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"You're quick to judge, Isabella."
"I am.I'm afraid I get that from my grandfather, which pisses me off."
He smiled."And you don't look for the best in people."
"You're right.I look for the worst, so I won't be surprised.What about you?"
"To be honest, I don't know anymore."
Something clicked between them again, some innate understanding, some odd connection that sent a tingle down his spine.Isabella seemed to feel it, too.She stiffened and then turned her attention to the sketchbook.
As she went back to studying the drawings, he couldn't help studying her.She was a beautiful woman with a lot of sharp edges, an aggressively defensive attitude, and some serious baggage.But now that he knew more about her, he had a better sense of why she might feel she needed to defend herself, to always be in control.
"This is weird," she said suddenly, breaking into his thoughts.
"What is?"
"This drawing has a number on it, buried in the scratches on a piece of wood."She turned the sketch around so he could see it."The number two.I wonder what it means."
"I don't know if I would have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out."
"My mother made me look at a lot of art over the years.She used to tell me that artists often leave Easter eggs in their work, little signs of something that you wouldn't notice unless you looked long enough."
"So the number two is an Easter egg?"
"I don't know," she murmured as their grandmothers came into the room.
"What don't you know?"Gloria asked.
"I was just looking at this sketch and noticed a number two on the piece of wood.The way it's drawn, you can barely see it."
Anna and Gloria peered at the sketchbook."I think that's a stair," Gloria said."Maybe the beginning of Lucinda's staircase painting, the one that was stolen."
"I see the number," Anna said."That's odd.I don't think it was on the final painting."
He took out his phone and brought up the painting, enlarging the bottom stair."I see nothing in this photo, but I can't see every detail."
"She must have just been experimenting with something in this sketch.I thought I was on to something," Isabella said with a sigh.
Isabella was working hard to find some sort of clue, but she was wasting her time trying to decipher an old sketchbook.It was his turn to step up to the plate."We should focus on the actual robbery.I'd like to speak to Captain Lavezzo.Did he give you a number, Nonna?"
"He did," Anna replied."It's in my bag.I'll get it."
He finished his coffee as he waited for her to return while Isabella and Gloria continued to study Lucinda's sketches.His grandmother returned a moment later and handed him a card.
He took out his phone and called the number.A woman answered, and he asked to speak to Captain Lavezzo.She replied he was unavailable, but she could take a message.
"I'm Nick Caruso, Anna Caruso's grandson," he said."She was a witness to the robbery at the Museo dei Capolavori Romani.I'd like to speak to him about the investigation.I'm happy to come to his office to do that.Besides being Anna's grandson, I'm also an FBI agent and would love to offer him any resources that I can."
"Un momento," she said, putting him on hold.A few minutes later, she returned."He can meet with you at noon today, if that is convenient."
"That's perfect."He jotted down the address she gave him and then ended the call.He met his grandmother's questioning gaze."Captain Lavezzo will meet with us at noon."Glancing at his watch, he realized it was just past ten, so they had some time."Maybe we can go down to the bank vault now and get the letters and whatever else is there before my meeting."
"Our meeting," his grandmother said."I should be there.I'm the witness."
"I can handle it on my own.You already told him what you witnessed.I'm more interested in what they're doing to find the thieves.I can speak to him as one law enforcement official to another."His grandmother didn't look convinced."I do this all the time, Nonna."
"In America," she said."This is Italy."
