Lieutenant Collet helped himself to a Perrier from Teabing's refrigerator and strode back outthrough the drawing room. Rather than accompanying Fache to London where the action was, hewas now baby-sitting the PTS team that had spread out through Chateau Villette.
So far, the evidence they had uncovered was unhelpful: a single bullet buried in the floor; a paperwith several symbols scrawled on it along with the words blade and chalice; and a bloody spikedbelt that PTS had told Collet was associated with the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, whichhad caused a stir recently when a news program exposed their aggressive recruiting practices inParis.
Collet sighed. Good luck making sense of this unlikely mélange.
Moving down a lavish hallway, Collet entered the vast ballroom study, where the chief PTSexaminer was busy dusting for fingerprints. He was a corpulent man in suspenders.
"Anything?" Collet asked, entering.
The examiner shook his head. "Nothing new. Multiple sets matching those in the rest of the house.""How about the prints on the cilice belt?""Interpol is still working. I uploaded everything we found."Collet motioned to two sealed evidence bags on the desk. "And this?"The man shrugged. "Force of habit. I bag anything peculiar."Collet walked over. Peculiar?
"This Brit's a strange one," the examiner said. "Have a look at this." He sifted through the evidencebags and selected one, handing it to Collet.
The photo showed the main entrance of a Gothic cathedral—the traditional, recessed archway,narrowing through multiple, ribbed layers to a small doorway.
Collet studied the photo and turned. "This is peculiar?""Turn it over."On the back, Collet found notations scrawled in English, describing a cathedral's long hollow naveas a secret pagan tribute to a woman's womb. This was strange. The notation describing thecathedral's doorway, however, was what startled him. "Hold on! He thinks a cathedral's entrancerepresents a woman's..."The examiner nodded. "Complete with receding labial ridges and a nice little cinquefoil clitorisabove the doorway." He sighed. "Kind of makes you want to go back to church."Collet picked up the second evidence bag. Through the plastic, he could see a large glossyphotograph of what appeared to be an old document. The heading at the top read:
Les Dossiers Secrets—Number 4° lm1 249"What's this?" Collet asked.
"No idea. He's got copies of it all over the place, so I bagged it."Collet studied the document.
PRIEURE DE SIGN—LES NAUTONIERS/GRAND MASTERSJEAN DE GISORS1188-1220MARIE DE SAINT-CLAIR1220-1266GUILLAUME DE GlSORS1266-1307EDOUARD DE BAR1307-1336JEANNE DE BAR1336-1351JEAN DE SAINT-CLAIR1351-1366BLANCE D'EVREUX1366-1398NICOLAS FLAMEL1398-1418RENE D'ANJOU1418-1480IOLANDE DE BAR1480-1483SANDRO BOTTICELLI1483-1510LEONARDO DA VINCI1510-1519CONNETABLE DE BOURBON1519-1527FERDINAND DE GONZAQUE1527-1575LOUIS DE NEVERS1575-1595ROBERT FLUDD1595-1637J. VALENTIN ANDREA1637-1654ROBERT BOYLE1654-1691ISAAC NEWTON1691-1727CHARLES RADCLYFFE1727-1746CHARLES DE LORRAINE1746-1780MAXIMILIAN DE LORRAINE1780-1801CHARLES NODIER1801-1844VICTOR HUGO1844-1885CLAUDE DEBUSSY1885-1918JEAN COCTEAU1918-1963Prieuré de Sion? Collet wondered.
"Lieutenant?" Another agent stuck his head in. "The switchboard has an urgent call for CaptainFache, but they can't reach him. Will you take it?"Collet returned to the kitchen and took the call.
It was André Vernet.
The banker's refined accent did little to mask the tension in his voice. "I thought Captain Fache saidhe would call me, but I have not yet heard from him.""The captain is quite busy," Collet replied. "May I help you?""I was assured I would be kept abreast of your progress tonight."For a moment, Collet thought he recognized the timbre of the man's voice, but he couldn't quiteplace it. "Monsieur Vernet, I am currently in charge of the Paris investigation. My name isLieutenant Collet."There was a long pause on the line. "Lieutenant, I have another call coming in. Please excuse me. Iwill call you later." He hung up.
For several seconds, Collet held the receiver. Then it dawned on him. I knew I recognized thatvoice! The revelation made him gasp.
The armored car driver.
With the fake Rolex.
Collet now understood why the banker had hung up so quickly. Vernet had remembered the nameLieutenant Collet—the officer he blatantly lied to earlier tonight.
Collet pondered the implications of this bizarre development. Vernet is involved. Instinctively, heknew he should call Fache. Emotionally, he knew this lucky break was going to be his moment toshine.
He immediately called Interpol and requested every shred of information they could find on theDepository Bank of Zurich and its president, André Vernet.
