Cooper sat with Rosedale underneath the large timber porch of his ranch, with their feet up on the carved wooden railings, sitting in identical rocking chairs looking out across the full bloom of the prairies. The smell of Rosedale’s cigar smoke heavy in the air.
Cooper said, ‘What’s that on your head?’
‘My hat?’
‘That’s a hat? It looks more like a tea cozy.’
‘What the hell’s a tea cozy?’
‘It’s what you’ve got on your head.’
‘Admit it, you’re just jealous of how fine it is, and of the fact that Miss Maddison knitted it for me and she didn’t knit you one. And you can’t stand that.’
Cooper looked at him incredulously. ‘You kidding? Jealous of you? Listen, Maddie probably dislikes you more than she does me. And that’s saying something, Rosedale.’
Rosedale’s Texan accent was lilted with relaxation. ‘Okay, Thomas, whatever you say…’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing.’
Rosedale pulled hard on his cigar, letting the smoke circuit his lungs before blowing it out. Eventually he said, ‘You fancy going fishing?’
‘When?’
‘Sometime.’
‘Okay, sometime it is… Does that mean we’re… friends?’
‘Hell, no.’ Rosedale paused, rocking a few times on the chair, then spoke thoughtfully. ‘Would you ever go back to the DRC, Thomas?’
‘I might. I know it sounds crazy, and the place had a lot of problems and pain, but there was something about it which made me love it. Perhaps it was the country itself, wild and unruly. Or maybe it was the spirit of the people. I dunno. All I know is it felt like a place which accepted me.’
‘You ever going to tell me about what happened that night you saw Ellie?’
Cooper began to bristle. Then stopped himself. ‘Maybe one day.’
‘And what about you? Are you going to go and get yourself some help?’
Cooper paused. ‘I want to say yes, but the truth is I don’t know. I doubt it. Maybe I should? It feels so complicated… Maybe I’m just not ready.’
He fell silent, watching a white-tailed rabbit in the distance. He sighed but felt unusually at ease, the nearest he’d got to peace in a long time.
‘Granger told me you were going to be staying around.’
‘I might as well. Who else is going to look after you, Thomas?’
Cooper nodded, surprised how okay he was with Rosedale continuing to work for Onyx.
‘Fair enough. Good idea.’
Rosedale laughed, flicking the ash from his cigar. ‘So you’re finally admitting that you need me to babysit you.’
‘I never said that, I said fair enough, which isn’t the same thing at all. Which reminds me, when I spoke to Bill Travis, I asked him about the moose in the reception of the CIA headquarters.’
‘And?’
‘And there isn’t one there. Not that I thought there was.’
Rosedale, yawned, pushing back on the cream rocking chair. ‘What did he exactly say?’
‘Well when I asked him about it, his reply was You must be friends with Rosedale.’
‘You see what you’ve done? You’ve missed the point, Thomas, but that doesn’t surprise me. You’ve been missing the point as long as I’ve known you… What I want to know is, did Bill Travis actually tell you there wasn’t a moose?’
Cooper shook his head and smirked. ‘I guess not.’
‘You see, Thomas, that’s why it’s people like me, and not people like you, they have working in the CIA… Can I ask you something?’
‘Go on.’
‘Would you mind if Maddie stepped out with another man?’
‘Where did that come from and what the hell is stepped out?’
‘You know, went on the odd date. Would you mind?’
Cooper sat up straight. The thought had never occurred to him. ‘It’s not as if I don’t love her, or I don’t want to be with her, it’s just I can’t be who I need to be right now. But Maddie deserves every chance of happiness, and if someone else can make her happy, who am I to stop it…? But to answer your question – and call me old fashioned – I’d kill him. I’d kill any man that went near her.’