Cooper was tired from the eighteen-hour flight followed by the long road journey from Rwanda. It was strange to be back in the DRC, in the same way being in Washington had been strange. And once more, where he’d just come from seemed like a movie he’d just watched. Only existing in the moment.
He’d travelled all over, but no other place had made him feel so on the edge. There was something claustrophobic about it. The intensity. The chaos. The overwhelming belief in the spirit world. Even the extreme weather appeared to be a powerful impacting entity in its own right. Triggering his darkest side.
The country had affected him more than he liked to admit. The negative outside influences saturated his whole being, reawakening the part of himself which he didn’t like.
‘I see your dress sense hasn’t improved with your trip back to Washington.’
Rosedale sat in the Toyota wearing his favorite canary yellow suit whilst glancing disapprovingly at Cooper’s go-to gray marl t-shirt and faded jeans.
With Rosedale’s banter being the last thing Cooper was in the mood for, he stuck to talking about Maddie.
‘I tried to persuade her to fly out here with me. I was hoping she would.’
Rosedale, checking the road for water-covered potholes in front of him, slowed down.
‘I seriously worry about your state of mind. Don’t you remember what happened? What you did? The way you behaved? Do you really think she’d want to come back to more of the same? And why the hell would you want her to anyway? She’s better off without you.’
A flicker of hurt passed through Cooper. ‘You think she’ll ever forgive me? I mean properly forgive me?’
Trying to work out the way, Rosedale shrugged. ‘Sadly, yes. That’s the impression I got. Not that you deserve it.’
Cooper gave Rosedale a cutting stare. ‘How many times have you spoken to her?’
‘A few.’
‘And you didn’t think to say? I thought we were supposed to be a team.’
Not unkindly, Rosedale laughed. ‘That’s what I was saying to myself when I was looking down the barrel of your gun. Anyway, she’s happy where she is. Probably knitting me a hat as we speak.’
Cooper knew he sounded amazed. That’s because he was. ‘Knitting you a hat?’
‘Yeah, she told me she was going to knit me a hat. Is that so strange?’
‘In a word, Rosedale, yes. I didn’t even know she could knit.’
‘Did you ask her?’
Cooper opened his arms in disbelief. ‘Are you serious? Did I ask Maddie if she could knit? No, I did not. The thought never even entered my head. I never saw her once take out a pair of knitting needles when we were together. Anyway, did you?’
‘Ask her? Of course. And that’s why I’m getting a hat and you’re not.’
Cooper fell silent. Stunned into it. He looked out of the window, trying to get some kind of sanity back. ‘Tell me about the plane, Rosedale.’
‘I will, but before I do, I want to say something… I know I may not be a person you think of when you need to talk to someone, but Thomas, at the moment, I’m all you’ve got. The stuff with your candy pills and especially the stuff with, well… that hallucinogenic trip you did. If you want to talk about it, about what you saw or if it’s still messing with your head, I can listen.’
‘I appreciate that but I’m not even going to think about it all. Not yet anyway. My head’s a wreck and as for the trip I did, well, it wasn’t good. Finding Zola when I was still coming down from the Iboga root was tough. I think half of me thought it was part of the trip. It messed me up more than I was already. Then seeing Ell… you know something, I can’t do this. If you don’t mind I’d rather not talk about it, but thanks anyway.’
‘No problem… Anyhow, we’ll be there in about ten minutes, not that there’s much left of it. When you’d gone, there was a lot of activity with Bemba’s people. I’m not sure if they were still looking for us, but they were certainly out in force. That’s why I thought it was best to move camp fifty miles east from Zola’s village. Not that I wasn’t certain before, but it’s clear it was Bemba’s men who shot her and I did a lot of asking around in places. Paid a lot of people for a whole lot of nothing, but then I spoke to this woman who not only knew where the plane was, she saw what happened.’
‘You think she’s straight up?’
‘Oh absolutely. I’ve seen the wreckage myself, and it was exactly as she said, so there’s no reason for the rest of it to be bull.’
‘What did she say?’
‘From what I can make out, it was pilot error… Come on. We’re here. I’ll show you.’