Chapter 72 Chapter Seventy

Lieutenant Collet stood in the drawing room of the Château de la Villette, watching the fading fireworks, dismayed.Fache had arrived some hours before him, and was in the next room, yelling into the phone, trying to calm himself over his failure to accurately locate the missing Range Rover. That car could be anywhere now, Collet thought. Collet didn't do exactly what Fache ordered and lost contact with Langdon again, grateful that the PTS had punched a bullet hole in the ground, which at least gave him an excuse that they had already exchanged fire.Fache's spirits were still low, and Collet felt that there were bound to be some dire repercussions when the dust settled.

Unfortunately, the clues they've found here don't seem to help them figure out how things are going at all, or who's involved.The black "Audi" car outside the door has been rented away by someone using a fake credit card, and the license plate cannot be found in the Interpol database.Another agent hurried into the living room with an eager look on his face. "Where's Captain Fache?" Without raising his head, Collet stared at the remaining ashes after burning: "He's on the phone." "I've already hung up." Fache strode in and said sharply, "What can I do for you?"

The agent replied: "Your Excellency, headquarters have just received word from André Vernet of the Savings Bank of Zurich that he wants to speak to you in private to correct a lie he has told." "Oh?" Fache said. Collet looked up. "Vernet admitted that Langdon and Neveu were at his bank tonight." "We thought of that, too," said Fache. "But why would Vernet lie?" "He said he just wanted to talk to you, but he has agreed to full cooperation." "Then what conditions did he put forward?" "He wants us to keep his bank's name out of the newspapers and to help him recover some stolen assets. From the tone of his voice, it looks like Langdon and Neveu stole something from Saunière's bank account. thing."

"What did you say?" Collet blurted out, "How could it be?!" Fache didn't flinch, his eyes fixed on the agent. "What exactly did they steal?" "Vernet didn't say exactly what happened, but he seemed willing to go to any lengths to get things back." Collet tried desperately to imagine how this had happened.Could it be that Langdon and Neveu threatened the bank staff at gunpoint?Or maybe they forced Vernet to open Saunière's account and then helped them escape in an armored van?Although it made sense, Collet still didn't quite believe that Sophie Neveu would be involved in that kind of incident.

From the kitchen came another agent's voice: "Is the Captain there? I'm dialing Mr. Teabing's abbreviated number. I'm calling Le Bourget Airport. Something's going wrong." Thirty seconds later, Fache packed his things and prepared to leave Villette Manor.He had just received news that Teabing had a private plane near Le Bourget Airport, and that plane had already flown away half an hour ago. The Le Bourget airport worker who answered the phone said he didn't know who was on the plane or where they were headed.At Le Bourget, the planes never departed according to the schedule, and there were no flight log records.Even for a small airport, this is highly illegal.Fache was sure that if he applied the right amount of pressure, he would find the answer he was looking for.

"Lieutenant Collet," Fache yelled angrily as he walked towards the door, "I'm leaving right now. You are in charge of the PTS investigation here. If the situation changes, you can deal with it as appropriate."