Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 89
Overview
Fache inspects the wooden box recovered from Teabing's safe and discovers that the stone cryptex inside is empty, suggesting the crucial contents have already been removed. Vernet then confirms how Langdon and Sophie obtained the box from the Zurich bank and fled, while Fache quietly controls the situation and protects the investigation's secrecy.
The chapter shifts Fache from pursuer to informed investigator: he now possesses the empty container and understands more of Langdon and Sophie's path, but the missing contents remain unresolved.
Summary
Inside Teabing's Hawker jet, Bezu Fache sits alone after sending everyone else away. The cabin is littered with steel shavings and smells of compressed air and propane, evidence of the forced access to the contents of Teabing's safe.
Fache examines the heavy wooden box recovered from the safe. Beneath the inlaid Rose on its lid, he finds a stone cylinder whose five dials spell SOFIA. When Fache removes an end cap, the cylinder proves to be empty, leaving him to consider Sophie Neveu's recent call and the information police have gathered at Château Villette.
A call from the DCPJ switchboard interrupts Fache. The dispatcher reports that André Vernet, president of the Depository Bank of Zurich, has been repeatedly trying to reach him, and Fache reluctantly accepts the call.
Vernet explains that Robert Langdon and Sophie withdrew a small wooden box from the bank using a key and password, then convinced Vernet to help them escape. After hearing radio reports naming them as criminals, Vernet says he tried to reclaim the box, but Langdon and Sophie attacked him and stole his truck.
Fache questions Vernet's conclusion, pointing out that Langdon and Sophie had proper credentials for the deposit box. Vernet insists the credentials must have been obtained through murder and says his real concern is protecting his bank's reputation. Fache, already holding the recovered box and empty cryptex, assures Vernet that both the property and the bank's reputation are safe in police hands.
Who Appears
- Bezu FacheExamines Teabing's recovered box, finds the cryptex empty, and manages Vernet's concerns.
- André VernetZurich bank president who reports Langdon and Sophie's withdrawal, escape, and alleged theft.
- Sophie NeveuAbsent but central to Vernet's account of the bank withdrawal and truck escape.
- Robert LangdonAbsent but discussed as Sophie's partner in obtaining the box and fleeing Vernet.