科莱中尉从提彬家的冰箱里拿了一瓶毕雷矿泉水，然后迈着大步从客厅走回去。他没有跟法希去伦参与这次行动，而是留在维莱特庄园监管已在庄园里展开活动的PTS 工作小组。
到目前为止，他们所找到的证据根本没有任何用处。他们在地板里发现了一发子弹，还找到一张纸，上面潦草地画了些符号，还谢有"剑刃"以及"圣杯"等字样；还有一条血迹斑斑带有钉子的皮带，PTS 曾经告诉过科莱，这跟保守的天主教会团体--天主事工会有联系，该团体最近引起了一阵骚动，因为有媒体披露了他们在巴黎大肆招收教徒的内幕。
科莱叹了口气。但愿好运能让这些杂七杂八的东西变得有意义起来。科莱沿着空旷的走廊走去，进入宽阔的交际舞厅。PTS 的主检察官正在厅里忙着掸去指纹留下的印痕。他是一位体形肥胖、身着背带裤的男人。
"发现了什么没有？"科莱走进去问道。
检察官摇了摇头："我还没发现什么新东西。这栋房子其他地方有的东西这里都有。"
"那粗布带上的印迹呢？"
"国际刑警组织为此还在忙呢。我把找到的东西都交到上面去了。"
科莱向桌上放着的两个封好了的证据袋做了个手势："那这是怎么一回事？"
男人耸了耸肩："习惯使然。我每次看到古怪的玩意儿时，都要用袋子装起来。"
克莱走过去。古怪的玩意儿？
"这位英国人真怪。你看看这个吧。"检察官在证据袋里翻了一通，然后挑出一样东西，递给了科莱。
科莱看到照片上有扇哥特式教堂的大门，这是一座传统的、凹进去的拱门，它被分成了几层，越往上就越窄，直至变成了很小的通道。
科莱端详着张照片，转身问他："你觉得这个奇怪吗？"
"翻过来看看吧。"
科莱在照片背面看到用英语歪歪扭扭写的一些符号，它们把教堂那长而空荡荡的中殿描绘成异教徒私下献给女人子宫的赞礼。这就怪了。不过，那个描述教堂通道的符号倒是让他吃了一惊。"忍耐一下吧！他认为教堂大门代表女人的……"
检察官点点头，说："这个符号，形成了一道完整的向后倾斜的唇齿槽，颇像一个小而好看的梅花形阴蒂刻在大门的上方。"他叹了一口气："它似乎是在召唤你回教堂里去呢。"科莱捡起第二个证据袋。透过塑料袋，他看到一幅巨大而光滑的相片，看起来像是一份年代久远的文件。最顶上的标题是这样的：多西耶秘密--编号4lm"249.
"这是什么？"科莱问道。
"不知道，他这里还有很多份呢，所以我装了一份在袋子里。"
科莱认真地研究那份文件。
郇山隐修会历任长老以及大师的名单：让。德。吉索尔1188-1220玛丽。德。圣辛克莱1220-1266纪尧姆。德。吉索尔1266-1307爱德华。德巴尔1307-1336让娜。德巴尔1336-1351让。德。圣辛科莱1351-1366布朗斯。德。埃夫勒1366-1398尼古拉斯。弗莱默尔1398-1418勒内。德安茹1418-1480约兰德。德巴尔1480-1483桑德罗。波提切利1483-1510列昂纳多。达。芬奇1510-1519科内塔布勒。德。波旁1519-1527费尔迪南。德。贡扎克1527-1575路易。德。内韦尔1575-1595罗伯特。弗拉德1595-1637 J.瓦伦丁。安德烈亚1637-1654罗伯特。博伊尔1654-1691艾撒克。牛顿1691-1727查尔斯。拉德克利夫1727-1746夏尔。德洛兰1746-1780麦克西米莲。德洛兰1780-1801查尔斯。诺迪耶1801-1844维克多。雨果1844-1885克劳德。德彪西1885-1918让。考克托1918-1963郇山隐修会？科莱疑惑不解。
"中尉在吗？"另一位特工从外面探进头来问道。"电话总机处有个紧急电话要找法希上尉，但他们又找不到他，你要不要接一下？"
科莱回到厨房，操起了电话。
电话原来是安德烈。韦尔内打来的。
这位银行家优雅的腔调丝毫掩饰不了他内心的紧张情绪。"我原以为法希上尉会打电话给我呢，可我至今还没听到他的任何消息。""上尉忙得很呐。"科莱回答道："有什么事吗？"
"我相信今晚跟得上你们的进度。"
科莱有一阵子以为听出了这位男人的声音，但一时却难以对上号。"韦尔内先生，我现在巴黎接管调查工作，我是科莱中尉。"韦尔内在电话另一端沉默了良久，才说："中尉，我有电话要接，还请你多多包涵，以后我再给你打电话吧。"说完，他便挂了电话。
科莱将电话听筒握了好几秒钟，接着就想起来。"我认出了那个声音了！"这个新发现令他透不过气来。
他就是那位装甲车司机。戴着一块冒牌的"劳力士"手表。
科莱终于明白了这位银行家为何这么快就挂上电话。韦尔内想必也记起了科莱中尉的名字--今晚早些时候，他曾明目张胆的欺骗了这位警方的官员。
科莱寻思着这种奇异变化所隐藏的各种含义。韦尔内参与进来了。他本能的知道，他应该给法希打个电话，但在感情上，他知道这个幸运的变化将有助于他出尽风头。
他立刻打电话给国际刑警组织，要他们尽其所能帮忙查询任何有关苏黎世储蓄银行及其总裁韦尔内的信息。