The Reef

breakfront that held a variety of board games to amuse guests on rainy days, then took out his tobacco pouch.
    He was enjoying the last of his cigarette with a frothy mai tai and a chapter of Hemingway when VanDyke walked in, tailed by his stoic steward.
    “Ah, prompt, as expected.” He toasted VanDyke, sneered at the steward. “I see you feel the need for protection, even from a loyal associate.”
    “For precaution.” With a wave of the hand, VanDyke gestured his man toward the sofa. “You feel the need for the protection of a public place for our business meeting?”
    “For precaution,” LaRue countered, meticulously marking his page in his book before setting it aside. “How fares your guest?” he asked casually. “Her parents are terrified for her safety.”
    VanDyke folded his hands, felt them relax. He had been fighting off a rage all morning after Tate’s disappearance had been discovered. Obviously, he thought, she never made it back to the bosom of her family. Drowned, he supposed and glanced up at the waitress. A pity.
    “A champagne cocktail. My guest is no concern ofyours,” he added to LaRue. “I’d prefer to get straight to our business.”
    “I’m in no hurry.” Demonstrating, LaRue tilted back in his chair. “Were you able to see the fireworks I displayed for you last night?”
    “Yes.” Fussily, VanDyke flicked a speck of lint from his starched cuffs. “I assume there were no survivors.”
    LaRue’s smile was thin and cool. “You didn’t pay me for survivors, eh?”
    “No.” VanDyke let out a long, almost reverent breath. “Matthew Lassiter is dead. You’ve earned your money, LaRue.” He broke off and gifted the waitress with his most charming smile as she served his drink.
    “Your orders were to destroy his boat, along with him and his uncle, and your price, I believe, was two hundred and fifty thousand.”
    “A bargain, to be sure,” LaRue murmured.
    “Your payment will be transferred to your account before the close of the business day. Do you think he died instantly?” VanDyke said dreamily, “or do you think he felt the blast?”
    LaRue contemplated his drink. “If you had wanted him to suffer, you should have made it clear in the contract. For a slightly larger fee, it could have been arranged.”
    “It hardly matters. I can assume he suffered. And the Beaumonts?”
    “Eaten with grief, of course. Matthew was like a son to them, and Buck a dear friend. Ils sont désolé. For myself I pretend guilt and misery. If I had not chosen to take the launch to Saint Kitts for a bit of nightlife . . .” He touched his heart, shook his head. “They reassure me, tell me there was nothing I could have done.”
    “Such generous spirits.” VanDyke pitied them for their open hearts. “An attractive couple,” he mused. “The woman in particular is quite lovely.”
    “Ah.” LaRue kissed his fingers. “A true blossom of the south.”
    “Still . . .” Contemplating, VanDyke sipped his drink. “I wonder if an accident on their voyage home might not be best.”
    Surprised, LaRue sloshed his mai tai. “You want the Beaumonts eliminated?”
    “Clean slate,” VanDyke murmured. They had touched the necklace, he thought. His necklace. It was reason enough for them to die. “Smaller prey, however. I’ll pay you fifty thousand apiece to take care of them.”
    “A hundred thousand for a double murder. Oh, mon ami, you are stingy.”
    “I can handle it myself for nothing,” VanDyke pointed out. “A hundred thousand to spare me the trouble of making other arrangements. I’d prefer that you wait a week, perhaps two.” To give me time, he mused, to plan your disposal as well. “Now, with that settled, where is the amulet?”
    “Oh, it’s safe.”
    The easy smile faded, hardened to stone. “You were to bring it.”
    “ Mais non, money first.”
    “I’ve transferred your asking price for the amulet, as agreed.”
    “All of the money.”
    VanDyke bit back on fury. It was the last time, he promised himself, that the little Canadian bastard would bleed him. In his mind murder flashed, the kind of murder that wasn’t neat, wasn’t practical. And wasn’t handled by someone else.
    “I told you you’d have the money by the end of the business day.”
    “Then you’ll have your treasure when the payment clears.”
    “Damn you, LaRue.” With temper flushed on his cheeks, he pushed back from the table, nearly sent his chair toppling before he caught