"I'm not particularly keen on them either," he said, a little tense, but he seemed otherwise relieved that he caused no lasting offense.

And then Erskine went very pale, and Klaus knew what he was in for. "This is actually a very good time to mention it. Did you keep the receipts all in one place?"

He didn't sound annoyed. Just professional curiosity. He wondered if he was going to have to have long adventures scouring the hotel for a lost slip of paper just to reconcile the books.