65

Langdon and Vittoria enter the dim, gutted interior of Santa Maria del Popolo shortly after 8:00 P.M. The church is silent, under heavy renovation, and dangerous to search because every side chapel is hidden behind translucent plastic sheeting. Langdon worries that entering was reckless, but he believes an outside stakeout would let the killer escape through another door.

Vittoria asks where the Chigi Chapel is, and a plaque identifying Alexander Chigi’s tomb in the secondary left apse gives them the clue they need. A sudden metallic crash terrifies them, but the source is only a large rat dragging food from a workman’s lunchbox. Despite Langdon’s suggestion that they wait for Olivetti, Vittoria insists on continuing because she is armed and driven by her father’s murder and the antimatter crisis.

Langdon and Vittoria move along the church wall past the shrouded chapels and reach the one marked Capella Chigi. Vittoria covers the entrance with her gun while Langdon pulls back the plastic. At first the chapel appears empty, but Langdon is stunned by its imagery: stars, planets, zodiac signs, seasonal references, and two marble pyramids with elliptical gold medallions, all reinforcing the chapel’s Illuminati and Earth symbolism.

Vittoria then notices a skeleton mosaic on the floor, its circular stone cover removed to reveal a foul-smelling opening into a crypt. Langdon identifies it as a “demon’s hole” and peers into the darkness while Vittoria searches for a light. She returns with a blowtorch, accidentally startling and singeing Langdon as she tries to illuminate the shaft.

Using the torch, Langdon sees a circular crypt about thirty feet below and discovers a pale, naked body on the earthen floor. The body is motionless, suggesting one of the kidnapped cardinals, but Langdon realizes something is wrong: the figure appears to be standing upright. Vittoria calls down in Italian and prepares to descend the rotting ladder, but Langdon stops her and decides to go down himself.