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"Does it work?"
"Not always, but most of the time."He paused as the waiter dropped off his beer.
"That's sacrilege, you know."She tipped her head at his beer."You're in Italy.You should be drinking wine."
"Don't tell anyone," he said with a grin."And you're not much better than me.You're drinking water."
"I want to stay alert, and wine can make me tired.I also don't drink that much, despite what you may think after our disastrous date in LA."
"We've moved past that, haven't we?"
"Yes.But I have to say I'm still surprised we ended up here together.I would never have thought we'd even see each other again after that awkward dinner."
"Life is filled with unexpected twists."
"That might be the truest thing you've ever said."She paused, knowing she was treading into dangerous territory, but she couldn't stop herself."Tell me more about your boss and his father."
A frown crossed his lips."There's not much to say, Isabella.Sam left Flynn and his mother when Flynn was a kid.Apparently, Sam was on the verge of going to jail.He disappeared instead of facing the music and being there for his family."
"Did Flynn go into the FBI to protect his father or to find him?"
"I think it was more about righting his father's wrongs.It's like what you just said about your mother.You couldn't be wild, because she owned that space.Flynn couldn't be bad or a criminal, because his father owned that space.He had to be the opposite.He had to be better than good."Nick paused."But Flynn never told me that; I'm just guessing."
"It makes sense."
"I know they didn't see each other for decades until a few years ago, when Flynn was working on a murder investigation tied into the art world.His father unexpectedly showed up to help him.Sam apparently saved his son's life.But he disappeared again in the aftermath, and Flynn hasn't seen him since."
"Interesting that Sam took the risk of helping his son.He doesn't sound all bad.I wish we could find Sam and ask him aboutLa Mano Nera."
"I already told you that Flynn doesn't know where his father is.After the incident several years ago, there were a lot of eyes on Flynn's actions regarding his father.I suspect that both Sam and Flynn made sure there was no contact between them after that.It would have been dangerous for both of them."He paused."That said, I will ask Flynn about the group.He worked art crimes and he sent me to Francesca, so he may know something aboutLa Mano Nera."
"It's worth asking.I'm also going to researchLa Mano Neraand the Falconeri family when we get back to the house."
"You like to research, don't you?"
"It's what I do all the time.I'm pretty good at it."
"I'll bet you are.I could see your eyes light up when Francesca mentioned the crew.You were immediately hooked just by the name.But…" His smile faded."While the name might make them sound fascinating and historically interesting, that doesn't mean they weren't just evil criminals."
"I know.I'm sure they were criminals and probably did terrible things.I just hope that finding out more about them will get us another step closer to figuring out who stole our family paintings.I'm surprised that Captain Lavezzo didn't mention them to us.Surely, if he's an expert on art crimes, the black gloves would have made him think of them."
"I'm sure there are many things the captain didn't share with us."
At his disgruntled tone, she couldn't help but poke at him a little."I thought you said you could get more information from him than I could because you're FBI.What happened?"
"Clearly, he wasn't interested in collaborating, which isn't that surprising.Agencies can be very territorial, especially those outside of the US.But I had hoped he would be different."
"Well, this is why you need me."
"How so?He's not going to tell you more than he'll tell me."
"No.But we can bounce ideas off each other."
He smiled."I'm a little surprised you would think two heads are better than one, Isabella.You seem like someone who likes to work alone."
"I'm someone who often has to work alone, but I'm not against having a partner, as long as they're not a complete idiot."
He laughed."So, I'm not an idiot?"
