Cooper’s cell phone told him it was 3 a.m. It also told him Granger had called several times before leaving one hell of a terse message. But the last thing he wanted to do was have a conversation, which he knew would start off badly and end up worse.
Earlier he’d tried to call Rosedale, but it hadn’t connected. Then he’d tried to get hold of Maddie, but Marvin had answered both the house phone and her cell, and the conversation and the phone had been put down by the time he’d said hello. Which left him with nothing else to do apart from some research on the computer. Though in truth, research had never been his strong point – neither had the patience to do it. Maddie had always been the one to do the ground work especially when it came to ground work on computers. He’d been the one who just went in and asked questions later.
However, sometimes there was nothing else for it. So he sat looking up information. About Lemon. About Charles. But so far, all he’d been able to find were smiling photographs and countless press releases singing the praises of both the man and Lemon. How they were an excellent example of social and humanitarian development in that particular area of the DRC.
‘Want some company?’
President John Woods stood at the door of Jackson’s room, dressed in silk spotty pyjamas and a thick, navy chenille robe.
Cooper grinned. ‘Does America know you wear them?’
Woods kicked out his foot to the side, looking at the part of his pyjamas which was showing. ‘Actually, they do. I did an interview with, I think it was Good Morning America, and the last question was, what does the president wear in bed?’
‘And you told them?’
John grinned back. ‘You’re goddamn right I did. I’m proud of these… It’s good to see you, Coop. Thanks for coming to stay.’
Woods went to give Cooper a hug but he backed away, putting out his hand instead. ‘No problem, sir.’
Cooper heard John’s sigh of quiet disappointment, but he pushed it aside, ignored it, as Woods pulled up the chair alongside him to see what he was looking at.
But his calm demeanour quickly changed. ‘Coop, what the hell is this?’
Surprised at his tone, Cooper swivelled round to look at Woods, who was now holding Cooper’s bag open, which held several unmarked bottles of pills.
Woods scooped his hand in. His face red and angry as he shook bottles which rattled like a baby’s shaker. ‘I’ll ask you again. What the hell is this, Coop?’
Angry as hell, Cooper got up. Snatched at his bag, knocking it and the bottles out of Woods’s hand. ‘That must be record timing, John. How long have I been here? Six hours? Seven? And already you got a problem. Way to go, John. I should’ve listened to my gut and stayed away, but hey, we all learn by our mistakes.’
‘Some of us clearly don’t.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Woods stepped forward. ‘You think you can bring that shit in here? Are you crazy? In case you’ve forgotten I’m the president of the United States and you happen to be in the White House, not on a street corner hustling pills. No way can you come in here with illegal drugs. I want you out of here. Gone. Take your stuff and go.’
Woods picked up the bag, stuffing the bottles back in. Zipped it up. Threw it at Cooper in a two hand shot. ‘What happened to the clean living guy, hey, Coop? The one who hardly had a beer, let alone drugs?’
‘You want me to give you a cliché? You want me to say he was left on that boat all those years ago?’
‘I just want the truth.’
‘You won’t like the truth, because the truth is, John, it’s just who I am. This is me, whether you like it or not.’
Woods shook his head. ‘I’m so disappointed. I trusted you, and you do this. You said you were clean but now you’re buying your shit off dealers.’
Cooper was angry, mad as hell and crazy like a rabid dog, and snarling just like one he said, ‘Well thank you for trusting me, John. That makes me feel real good. I have done nothing but respect and protect your position as both the president and Jackson’s father, and you know that. Yet knowing that, you still think I’d bring some stash in here, which I bought off the street, which would not only compromise myself but also you… Thank you for having such a high opinion of me. But hey, I’m going. No problem at all.’
Cooper headed for the door.
‘Wait, goddamn it!’
‘So you can tell me what a deadbeat I am? No thanks… Oh, and by the way, the pills, FYI, they’re legit. Prescription. In fact, I think you’ll find they were prescribed by the doctor you recommend me last year, and the one Beau told me about.’
‘Coop, you and I both know prescription drugs are just as dangerous as any other illegal drugs if they’re misused. You’re doctor shopping again, aren’t you?’
