The house was of the old villa style, four walls around a central court yard ringed by stone walls that had been topped with wrought iron. Beyond the wall gardens that had once been neat but were now rather wild and gone to seed provided a ring of greenery. The stucko walls had not been painted in long years and patches flaked off here and there. To my complete lack of surprise the place was guarded, not obviously, but I saw silhouettes passing behind windows and picked up the occasional murmer of conversation. 

I knew I was right, Marco was using this place to stash the gold while things settled down. That was a wise move condotierre could be relied upon to follow orders of those paying them, but a chest of gold like the one the Imperials had delivered was a pay day no mercenary would likey ignore. In the palace it would be seized by whomever Marco set to guard it. Here in an old town house, he could depend on a few trusted men to safeguard his ill gotten windfall. Just a few men. It was all that stood between me and enough gold to set myself up for years. Maybe a nice villa in Luccinni seeing I seemed to have made a friend in Maximo.

Getting in was easy, a simple matter of climbing the wall and vaulting across the open space to a second story windowsill. I pulled myself up and onto the terracotta tiles, crabbing my way along till I found an attic window. It was locked, but it only took a knife a few moments to pry the old glass out of the half rotting frame, then I slid inside. The attic was dark and musty and I took care to place my feet on ceiling joists as I crossed to a small door which I lifted up and slipped down into a dusty servants chamber. Peeking round I saw that the gold was in a wagon in the central courtyard, covered by a tarp but guarded by four men.

All four men were very still. Not very still. Dead. Dead at their posts so as not to appear that they had been killed. My stomach dropped. 

"I am afraid that this gold is not for your signoritta," a voice from beside me said. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Guy du Pounce stepped from a doorway and lifted his longsword to point the tip at my neck.

"You will be my guest until the new governess of this town is installed I think," he declared loftily.