Rough Cut by Owen Carey Jones Page B

round keeping close watch. At one point Jacques noticed him touch one of the books on the bookshelf and glance across at him. The inspection over, Gilles turned to Jacques on the quayside.
       “A magnificent boat, Jacques,” he said, “How did you come by it?”
       “I received some money from my father on my birthday,” answered Jacques, “Enough to buy the boat.”
       Gilles eyebrows raced to the top of his forehead. “Jacques, I have to tell you that I know this boat, I’ve been on it many times. It belongs to Philippe Lacoste. I arrange a lot of charters for Monsieur Lacoste and I have bookings in hand for this boat. He hasn’t told me that he has sold the boat.”
       “That may be so but I have bought it. It’s mine now. You’ve seen the papers.”
       Gilles had to admit that this was true and the two of them returned to his  office to sign the agency agreement. As Jacques was leaving, Gilles called up the stairs behind him.
       “Monique,” he said, “Get Philippe Lacoste on the line for me.”
       Jacques paused and smiled to himself and thought, he still doesn’t believe me!
    _________________________
     
       Later that day, the sun shone brightly on the boats moored at the Capitainerie as two men dressed in white tee-shirts and trousers carried cardboard boxes of supplies from a nearby Citroen van onto one of the yachts. This was the Hedonist, the boat that Philippe would use for his own purposes now that the Fleur de Grimaud belonged to Jacques. Philippe watched the proceedings with a critical eye as Gilles approached from the direction of the Rue Grande.
       “Philippe,” said Gilles tentatively as he reached Philippe’s side, “It seems that Jacques Armand has acquired the Fleur de Grimaud. Only now he’s calling her the Esprit de Jacques.” Gilles raised his eyes heavenward before continuing. “I didn’t know you had sold the Fleur.”
       Suddenly, Philippe’s attention was distracted. Unable to believe what he had seen, he marched towards the stern of the Hedonist where one of the men had just dropped a crate of champagne onto the rear deck.
       “Not there, idiot!“ shouted Philippe, “Stow it below, out of the sun.”
       The man froze when he heard Philippe’s voice. Slowly, he turned to face Philippe and stood, almost at attention. He nodded his head to Philippe as he spoke.
       “Oui, Monsieur Lacoste. Pardon.”
       Philippe continued to watch as the man picked up the crate and disappeared into the boat with it. Philippe turned on his heel and returned to Gilles.
       “You were saying?” snapped Philippe.
       Just as Jacques was intimidated by Gilles, Gilles was intimidated by Philippe. There was no physical threat from Philippe but the man carried himself in an imperious manner born of his considerable wealth and many years of running his businesses with an iron hand. It had never occurred to him to clothe it in a velvet glove and even if it had, he probably wouldn’t have bothered.
       Gilles, now even more tentative than before, continued, “The Fleur de Grimaud, Philippe. Jacques is the new owner. I knew she was for sale but I didn’t know you had sold her.”
       Philippe looked away from the two men who had been engaging his attention and focused on Gilles. “Yes, I agreed the sale while you were in Paris. I was going to tell you when you got back but I forgot. What of it?” Philippe returned his gaze to the men loading the boat.
       “Well, it’s nothing really. Just that he came to see me to tell me he wants to hire her out on charter.”
       “Well what’s wrong with that?” asked Philippe, not looking at Gilles as he spoke.
       “Nothing. I’ve already given him the Baines charter. As you are now using the Hedonist instead of the Fleur, I had planned to switch the boats for that job anyway.”
       “Good.”
       Philippe started walking away from the Capitainerie, satisfied that his employees would