‘Leave it, John.’
‘No, I won’t. They might not be from some low-life, selling harm on the street, but there’s a very fine line and I should know because like I told the good people of West Virginia recently, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic in this country and our administration will expand on the previous administration’s 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan.’
Cooper gave a half laugh. But it wasn’t funny. Not one goddamn bit. ‘Are you serious, John? You’re really going to make this moment into some kind of campaign speech? A political rally?’
‘No, of course not, I’m just saying… Look, I’m sorry for what I said about you bringing…’
Woods trailed off and Cooper thought he’d help him out. Hell, it was the least he could do. And laced with scorn he said, ‘Street drugs in here? And how I was compromising your position? And you couldn’t trust me?’
‘Yeah, okay. It was stupid. I know you wouldn’t do that. I’m just worried about you. We all are. What do you say about checking yourself into rehab? Just as a precaution. You’ve been bad on pills a few times before, and Granger said…’
Cooper put his hand up. ‘Oh no. No way. I don’t want to hear anything he has to say.’
‘I just think you need to get some help again. Proper help.’
‘Oh I did, John. And guess what? They gave me these.’
Cooper shook the bag he was holding, hearing the rattle of pills, and headed for the door.
Woods let out a sigh. The kind of sigh which usually had Cooper’s name on it. ‘Don’t go, Coop. Stay. Please. Sit down.’
‘Listen, I get that you’re worried but there’s nothing really to worry about. I got it. My back injury was playing up so I got some painkillers. And I had a bit of anxiety. It’s no big deal. It’s under control. Everything’s cool now.’
Woods said nothing.
Cooper nodded.
Woods pulled out a piece of gum from his robe pocket, offered Cooper one, who refused with a wave of his hand. ‘Truce?’
‘Truce.’
‘Room for one more? Couldn’t sleep.’ Beau appeared at the door, dressed in an identical robe to Woods’s, only gray.
Cooper looked at both of them. ‘What is it with you two and the robes?’
Beau winked. ‘I actually got mine first.’
‘That is so not true, Beau. That time you came to visit in early fall, correct me if I’m wrong here, you actually saw my robe and admired it.’
Beau sat on Jackson’s bed, which looked out over the private rose garden of the White House. ‘I can’t remember that. In fact, I’ll put it out there right now, that’s a damn lie. Admit it, John, when you came to the Monastery last year, it was actually you who saw my robe.’
Woods looked at Beau and burst out laughing. ‘I think I’m going to have to take the fifth on that. Not that amendments and I are the best of buddies right now.’
Cooper tuned out from John and Beau’s conversation. He stared at the computer.
‘Well, I’ll be. Would you look at that?’
Woods turned with interest to see what Cooper was talking about. Mischief in his voice.
‘I hope that’s not some Playboy bunny website. There’ll be no hiding it in this place, you know. Big Brother is certainly watching you.’
Cooper gave a side smile, keeping his eyes fixed on the large screen. ‘Sorry to disappoint you John, only thing I’m looking at here is the man I’ve had dealings with in the DRC. I’m trying to find out who this other guy is. This one here. I saw him recently being chauffeured about in a car.’
Cooper pointed to the photo on the screen.
Woods put on his glasses. Leant slightly forward to get a better view. ‘I can help you there. That’s Donald Parker, head of Nadbury Electronics.’
‘As in the multinational company, Nadbury?’
‘Yeah. Parker’s a great guy. Where did you see him?’
‘Back in the DRC. At a water treatment plant.’
‘Makes sense. He said he was flying out of town. The guy cares a lot about the place, and he’s put a lot of money into it.’
‘See the other guy in the photo he’s with? That’s Charles Templin-Wright, heads this water plant.’
‘Yeah, Lemon.’
‘You’ve heard of it?’
‘Yeah, but only because I’ve been reading up on something about Nadbury Electronics… But you’ve actually seen Lemon? I knew you were in that area but it’s fantastic you’ve actually seen it. I’d like to know what you think.’
