Robert Langdon, #2
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Contents
CHAPTER 4
Overview
Fache escorts Langdon deep into the sealed Louvre, questioning him closely about his planned meeting with Jacques Saunière and his work on sacred feminine iconography. The interrogation hints that Langdon may be more than a helpful consultant in the police’s eyes.
The chapter also establishes the Louvre as a tense, controlled crime scene, with Saunière’s office converted into a command post and the Grand Gallery locked down by containment security. Langdon’s unease grows as Fache forces him toward the body through the dark museum and under a steel grate.
Summary
Captain Bezu Fache leads Robert Langdon down into the Louvre’s subterranean atrium beneath the glass pyramid. The museum is sealed by armed Judicial Police, and Fache explains that the Louvre’s night wardens are quarantined and being questioned because someone entered who should not have.
As Fache escorts Langdon toward the Denon Wing, Fache questions Langdon about Jacques Saunière. Langdon says he had never met Saunière and was supposed to meet him that night after Langdon’s lecture. Saunière’s secretary had arranged the meeting, but Langdon does not know what Saunière wanted to discuss.
Langdon explains that his own work overlaps with Saunière’s expertise: goddess iconography, the sacred feminine, and related religious symbols. Fache probes whether Saunière might have known about Langdon’s unpublished manuscript, but Langdon says only his editor has seen it. Fache’s questions make Langdon uneasy because they suggest the police are looking for a link between Langdon and the murdered curator.
Fache chooses an elevator instead of the escalators, forcing Langdon to confront his claustrophobia. Inside, Fache continues asking whether Langdon and Saunière had ever exchanged anything. Langdon denies it, and while trying to distract himself, notices Fache’s crucifix tie clip, a crux gemmata, revealing Fache’s open Christian symbolism.
The men enter the darkened after-hours galleries, where red service lighting and false cameras give the Louvre an oppressive atmosphere. Passing Saunière’s office, now a police command post, Fache orders his agents not to disturb them. Fache then takes Langdon to the entrance of the Grand Gallery, where containment security has lowered a massive steel grate.
Because the crime scene remains restricted, Fache tells Langdon to crawl under the partially raised grate. Fache goes first, and Langdon awkwardly follows, striking his head on the iron as he enters the Grand Gallery, where Saunière’s body lies ahead.
Who Appears
- Robert LangdonHarvard symbologist questioned by Fache while entering the Louvre crime scene.
- Bezu FacheFrench police captain controlling the investigation and interrogating Langdon’s connection to Saunière.
- Jacques SaunièreMurdered Louvre curator whose planned meeting with Langdon becomes a focus of questioning.
- DCPJ agentsPolice personnel occupying Saunière’s office as a temporary command post.