Standing in the drawing room of Chateau Villette, Lieutenant Collet watched the dying fire and feltdespondent. Captain Fache had arrived moments earlier and was now in the next room, yelling intothe phone, trying to coordinate the failed attempt to locate the missing Range Rover.

　　It could be anywhere by now, Collet thought.

　　Having disobeyed Fache's direct orders and lost Langdon for a second time, Collet was gratefulthat PTS had located a bullet hole in the floor, which at least corroborated Collet's claims that ashot had been fired. Still, Fache's mood was sour, and Collet sensed there would be direrepercussions when the dust settled.

　　Unfortunately, the clues they were turning up here seemed to shed no light at all on what was goingon or who was involved. The black Audi outside had been rented in a false name with false creditcard numbers, and the prints in the car matched nothing in the Interpol database.

　　Another agent hurried into the living room, his eyes urgent. "Where's Captain Fache?"Collet barely looked up from the burning embers. "He's on the phone.""I'm off the phone," Fache snapped, stalking into the room. "What have you got?"The second agent said, "Sir, Central just heard from André Vernet at the Depository Bank ofZurich. He wants to talk to you privately. He is changing his story.""Oh?" Fache said.

　　Now Collet looked up.

　　"Vernet is admitting that Langdon and Neveu spent time inside his bank tonight.""We figured that out," Fache said. "Why did Vernet lie about it?""He said he'll talk only to you, but he's agreed to cooperate fully.""............