The Black Silent Read Online Free PDF

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    Then she came closer.
    "Can I interrupt your work a moment?" she asked.
    He, of course, had no work during his recuperation but his learning, to which he was devoted. In response he put the book of early-island history aside. He was studying the history of the place, what grew in each microclimate, when it bloomed if it did, the resident birds, the migratory visitors, what was in the sea and what was beside it, the terrestrial life, the mammals, the invertebrates, the habits of each, and their place in the order of things. It was an ambition.
    If Haley's face was looked at in an unguarded moment, the symmetry of it was pleasing, and the slight round of it and the softness in it had the look of caring. She was only thirty-two and beautiful. In her smile he saw the residue of pain. Lately she was always very welcoming, and when he looked at her, it was starting to feel like Irish cream in his coffee. That Fourth of July in 1994 passed through his mind again. He nodded.
    "Of course," he said. "What's up?"
    "It's about Ben," she said.
    From the corner of his eye he saw Ben Anderson's lady friend and personal assistant, Sarah, approaching, the fourth member of their little family. Sarah was an attractive, forty-five-year-old redhead who looked in her late thirties and always had a good word at the right moment. She was sincere, soft-spoken, and liked corny jokes. Additionally, she was a fitness fanatic and had the strong elastic body to prove it.
    "I assume Sarah's arrival is no coincidence," he said.

    Ben, Haley, Sarah, Sam, and Haley's best friend, Rachael, had created something of an extended family.
    Haley nodded. "I asked her to come."
    It may have been Haley's tone, or Sarah's appearance here on a Sunday but Sam had suspected something was up. Also the bicycle-rental business was virtually shut down this time of year and Haley's appearance to repair a bike was a little thin. Sarah lived on Lopez Island, and on Saturdays she didn't typically cross San Juan Channel in her little runabout until later, about the time Ben typically quit his weekend work. Sarah worked for Ben, had for years, but Sam figured there was something growing between them.
    Sam stood. Together he, Haley, and Sarah adjourned to the uphill side of the veranda in front of the sidewalk-servicing window of the local coffee shop.
    They placed their orders, then retreated from the window to wait.
    "Haley looks like a brunette version of Cameron Diaz in that hat," Sarah said, referring to Haley's tam-o'-shanter. Haley always wore a hat of some sort.
    Haley gave a smile as if she didn't believe it.
    "Haley wanted to talk," Sarah said, "and I did too. Although I have to admit that I'm feeling a little guilty because I didn't mention this talk to Ben. He and I are having dinner tonight after I, quote, 'finish some chores at home.'"
    She had Sam's interest. He looked to Haley for an explanation.
    "We're worried about Ben," Haley said.
    "How so?"
    "Well," she said, "he is not acting like himself. He's keeping things secret. Actually, he's keeping everything secret. From me, from Sarah. We want to know if he's told you anything he didn't tell us."
    Sarah nodded in agreement.
    "Ben doesn't talk much about his work," said Sam. "What do you think is going on?"
    "I think he's got more on his mind than his work. Or leaving Sanker."
    "You might be right," Sam told Haley. "You know the rumors—that Ben's discovered some sort of longevity secret."
    "You heard that?"
    "Only vaguely," Sam said. "From everything you do know, do you believe Ben discovered some kind of magic bullet to slow aging? I mean, for significant lengths of time?"
    Sherry had their coffees ready, but no one moved to get them.
    "Let me put it this way," Haley said in a lower voice. "If you conquered cancer in North America—I mean completely conquered it—you would only increase average life expectancy about 3.5 years. Heart disease is better, but still only about seven years. Isn't it shocking that