Chapter 1

The first autumn leaf falls on the magnificent city of Rome, Isabel rushes out of the University of History, grabs her pool blue Vespa and takes off. The last exams before the winter break were making her neurotic. After gathering up her books and putting them in her backpack inside the vespa's small luggage compartment, Isabel sets off in the direction of her home. The busy streets of Rome and the usual crazy traffic make her tired, she throws her backpack on the sofa and goes straight to the shower:

 “Good afternoon sunshine…”  he says as he kisses her rosy cheek.

“Hi brother, how was your day?”

“ Busy, I'm in charge of a lot of investigations. I'm pretty tired... make me one of those?” pointing to the freshly finished sandwich on the table.

Isabel and Pietro had been close since childhood. Pietro, like his older brother, was very protective and always looked after Isabel and helped her with everything. Pietro had been working at the Polizia di Stato for two years as an investigator. He was very dedicated and found in this profession a use for his law degree

Isabel's parents, Julia and Mattia, owned a pizzeria in the suburbs of Rome. Mattia was a very traditional Italian who loved well-made food and good ingredients, while Julia, the Brazilian who won his heart, was a good-natured person. 

The family business was going well, they were able to maintain their standard of living and so Isabel and Pietro still lived with them. Isabel was thinking of living on her own in the future and had plans to share an apartment with her friend Martina. Pietro wouldn't leave his parents' house until he was married, but that wasn't in his plans, he wanted to grow in his position in Polizia and only then think about building a family. 

Isabel relied on her family's support to pay for university, but in her final year she could no longer help her parents in the pizzeria, she needed to find a part-time job, and so it was agreed. Her parents agreed to her working part-time to pay for college, Isabel was so neurotic about the last exams, she was going to take advantage of the winter break to research some vacancies. At last the exam results were in, Isabel didn't have to sit the exams, she passed them all for the first time. The tireless hours of study were useful. Her dream was, after university, to get a job in one of Rome's museums, perhaps one day to become the museum's chief curator... dreams. 

With her determined personality, clumsy and very sweet and soft-spoken, Isabel was much loved by her teachers, who wouldn't hesitate to nominate her for one of the museums. Now that Isabel was finally on vacation, she sat down on the sofa at home with her laptop in hand. She was going to write her CV, listing all the courses she had taken and the knowledge she possessed. After finishing her CV, Isabel looked at some part-time vacancies. None were in her field, history, or even related. 

She was a little discouraged when she saw a job recently posted on the website. It wasn't in her area, in fact it was quite far away, but the hours were ideal and the pay was very good, even too good, which left her, as her mother used to say: “with a flea behind her ear”. Isabel always laughed when her mother said that. But as Isabel wanted her independence, she decided to apply, after all, what would it cost to try? After taking an online test and leaving her contact details, the next morning she received a call on her cell phone from a hiring agent scheduling an interview for her that same week. 

(Isabel De Angelis)

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