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VILLENEUVE-LES-AVIGNON

MALONE STARED AT ROYCE CLARIDON AND SAID, "YOU’RE GOOD"

"I’ve had lots of practice" Claridon looked at Stephanie "You are Lars’s wife?"

She nodded

"He was a friend and a great man So smart Yet also naive He underestimated those who opposed him"

They were still alone in the solarium and Claridon see out

"No one will disturb us Not a soul wants to listen to s I made a point to become quite a nuisance They all look forward tohave you been here?"

"Five years"

Malone was astonished "Why?"

Claridon paced slowly alass, black clouds girted the western horizon, the sun blazing through crevices like fire from the ht Not openly, or with attention drawn to their quest, but they deal severely with those who stand in their way So I caned illness They feed you well, care for your needs, and, most important, ask no questions I’ve not spoken rationally, other than toto yourself is not satisfying"

"Why are you talking to us?" Stephanie asked

"You’re Lars’sFor hi" Claridon pointed "And that note Sent by soe Perhaps even by those people I mentioned who don’t allow anyone to stand in their way"

"Did Lars stand in their way?" Stephanie asked

Claridon nodded "Many wanted to knohat he learned"

"What was your connection to him?" Stephanie asked

"I had access to the book trade He required many obscure materials"

Malone knew that secondhand-book stores were the haunts of both collectors and researchers

"We eventually becaion is my home My family has been here since medieval times Some of my ancestors were Cathars, burned to death by the Catholics But then, Lars died So sad Others after him also perished So I came here"

"What others?"

"A book dealer in Seville A librarian in Marseille A student in Rome Not to mention Mark"

"Ernst Scoville is also dead," Stephanie said "Run down by a car last week, just after I spoke to him"

Claridon quickly crossed himself "Those who seek are indeed ?"

"I have Lars’s journal"

A look of concern swept across the er"

"How so?" Malone asked

"This is terrible," Claridon said, the words coht that you be involved You lost your husband and your son--"

"What do you know of Mark?"

"It was just after his death that I came here"

"My son died in an avalanche"

"Not true He was killed Just like the others I mentioned"

Malone and Stephanie stood in silence, waiting for the odd littleleads his father had discovered years before He was not as passionate as Lars, and it took him years to decipher Lars’s notes, but he finally made some sense of them He traveled south into the mountains to look but never returned Just like his father"

"My husband hung hie"

"I know, dear woman But I alondered what truly happened"

Stephanie said nothing, but her silence signaled that at least part of her wondered, too

"You said you came here to escape thehts Templar?"

Claridon nodded "I came face-to-face with them on two occasions Not pleasant"

Malone decided to let that notion si the note that had been sent to Ernst Scoville in Rennes-le-Chateau He motioned with the paper "How can you lead the way? Where are we to go? And who is this engineer we’re supposed to be watching out for?"

"She, too, seeks what Lars coveted Her naood with a rifle?"

"She has , I’m sure, is one She lives at Givors, an ancient citadel site She’s a woreat wealth She labors in the forest to rebuild a castle using only thirteenth-century techniques Her chateau stands nearby and she personally oversees the rebuilding project, calling herself l’Ingenieur The engineer Have you en Which makes me wonder why someone would warn us to beware of her"

"Her ht, but for different reasons"

"And what is it she seeks?" Malone asked, tired of riddles

"What the brothers of the Teo Their Great Devise What the priest Sauniere discovered What the brothers have been searching for all these centuries"

Malone didn’t believe a word of it, but ht direction"