Chapter 13 Chapter Eleven

"It's just a number joke?" Bezu Fache's face was livid, and he glared at Sophie Neveu, not believing this statement at all. ? "Your professional judgment about the Saunière cipher was a mathematical hoax?" Fache had no idea why this woman was so reckless.Not only did she break into the gallery without permission to find Fache, but she was also trying to convince him that Saunière had an inspiration in his last moments to leave the world with a mathematical joke? "The cipher," Sophie quickly explained in French, "is ridiculously easy. Jacques Saunière must know we'll be able to decipher it soon." She took a small piece of paper from the pocket of her cardigan Pass it to Fache. "This is the deciphering result."

Fache looked at the paper: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21 "That's it," he snapped. "You just put the numbers in ascending order." Sophie smiled indifferently and satisfiedly, "Exactly." Fache lowered his voice and said in a thunderous voice, "Sergeant Neveu, I don't know what this means. But I suggest you go over there immediately." He gave Langdon an anxious look.Langdon was standing nearby, phone pressed to his ear, apparently still listening to a message from the American embassy.From Langdon's pale face, Fache could feel that the news was not good.

"Director," Sophie ventured and said in a challenging tone, "the set of numbers in your hand happens to be the most famous sequence in the history of mathematics." Fache didn't know there was a "famous" sequence, and he certainly didn't like Sophie's curt tone. "This is the Fibonacci sequence." She nodded at the piece of paper in Fache's hand. "This is a sequence of integers in which each number is equal to the sum of the previous two numbers." Fache studied the numbers.Each number was indeed the sum of the previous two, but Fache could not imagine any connection between that and Saunière's death.

"The mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci created this sequence in the 13th century. Obviously, it is no coincidence that all the numbers that Saunière wrote on the floor belong to the Fibonacci sequence." Fache stared at the young woman for a moment. "Very well, if it's not a coincidence, then tell me, why did Jacques Saunière do that? What is he trying to say? What does it mean?" She shrugged. "Shows nothing. That's the problem. It's just a very simple cryptographic joke. It's like randomly shuffling the words of a famous poem to see if anyone can figure out what the words have in common."

Fache took a menacing step forward, his face inches away from Sophie's. "I wish you could give a more satisfactory explanation than that." Sophie also tilted her body, and her originally gentle face became extremely serious. "Commander, given your predicament here tonight, I thought you might be happy to know that Jacques Saunière might be playing a game with you. It seems clear that you don't like that explanation. I'll tell the Director of Cryptography that you no longer need our service." After saying this, she turned and walked in the direction she came from.Fache froze, watching her disappear into the darkness.Is she crazy?Sophie Neveu Just Reinterpreted "Career Suicide."

Fache turned to Langdon again.Langdon was still listening to the phone message, looking more anxious than before.The American embassy, ​​Bezu Fache hated many things, but nothing annoyed him more than the American embassy. Fache and the ambassador often wrestle with each other on matters involving both sides --- the most common "battlefield" is the issue of law enforcement against American tourists.Almost every day, the French judicial police arrest American students who possess drugs, businessmen who seduce young prostitutes, and tourists who steal or destroy property.Legally, the U.S. embassy can intervene and extradite criminal U.S. citizens, who in the U.S. receive only light punishment.Embassies always extradite criminal Americans.It was the castration of the judicial police, Fache always said. Paris Match recently ran a cartoon depicting Fache as a dog trying to bite an American criminal but unable to reach it because it was chained to the US embassy.

Not tonight, Fache told himself.Today I will be a big winner. Langdon looked uncomfortable when he hung up the phone. "Is everything okay?" Fache asked.Langdon shook his head slightly. Bad news from home, Fache thought.He noticed Langdon was sweating slightly as he retrieved the phone. "An accident," Langdon said, looking at Langdon awkwardly, "a friend..." He hesitated. "I have to fly home early tomorrow morning." Fache had no doubts that the shock on Langdon's face was genuine, but he had another feeling.He felt as if there was a hint of fear in the American's eyes that he didn't want to show. "I'm sorry to hear that," Fache said, watching Langdon closely. "Sit down, please." He pointed to the benches in the grand gallery where people stood to look at the paintings.

Langdon nodded blankly and strode toward the bench.He paused, looking increasingly bewildered. "Actually, I want to use the bathroom." Fache frowned, displeased at the delay. "The bathroom. Of course, let's take a few minutes." He pointed behind him to the corridor they had just walked through. "The restroom is at the back, in the direction of the curator's office." Langdon hesitated, then pointed to the other end of the large gallery and said, "I think the restrooms are much closer there." Fache realized Langdon was right.They had walked two-thirds of the way through the Grand Gallery, which ended with two restrooms. "Can I accompany you?"

Langdon shook his head.He has gone further into the gallery. "No. I think I'll have to be alone there for a few minutes." Fache wasn't annoyed that Langdon had to walk down the corridor alone, he was relieved knowing that the end of the Grand Gallery was a dead end with no exit.The only exit from the Grand Gallery was at the other end—the door they had just come through.Although French fire regulations require several stairwells in a space of this size, those stairwells were automatically sealed off when Saunière activated the safety protection system.Even if the security system were now disarmed and the stairwell opened, that would be all right—if those outer doors were opened, the alarm would go off, and the doors would be guarded by the judicial police, and there was no way Langdon could have passed without Fache's knowledge. leave.

"I have to go back to Mr. Saunière's office for a while," Fache said. "Please come to me directly, Mr. Langdon. We have a lot to discuss." With a silent wave of his hand, Langdon disappeared into the darkness. Fache turned and walked angrily in the opposite direction.When he reached the grating, he slipped under it, exited the grand gallery, and stormed straight down the hall to the headquarters in Saunière's office. "Who gave Sophie Neveu permission to come in?" Fache growled. Mr. Collet replied, "She told the guard outside that she had broken the code." Fache looked around. "Is she gone?"

"Isn't she with you?" "She's gone." Fa hoped to look at the gloomy corridor in the distance.Sophie was clearly not in the mood to stop and chat with other officers she met on the way out. For a moment, he considered calling the guards at the entrance and telling them to drag Sophie back to the headquarters before she left the Louvre.But after thinking about it again, he gave up the idea.It was just his big talk... wanting to have the final say.He's bored enough tonight.I'll settle the score with Neveu later, he said, already thinking of firing her. Fache left Sophie behind.He stared at the statuette of the warrior on Saunière's table.After a moment he turned to Collet and asked, "Is he still there?" Collet nodded hurriedly and turned the laptop to Fache.A red dot loomed prominently on the floor covering, methodically flashing in the rooms marked "Public Restrooms." "Very well," Fache said.He lit a cigarette and strode into the hall. "I need to make a call. Make sure Langdon doesn't remove anything but the bathroom."