CHAPTER 6

Robert Langdon and Bezu Fache enter the Louvre’s Grand Gallery under emergency lighting. Langdon notices a valuable Caravaggio lying on the floor, and Fache explains that Jacques Saunière pulled the painting down to trigger the security gate after being attacked, sealing the gallery and separating himself from the killer.

Fache reconstructs the crime: the killer remained outside the gate and shot Saunière through its bars, leaving Saunière alone and fatally wounded inside the long gallery. Security heard movement but could not see the person within, and when police entered minutes later, they found no intruder—only Saunière’s body far down the corridor.

Langdon examines Saunière’s naked body, which Saunière arranged in a spread-eagle pose and marked with a bloody five-pointed star on his abdomen. Fache pushes Langdon to interpret the pentacle, and Langdon explains that, contrary to modern associations with devil worship, the symbol’s older meaning is tied to pagan nature worship, Venus, and the sacred feminine.

Fache continues questioning the body’s position, nudity, and use of blood. Langdon concludes that Saunière was deliberately reinforcing the pentacle and sacred feminine symbolism, though Langdon cannot explain why Saunière staged himself this way.

Fache reveals that Saunière had also been holding a black-light marker, meaning Saunière chose blood not from necessity but to ensure police would use forensic illumination. When Fache turns off the spotlight and shines a black light, Langdon sees Saunière’s glowing final message on the floor, though its meaning remains unexplained. In Saunière’s office, Lieutenant Collet monitors and records the conversation through hidden audio equipment.