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CHAPTER 29

CHTEAU D’IF, FRANCE

Despite their love for Marseille, the Fargos had never o and Château d’If into their itinerary, an oversight they planned to correct that night with their own private tour They doubted the château’s staff would let theh neither of the for, or whether they’d recognize it if it appeared, the expedition seeical step in the journey

From Müller’s apartment they took a taxi to the Mal the Friouls, and found a quiet café They settled under the umbrella on the patio and ordered a pair of double espressos

A mile offshore they could see Château d’If, a faded ocher-colored lu cliffs, vertical ramparts, and stone arches

While the island itself covered just over seven acres, the château itself was a smaller square, a hundred feet to a side,flanked on three sides by cylindrical turrets topped with crenellated cannon slots

At the behest of King François I, Château d’If began its life in the 1520s as a fortress to defend the city against attacks from the sea, a purpose that was short-lived as it was converted into a prison for France’s political and religious enemies Much like San Fran cisco’s Alcatraz, Château d’If’s location and its deadly offshore currents gave it a reputation as escape proof, a claim that was shattered, at least fictionally, by Alexandre Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo, in which the character Eded to escape d’If

Sam read from the brochure he’d picked up at the Vieux Port tourist office: “ ‘Blacker than the sea, blacker than the sky, rose like a phantos seemed like arms extended to seize their prey’ That’s how Dantès described it”

“Doesn’t seem so bad from here”

“Try being stuck in the dungeon for a dozen years”

“Good point What else?”

“The prison operated by a strict class structure Rich inmates could buy their way into private cells on the upper floors, s and a fireplace As for the poor, they got the baseeons and the oubliettes—which are”

“It’s derivative of oublier—‘to forget’ They were essentially trap doored pits in the floor of a dungeon” Reo in and you’re forgotten—left to rot”

The phone trilled and Sa for you”

“Go ahead,” Sam said He put the phone on speaker so Remi could hear