Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 12
Overview
Sophie secretly meets Langdon in the Louvre restroom and confirms that Fache has been treating Langdon as a murder suspect, not a consultant. She reveals the GPS tracker planted in Langdon’s jacket and warns that Fache expects or hopes Langdon will panic and run.
The chapter’s central revelation is that Saunière’s full dying message included a hidden fourth line: P.S. Find Robert Langdon. This turns Langdon’s connection to the murder from circumstantial to apparently direct, raising the stakes and making Sophie’s warning credible.
Summary
Robert Langdon walks to the restroom at the end of the Louvre’s Grand Gallery, unsettled by Sophie Neveu’s phone message. After splashing water on his face, Langdon is surprised when Sophie enters the men’s room, frightened and urgent.
Sophie explains that Langdon is under hidden surveillance and that Captain Fache considers Langdon the primary suspect in Jacques Saunière’s murder. Langdon realizes the Louvre invitation was not simply a request for expert help, but part of a police strategy meant to observe Langdon and provoke an incriminating mistake.
To prove the surveillance, Sophie tells Langdon to check his left jacket pocket. Langdon finds a small GPS tracking dot planted there by the DCPJ agent who brought Langdon from the hotel. Sophie warns Langdon not to discard it, because Fache is monitoring the signal and would know immediately that Langdon had discovered the device.
Langdon protests that he is innocent, but Sophie says Fache has evidence that makes Langdon look guilty. She reveals that Saunière’s message had a fourth line that Fache photographed and erased before Langdon arrived, deliberately hiding it from Langdon during questioning.
Sophie shows Langdon a crime-scene printout from the Cryptology Department containing the complete message. Beneath the numbers and two strange phrases, the final line reads: P.S. Find Robert Langdon, directly linking Langdon to Saunière’s dying message and explaining why Fache suspects him.
Who Appears
- Robert LangdonSymbologist secretly monitored by police and shocked to find himself named in Saunière’s message.
- Sophie NeveuDCPJ cryptographer who covertly warns Langdon and reveals Fache’s hidden evidence.
- Bezu FachePolice captain treating Langdon as the primary suspect and concealing key evidence.
- Jacques SaunièreMurdered Louvre curator whose complete dying message directly names Robert Langdon.