Cooper looked at Woods and saw the genuine care in his eyes. He wasn’t sure why John was asking. ‘Well, Charles aside – because he’s another story – the actual place itself is great. Real high tech stuff. Guaranteed clean water for the community. They also do some kind of education programme.’
Woods nodded approvingly. He grinned. ‘I’m loving hearing that. You’ll understand why soon.’
‘But what’s Nadbury to do with Lemon?’
‘Well, they own it.’
Cooper was genuinely surprised. ‘You’re kidding? How come I didn’t know?’
‘Well it’s out there in the public domain, but Nadbury, like a lot of businesses, own and have their fingers in lots of pies, so following the trail of who owns what and who’s got shares in this or that, it’s not always obvious. That guy, Donald Parker, what he’s done for the community in the DRC reads exceptionally though. But he’s pretty humble doesn’t go round shouting about what he’s done. And the fact you’ve said what a great place Lemon is, well let’s just say that makes me really happy.’
‘Want to share?’
‘Wish I could, but what I will say is Parker has the same vision as my administration when it comes to Africa. A social conscience. A long term plan. The US really care about the place, and the DRC especially is somewhere which needs a lot of help, but to quote Obama…’
Beau raised his eyebrows. ‘Really? Obama?’
‘Yeah, I like the man. We’ve had some great conversations about Africa. Anyhow Coop, to quote Obama, he said, We don’t want to be a source of perpetual aid we want to be partners to make transformational change. And that’s the point and a great point. We want US companies who mine there to put something back into the country as well as trying to stop consumers having to be complicit with the mining of conflict minerals, because of the lack of transparency.’
Beau, eating on a bag of mixed nuts, wagged his finger at Woods. ‘Wasn’t it only a few years ago companies said that making a conflict-free product containing DRC minerals was impossible?’
‘Yeah and Intel proved that to be wrong with a few of their microprocessors and chipsets. But Donald Parker, with Nadbury Electronics, went one step further. All their products are conflict free. And, like I say, I wish I could tell you more about how this administration is going to further that vision, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait. But trust me when I say there’s going to be a very exciting announcement real soon, which will make a difference to a lot of people. This administration is about giving a voice and hope to the next generation.’
Beau responded slyly but with warmth. ‘You’ve already got my vote, John, no need to milk it.’
Woods beamed playfully. ‘You voted for me?’
‘Yeah but maybe next time I won’t. Not too keen on your ideas about reforms on gun law.’
Woods grinned. ‘Shut up Beau, why does a monk need a gun?’
Beau joked along. ‘You’d be surprised. Anyway, it’s not about that, it’s about the right to own them and all that entails.’
President Woods winked at Beau, but spoke to Cooper. ‘Coop, ignore your uncle… You really won’t vote for me again, Beau?’
‘It’ll all come down to the flick of a dime.’
And John laughed, looking grateful and relived to have his friend around, helping to take his mind off Jackson.
Still scrolling through the images on Google, but at the same time fascinated by the conversation, Cooper said, ‘So really if the whole of the next generation decided to buy 100% conflict free, they could only buy them from Nadbury Electronics with maybe a few exceptions.’
‘Exactly, so there’s not only a moral gain but also a huge monetary gain to be made. We’re talking billions of dollars.’
‘But why do Nadbury bother owning and running Lemon? It must cost a hell of a lot.’
‘Because unlike a lot of companies, Nadbury feel that commitment and investment is part of their social responsibility. And I guess when you own all the links in the chain, that’s the way it should be done.’
‘When you say links in the chain, what do you mean?’
‘Well Nadbury Electronics actually own the mines where their minerals come from. Keeps the whole production tight, and it also allows for total transparency. There’s no middle-men. No paying off corrupt owners and officials. They’re able to know their miners are being paid and looked after decently, unlike in most mines where the average daily rate is a dollar a day. Off the top of my head. I think they’re called Con…’
Cooper cut in. ‘Condor Atlantic Mines.’
‘Yeah, that’s right… What’s going on, Coop?’
‘I haven’t got it all clear yet, but I think the Lemon water treatment plant isn’t all it seems to be. Which probably means, neither is Nadbury Electronics.’