How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Mr. Fache, I obviously can't tell you why Mr. Saunière drew that symbol on himself or placed himself in this way, but I can tell you that a man like Jacques Saunière would consider the pentacle a sign of the female deity. The correlation between this symbol and the sacred feminine is widely known by art historians and symbologists."
"Fine. And the use of his own blood as ink?"
"Obviously he had nothing else to write with."
Fache was silent for a moment. "Actually, I believe he used blood such that the police would follow certain forensic procedures."
"I'm sorry?"
"Look at his left hand."
Langdon's eyes traced the length of the curator's pale arm to his left hand but saw nothing. Uncertain, he circled the corpse and crouched down, now noting with surprise that the curator was clutching a large, felt-tipped marker. (6.61-67)
Saunière was scary smart…and a bit demented, when you think about it. Wouldn't they have used a black light even without a blood-painted message? Either way, pretty clever.
Quote #2
Sophie's outgoing message immediately cut off, and Langdon heard an electronic voice announce in French: "You have one new message." Apparently, 454 was Sophie's remote access code for picking up her messages while away from home.
I'm picking up this woman's messages?
Langdon could hear the tape rewinding now. Finally, it stopped, and the machine engaged. Langdon listened as the message began to play. Again, the voice on the line was Sophie's.
"Mr. Langdon," the message began in a fearful whisper. "Do not react to this message. Just listen calmly. You are in danger right now. Follow my directions very closely." (9.50-53)
Sophie has put an insane amount of forethought into helping Langdon—she leaves a message on her own voicemail. That's nuts: especially when you consider the fact that she's just heard about the violent murder of her own grandfather.
Quote #3
"Using Fibonacci numbers was my grandfather's way of waving another flag at me – like writing the message in English, or arranging himself like my favorite piece of art, or drawing a pentacle on himself. All of it was to catch my attention." (20.14)
This is another example of one of Brown's characters having amazing clarity of thought despite some pretty unusual and difficult circumstances. Remember, Saunière was slowly losing blood and dying an excruciating death, and yet, he still was able to write these incredibly complex clues for his estranged granddaughter.
That's pretty amazing. The best we'd be able to do is scrawl "Ouch" in the dust on the floor.