CHAPTER 1

Robert Langdon wakes after midnight in a disoriented fog at the Hôtel Ritz Paris, where the unfamiliar room and ringing phone remind him he is in France after giving a lecture at the American University of Paris. The concierge tells Langdon that an urgent visitor wants to see him, but Langdon assumes the visitor is another scholar or art enthusiast provoked by his lecture on pagan symbolism in Chartres Cathedral and asks that the man leave a message.

As Langdon tries to settle himself, Langdon reflects on his unwanted fame as a Harvard professor of religious symbology. His books and his widely publicized involvement in a previous Vatican incident have made Langdon a reluctant celebrity, and the evening's lecture included an embarrassing introduction built around a Boston Magazine profile that named Langdon one of Boston's most intriguing people.

The phone rings again, and the concierge warns Langdon that the visitor is already on the way to Langdon's room. Moments later, Lieutenant Jerome Collet of the Direction Centrale Police Judiciaire pounds on the door and identifies himself. Collet explains that his captain needs Langdon's expertise in a private matter and asks about Langdon's planned meeting with Louvre curator Jacques Saunière.

Langdon becomes uneasy because Jacques Saunière had been scheduled to meet Langdon for drinks after the lecture but never arrived. Collet says the police found Langdon's name in Saunière's daily planner, then passes Langdon a Polaroid taken inside the Louvre less than an hour earlier.

The photograph shocks and horrifies Langdon. It shows a gruesome, bizarre scene involving Saunière, a symbol, and an oddly positioned body, reminding Langdon of a dangerous request for help he once received in connection with a corpse. When Langdon asks who could have done such a thing, Collet reveals the crucial fact: Jacques Saunière arranged the disturbing scene himself.