Summary: André Vernet, president of the bank, receives notification that a “gold key client” has arrived at his branch—a client, unfortunately, wanted by the police. Vernet frets over how to balance his obligation to clients’ secrecy and to the demands of the law as he rushes to the vault, deciding that he must somehow get his visitors to leave before the police arrive. He instantly recognizes Sophie; as it turns out, Vernet was friends with Saunière. After learning of Saunière’s murder and the subsequent events, Vernet resolves to do what he can to help the two leave the bank undetected. Before they leave, however, Langdon realizes that Saunière did, in fact, leave Sophie an account number to go along with the key: the numbers Saunière scrawled on the floor of the Louvre in the scrambled Fibonacci sequence.
Analysis: In addition to unveiling yet another layer of meaning in Saunière’s dying message—indeed, as Langdon says, Sophie’s grandfather “was a genius” (p. 202) to be able to pack so much meaning into so few numbers and words in ways that almost defy the readers’ willing suspension of disbelief!
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