“I’d have to say it was right after that job when him and me was guarding that warehouse. You remember? With the forged comic books?”
“Was he all right on that assignment?”
“Sure. I remember talkin’ with him quite a bit while we was sittin’ around doin’ nothin’. He was fine then.”
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “You were talking with Gleep?”
“I guess it was more like talkin’ to him, since he doesn’t really answer back.” Nunzio corrected himself easily. “You know what I mean, Boss. Anyway, I spent a lot of time talkin’ to him, and he seemed okay then. In fact, he seemed to listen real close.”
“What did you talk to him about?”
My bodyguard hesitated, then glanced away quickly.
“Oh . . . this and that,” he said with an exaggerated shrug. “I really can’t remember for sure.”
“Nunzio,” I said, letting a note of sternness creep into my voice, “if you can remember, tell me. It’s important.”
“Well … I was goin’ on a bit about how worried I was about you, Boss,” Nunzio admitted hesitantly. “You remember how you was right after we decided to incorporate? How you was gettin’ so wrapped up in work that you didn’t have much time for anything or anyone else? I just unloaded on Gleep a bit about how I didn’t think it was healthy for you, is all. I didn’t think it would hurt nothin’. That’s why I did my talkin’ in front of him and not anyone else on the team . . . even Guido.”
There were clear images dancing in my head now. Pictures of Gleep breathing fire at Markie . . . who only escaped narrowly when Nunzio intervened . . . and of my pet throwing himself in front of me when another, larger dragon was on the brink of making me extinct.