“Will you cut the bullshit, Charlie?” Alyx snapped, loudly.

“Language, Ms. McClain.” Charlie couldn’t help but grin.

“STOP.” The volume of the word knocked the smile off of Charlie’s face. Alyx took a breath and ignored the curious looks of nearby beach goers. She took another breath. When she spoke again, her voice was low and steady. “Stop. Please. I know what you are doing. I have been trained to recognize and withstand psychological torture, and you are somehow more annoying than that. I know you don’t trust me. I know I haven’t given you reason to. But I have offered to do so, and if you keep this up I will leave. The next person to contact you will not be as interested in establishing a rapport.”

Charlie’s grin was gone. The grave look he now displayed looked out of place on his almost unlined face. “I’m glad we understand each other, then. I’ll stop messing around the instant you do. How did you find–”

Charlie was interrupted by a tall, bearded man sweeping a metal detector between the two of them. He wore a floppy brimmed hat and thick-rimmed glasses. “Oh, sorry. Just passin’ through here, don’t mind me. Hello there, love, pardon me.” Charlie dimly registered an accent, but he was too distracted at the moment to place it. He grabbed his bag from the sand below and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

“A tracking device,” offered Alyx, once the tall man had passed out of earshot.

“What?”

“When you left for a refill, at the cafe. You left your bag at your seat.” Alyx produced a small tablet from a pocket and handed it to Charlie. He recognized the Santa Catarina shoreline, and there, right where the two of them were standing, there was a blinking green dot.

Charlie, you are an idiot.

“I am an idiot.” Charlie searched his own bag. In the main pocket, tucked carefully off to one side, was a small black disc. The only mark on the disc was the same strange symbol Charlie was learning to associate with both the Dahl Foundation and frustration.

“No, you aren’t.” Alyx gently took the disc and tablet back. “If you were we wouldn’t be having this conversation. This is a conversation, right? Are you willing to speak frankly?”

I don’t know, how does Frank speak?

“Yes.” Charlie sighed. “Thank you for that. The only problem with actively trying to learn from your mistakes is that you notice how many of them you make. It’s disheartening.”

Alyx smiled an understanding smile. “Yes. Yes, it is. Part of the offer that Vincent is making is training on how to make as few mistakes as possible. When I am debriefed I am certain he will gently chastise me for losing my temper and give me several tips on how I could have fostered a more constructive dialogue sooner.”

“He sounds like a smart guy,” Charlie said.

“He is.” Alyx’s tone was less businesslike, more…wistful? Familiar? Charlie wasn’t sure. He got the feeling that Vincent was more than just an employer, at least. “He’s the genius behind the Dahl Foundation. He is a truly remarkable man.”

“I get the feeling you aren’t one to dole out praise lightly.”

“No. I am not. Now then. What are we going to do with these rings?”

What a professional. There’s something going on with you, Ms. McClain. Nobody’s that good at putting on a mask, not without a whole lot of practice. Who are you, really?

“Let’s find out.” Charlie grinned. “The tricky thing about this one is that it can go a lot of different ways. The basic idea is to play off of people’s greed; very occasionally you’ll get an honest mark which just throws the whole enterprise out the window. These rings are very valuable, you see, or at least it’s your job to make people think so. Keep the monkey suit, by the way, as the more professional you look the better. You are going to be a jeweler. Here.”

Charlie dug into his bag and withdrew a hand lens, used to magnify precious stones. He tossed it to Alyx, who swiftly caught it with one hand.

“That’s called a loupe. It helps with the whole ‘jeweler’ thing if you happen to have one on hand. Here’s how this is going to work. I am going to lose a ring in various places. I’m absent minded. It happens. It’s going to be tough on me, though, as I worked really hard and paid, oh…let’s say two hundred bucks at a pawn shop for the ring I lost. I’m getting ready to propose, see.”

Alyx raised an eyebrow. “Actually, now that you mention it, where did you get all these?”

Charlie shrugged. “They were gifts, as far as anyone can prove. The important thing is that I communicate to the mark how important the ring is to me, but only for its sentimental value. It was the only one I could afford, and I lost it in…actually we’ll go to a lot of different places, so it doesn’t matter where I ‘lose’ it.”

“…because you’re not going to lose it at all, are you?” asked Alyx.

“Bingo.” Charlie smiled. “You catch on quick. Here.”

He handed the rings to Alyx.

“You are going to show up, browse whatever bookstore or tourist trap or restaurant or wherever I’ve already left my information, and ‘find’ the ring. You will then examine it–”

“–with the loupe–”

“–with the loupe, which will be an obvious way to indicate that you found the ring. You will openly marvel at its value, since the ring that you ‘found’ is very valuable, an item you’d love to have in your shop. You will make an exceptionally generous offer–”

“–but only if the original owner of the ring is found.” Alyx looked over the half-dozen rings in her hand. “Which I will know the mark is not, since I ‘found’ it and turned it in. You mean to get the owner to buy the ring off of you at a higher price than what you told them you got it for, complete with a receipt or other proof of the sale, so that they may then turn around and sell the ring to me.”

“Times are tough,” Charlie lamented, “and I’m willing to walk away with enough money to buy my sweetie another ring if the shop owner (or whoever) wants it THAT badly.”

“Which he or she will, as I will make a very generous offer. The mark will want to contact me as soon as they have the ring, and they will find themselves unable to do so. Leaving them with the ring and you with the money they paid to buy it with.” Alyx thought it over. “You were right, there are a lot of ways this can go.”

“And a lot of them are ‘wrong’. The hardest part of this is making the mark think it’s their idea to buy the ring off of me so that they can sell it to you.” Charlie paused for a moment. “In the interest of full disclosure, for this to work you’re going to have to think on your feet.”

Alyx shot Charlie a hard look. “Why? What’s wrong with my shoes?”

Charlie opened his mouth to reply, but interrupted himself. “There’s noth–wait. Ms. McClain, was that a joke?!”

“Please,” Alyx smiled, “call me Alyx.”

As they left the beach, Charlie didn’t notice the tall man tossing the metal detector into a nearby garbage can.