound. Please help.’