“Nine years.He was one of the first people we met when we moved here.”
“Why did you move here?”
“Because I wanted to pot and Adam wanted to fish.”
“Was Adam’s family as wealthy as yours?”
I dumped the ground coffee beans into a filter.“I thought you wanted to know about Cooper.”
“I do.I’m getting there.”
“A little roundabout, wouldn’t you say?”
“Not really.You feel strongly enough about Cooper to bankroll his defense.If I’m to represent him well, I have to know about the people around him.”
The relevance of Adam’s roots to Cooper’s defense was arguable; I made no attempt to hide my skepticism.But I had trouble sustaining it, trouble keeping my mind on track.Peter looked so comfortable sitting on the stool not far from my elbow that I also had trouble thinking of him as a big-shot lawyer.Big-shot lawyers didn’t make themselves at home in country kitchens miles and miles from the nearest city.If it hadn’t been for my mother’s recommendation, I might have wondered how “big-shot” he really was.
I wondered, then, whether he read the doubt on my face, because he did turn his attention to Cooper.
“You said that he was second in command to your husband.Was he hired specifically for that purpose?”
“Yes.Adam had the boat and the desire, but he wasn’t an experienced fisherman.Cooper was.It was a comfortable arrangement all around.”Having poured water into the coffee maker and flipped the brew switch, I wiped my hands on the flowered towel that hung on the wall.
“Did Cooper have his own boat?”
I shook my head.“He’d always worked for other people.”
“Because he couldn’t afford a boat?”
“Actually,” I said, moving to take a can of tuna from a side cabinet, “he could afford one.Cooper isn’t a poor man.He lives modestly by choice.”
The teapot began to whistle.Setting down the tuna, I turned off the gas and reached into a second cannister.Purely by chance, because there was an assortment inside, I came up with camomile tea.Camomile was calming, so they said.I needed calming, particularly when the silence lingered, for without words, Peter’s presence was all the stronger.It unsettled me.Determined not to let him know, I very deliberately put the tea bag in my cup, added water from the kettle, then dipped the bag up and down, up and down, up and down.I nearly cried out in relief when his voice came again.
“So Cooper chose to work for you.I take it you liked him.”
“We both did.He was quiet, but smart and hard working.”
“Where was he when Adam died?”
My eyes shot to Peter’s.Maybe I was being oversensitive, but his question hit me the wrong way.The look on my face must have told him so.Almost instantly he held up a hand.
“Sorry.That sounded accusatory, but I didn’t mean it that way.I’m just trying to get my bearings.”He paused, then, when I didn’t argue, went on.“Was Cooper on the boat when Adam died?”
Setting a mixing bowl on the counter, I said with feeling, “Yes, and he was nearly as sick as I was about the accident.There was no way he could have prevented it, still he blamed himself.”I went to the refrigerator.“He and Adam were close.Cooper may not be the most demonstrative of men, but he loved Adam like a brother.”
“What was his relationship to you?”
Holding the refrigerator door ajar, I thought for a minute, trying to put a word to nine years of mutual respect and genuine affection.“Brotherly,” I said at last.
“Is it still that?”he asked.In the echo of his deep voice, there was no doubt as to his thoughts.
Closing the refrigerator door, I looked him in the eye.It mattered to me that Peter Hathaway know the truth, because I saw it as an important point in Cooper’s favor.“If you’re asking whether Cooper and I are sexually involved, the answer is no.I adore Cooper.He’s been my backbone for the past six years, but there has never been anything remotely sexual about our relationship.”
“Why not?”
I frowned at his directness.“Because.”
“Not good enough.If that picture I saw was a fair representation of the two men, Cooper iseven better looking than your husband.Is he already married?”
