The Da Vinci Code

Langdon reads Saunière’s words written with the black light pen: a series of numbers and the words “O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!” The numbers mean nothing to Langdon, and the words don’t fit with Saunière’s references to goddess worship. Fache finds it strange that the Frenchman wrote his last words in English and believes Saunière is accusing his killer. He lifts the black light, revealing a circle inscribed around Saunière’s body. Langdon quickly realizes the curator arranged himself as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man—a famous sketch depicting a nude male figure in a perfect circle. The circle completes the image and is itself a feminine symbol, making the sketch a study of “male and female harmony.”

Fache suggests Da Vinci was involved in “darker arts.” Langdon thinks of Da Vinci’s fraught relationship with the Christian church, for whom he painted many commissions and inserted hidden symbols pointing to his own pagan beliefs. He acknowledges this conflict but still denies associations of devil worship. Langdon speculates that Saunière was expressing his and Da Vinci’s shared frustrations with the church’s demonization of the divine feminine. Seeming angry, Fache insists it’s more likely Saunière was singling out his murderer. Langdon reasons that, if that were true, Saunière would have written the person’s name. Fache agrees, seeming pleased.

Back in Saunière’s office, Collet admires Fache’s interrogation techniques. Earlier, Fache told his agents he knew who killed the curator, and no one questioned his intuition. Fache’s instincts are renowned, and many believe he gets his information directly from God, being so religious. Collet recalls Fache’s fury at the Catholic priests accused of pedophilia, demanding they be hanged twice for harming children and for shaming the church. Now, Collet views the Grand Gallery’s floor plan on a computer monitor, where a red dot is blinking. He thinks of Robert Langdon as “one cool customer.”