The Reef

himself. Business, he repeated in his head like a chant. It’s only business. “I’ll arrange it immediately.”
    LaRue took the unexpected bonus philosophically. “As you wish. Through that alcove you will find a phone.” Chuckling to himself, he watched VanDyke stride off. “Another quarter million,” he murmured into his drink,while his gaze roamed idly around the lobby, paused very briefly on the opening to the library. “That’s very sweet.”
    Feeling generous, he decided to up Matthew’s share to fifty percent, as a wedding present. It seemed, after all, only just.
    “It’s done,” VanDyke snapped when he returned a few minutes later. “The money is being transferred immediately.”
    “As always, it’s a pleasure to do business with you. When I’ve finished my drink, I’ll make my own call, see that the transfer is complete.”
    VanDyke’s knuckles were white against the table. “I want the amulet. I want my property.”
    “Only a few minutes longer,” LaRue assured him. “I have something to amuse you until then.” From the pocket of his shirt, LaRue took a sheet of drawing paper. He unfolded it and laid it on the table.
    The sketch was meticulously detailed, each link of the chain, each stone, even the tiny letters of the engraving.
    The flush died from VanDyke’s face until it was as white as his knuckles. “It’s magnificent.”
    “Tate is quite skilled. She captured the elegance of it, eh?”
    “The power,” VanDyke whispered as he skimmed his fingers over the sketch. He could all but feel the texture of the stones. “Even in a drawing you can see it. Feel it. For almost twenty years I’ve searched for this.”
    “And killed for it.”
    “Lives are nothing compared to this.” Saliva pooled in his mouth and the champagne was forgotten. “No one who’s coveted it understood what it means. What it can do. It took me years to realize it myself.”
    LaRue’s eyes glinted at the opening. “Not even James Lassiter knew?”
    “He was a fool. He thought only of its monetary value, and of the glory he would reap if he could find it. He thought he could outwit me.”
    “Instead, you killed him.”
    “It was so simple. He trusted his son to check the gear. Oh, and the boy was careful, efficient, even suspicious ofme. But just a boy for all that. It was ridiculously easy to sabotage the tanks, a matter of negating a contract.”
    Resisting the urge to glance toward the library, LaRue kept his eyes on VanDyke’s face. “He must have known. Lassiter was an experienced diver, eh? When he began to feel the effects of the excess nitrogen, he would have surfaced.”
    “I had only to restrain him for a short time. There was no violence in it, none at all. I’m not a violent man. He was confused, even happy. Once the raptures had over-taken him, it was only a matter of enjoyment. He smiled when I took the mouthpiece away. He drowned in ecstasy—my gift to him.”
    VanDyke’s breath quickened as he stared at the sketch of the necklace, as he steeped himself in it. “But I didn’t know then, couldn’t be sure then, he died with knowledge.”
    As he came out of his own spell, VanDyke reached for his drink. The memory had tripped his heartbeat pleasantly. And the realization that what he had done all those years before hadn’t been a mistake after all. Only one of many steps to this point.
    “All these years the Lassiters have kept what is mine from me. Now all of them are dead, and the amulet will come home to me.”
    “I think you’re mistaken,” LaRue murmured. “Matthew, will you join us for a drink?”
    As VanDyke gaped in shock, Matthew dropped into a chair. “I could use a beer. Hell of a piece, isn’t it?” he commented and lifted the sketch just as VanDyke lurched to his feet.
    “I saw your boat go up in flames.”
    “Planted the charge myself.” He glanced toward the steward, who had lunged to attention. “You might want to call off your dog, VanDyke. A classy place like this frowns on brawls.”
    “I’ll kill you myself for this.” To keep from scrambling across the table, VanDyke gripped it until the bones in his fingers ached. “You’re a dead man, LaRue.”
    “No, I’m a rich man, thanks to you. Mademoiselle.” LaRue smiled at the waitress, who’d hurried up and staredwith anxious eyes. “My companion is a bit overwrought. If you would be so kind as to bring us another round, and a Corona, with lime, for my friend.”
    “Do you think you can