CHAPTER 11

Bezu Fache angrily challenges Sophie Neveu's claim that Jacques Saunière's numeric message is a joke. Sophie explains that when reordered, the numbers form the famous Fibonacci sequence, a simple progression in which each number equals the sum of the previous two.

Fache demands a deeper meaning, but Sophie insists the sequence is so obvious that Saunière must have meant it as a cryptographic prank rather than a real code. When Fache dismisses her explanation, Sophie warns that Saunière may be playing games with the investigation and abruptly leaves, infuriating Fache.

Fache turns his attention back to Robert Langdon, who is still listening to the supposed U.S. Embassy phone message. Fache distrusts the embassy because it often interferes with French arrests of Americans, and he worries that Langdon might be taken out of his reach.

Langdon finishes the call looking shaken and claims that an accident involving a friend means he must return home in the morning. Langdon then asks to use the restroom and chooses the nearer restrooms at the dead end of the Grand Gallery, where Fache allows Langdon to go alone because exits are guarded and alarms are in place.

Fache returns to the command center in Saunière's office and demands to know who admitted Sophie. Collet explains that Sophie claimed she had broken the code. Fache decides not to have Sophie stopped, postponing punishment, and instead checks the tracking display, confirming that Langdon's tracker dot is in the public restrooms before leaving to make a phone call.