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Transcript
Chapter 7. Hot On The Heels Of The Affair
The next morning, Gianna and Eugenio are awake at the usual time.
Gianna is waiting in the kitchen for her husband to wish her a happy fortieth birthday. But Eugenio is acting as if he has forgotten…
After breakfast, he gives her the usual kiss on the cheek, and leaves for work without another word.
Gianna is sad, but also very angry. She can’t face translating this morning but instead decides to think things over. By mid-morning, she has decided to find her husband, wherever he is, talk to him and so clarify things once and for all!
She arrives at his art gallery towards eleven o’clock. When she enters, she finds the secretary behind the reception desk, as usual.
“Morning, Gianna!” the woman greets her casually, having worked with Eugenio for over ten years now.
“Hi Isabella! Is my husband in his office?”
“No, he’s not here now. He’s just gone out, literally a couple of minutes ago!”
“Ah… and did he say where he was going?”
“To be honest, he didn’t say anything. He got a telephone call and left straightaway.”
Knowing Eugenio, and knowing he always tells his secretary everything, Gianna asks one further question, even though she thinks she already knows the answer.
“I don’t suppose the call was from a woman?”
“Yes, indeed it was.”
Rather than leaving, Gianna looks for an excuse to stay in her husband’s office alone, hoping to finally discover the identity of the mysterious woman.
“Anyway, I ‘ve just come by to drop off some documents that he forgot this morning.”
“Ah, do you want to leave them with me?”
“No, no thanks, not to worry! I’ll put them on his desk myself.”
Gianna goes into Eugenio’s office and closes the door.
Looking around, she notices a small notepad by the telephone.
“The secretary mentioned a telephone call…” she thinks, noticing the marks left on the blank notepad by the pressure of the pen used to write a note, now removed.
Just as she’s seen many times on TV, she finds a pencil and begins to rub it lightly over the notepad, hoping to highlight the marks and therefore discover what had been written on the sheet above.
“But it always works in the movies!” Gianna exclaims, looking disappointedly at the blackened sheet of note paper. Despite her efforts, there was nothing useful to see on it.
While throwing away the note, Gianna notices something unusual in the waste basket. She takes an empty cigarette packet out of the bin and holds it up to examine it.
She knows for a fact that neither her husband nor his secretary smoke. So another person has been in the office.
“From the shape of the packet, I’d say these are the sort of cigarettes a woman would buy,” Gianna deduces.
Continuing her search for evidence, she goes over to the small guest sofa. On one of the cushions, there are some long hairs. They’re curly and of the same shade as the hair of the mysterious woman she had seen with her husband in the street.
Gianna absolutely must find out the identity of this person! She starts looking frantically for more evidence, opening drawers and rumaging amongst the papers on the desk.
While moving a catalogue, she accidentally knocks the computer mouse. The desktop screen lights up, and up flashes the last webpage Eugenio had visited.
Gianna stares at the screen for a few seconds, then bangs her fist down on the table. “I’ve found them!” she exclaims, and rushes out of the office.
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