Lieutenant Collet stood alone at the foot of Leigh Teabing's driveway and gazed up at the massivehouse. Isolated. Dark. Good ground cover. Collet watched his half-dozen agents spreading silentlyout along the length of the fence. They could be over it and have the house surrounded in a matterof minutes. Langdon could not have chosen a more ideal spot for Collet's men to make a surpriseassault.

　　Collet was about to call Fache himself when at last his phone rang.

　　Fache sounded not nearly as pleased with the developments as Collet would have imagined. "Whydidn't someone tell me we had a lead on Langdon?""You were on a phone call and—""Where exactly are you, Lieutenant Collet?"Collet gave him the address. "The estate belongs to a British national named Teabing. Langdondrove a fair distance to get here, and the vehicle is inside the security gate, with no signs of forcedentry, so chances are good that Langdon knows the occupant.""I'm coming out," Fache said. "Don't make a move. I'll handle this personally."Collet's jaw dropped. "But Captain, you're twenty minutes away! We should act immediately. Ihave him staked out. I'm with eight men total. Four of us have field rifles and the others havesidearms.""Wait for me.""Captain, what if Langdon has a hostage in there? What if he sees us and decides to leave on foot?

　　We need to move now! My men are in position and ready to go.""Lieutenant Collet, you will wait for me to arrive before taking action. That is an order." Fachehung up.

　　Stunned, Lieutenant Collet switched off his phone. Why the hell is Fache asking me to wait? Colletknew the answer. Fache, though famous for his instinct, was notorious for his pride. Fache wantscredit for the arrest. After putting the American's face all over the television, Fache wanted to besure his own face got equal time. Collet's job was simply to hold down the fort until the bossshowed up to save the day.

　　As he stood there, Collet flashed on a second possible explanation for this delay. Damage control.

　　In law enforcement, hesitating to arrest a fugitive only occurred when uncertainty had arisenregarding the suspect's guilt. Is Fache having second thoughts that Langdon is the right man? Thethought was frightening. Captain Fache had gone out on a limb tonight to arrest RobertLangdon—surveillance cachée, Interpol, and now television. Not even the great Bezu Fache wouldsurvive the political fallout if he had mistakenly splashed a prominent American's face all overFrench television, claiming he was a murderer. If Fache now realized he'd made a mistake, then itmade perfect sense that he would tell Collet not to make a move. The last thing Fache needed wasfor Collet to storm an innocent Brit's private estate and take Langdon at gunpoint.

　　Moreover, Collet realized, if Langdon were innocent, it explained one of this case's strangestparadoxes: Why had Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter of the victim, helped the allege............