It was a very large bag. Especially considering how little I was actually doing.
“Is something wrong, Lord Skeeve?”
For a moment, I actually considered telling him what was bothering me, which is a sign of how upset I was. Grimble is not someone you confide in.
“No. Nothing,” I said instead.
“Would you like to count it?” he pressed, apparently still unconvinced.
“Why? Didn’t you?”
“Of course I did,” the Chancellor bristled, his professional pride stung. I forced a smile.
“Good enough for me. Checking your work would be a waste of both our time, don’t you agree?”
I quickly scribbled my name on the receipt, gathered up the bag, and left, carefully ignoring the puzzled look Grimble was leveling at me.
“You gonna need us for anything, Boss? You want we should hang around out here?”
“Whatever, Guido,” I waved absently as I shut the door. “I’m going to be here for a while, though, if you want to get something to eat. I’ve got a lot to think over.”
“Oh, we already ate. So we’ll just . . .”
The door closed and cut off the rest of whatever it was he was saying.
Guido and Nunzio had materialized at my side somewhere during my walk back from Grimble’s. I wasn’t sure exactly when, as I had been lost in thought and they hadn’t said anything until we reached my room. If I had realized they were there, I probably would have had one of them carry the bag of gold for me. It was heavy. Very heavy.
Setting the burden down on my desk, I sank into a chair and stared at it. I had heard of bad pennies coming back to haunt someone, but this was ridiculous.