The Mormon Candidate - a Novel Read Online Free PDF

moment. “Could also be two names, like Mary - Beth.”
    Peering at the Ca non’s feed on the TV screen, Ben was unconvinced. “ Look at his face. I can’t believe he ma d e that kind of effort to stay alive another minute just to say someone’s name.”
    “ Don’t you believe in true love ? ” Keera dropped a tea bag in a cup and filled it with hot water. “Wouldn’t you call my name —”
    “Wait a minute!” Ben grabbed his iPhone and got on the Internet. “I can Google him. Zachariah Hinckley Maryland .” He typed the search and waited a minut e. “I’ll be damn ed . Here they are, in Silver Springs . Zachariah and Palmyra Hinckley.”
    “See? Pal…my…ra.” Keera pointed at the man’s lips in the slideshow on the TV. “P, then M.”
    “Maybe.”
     
     
    Ben drove Keera’s twelve-year-old Mustang while she used the vanity mirror to put the finishing touches on her makeup. “Your mom called,” she said. “We had a nice chat.”
    “Yeah? What about?”
    “About you. What else?”
    He downshifted and went faster. “And?”
    Keera flipped back the visor and sat back, wrapping the winter coat tightly around herself. She grabbed the door handle as he took a turn without slowing down, tire s screeching , and sped up on the straightaway . She tried to whistle a tune, not very successfully, and it deteriorated into laughter.
    “You blinked first,” he said , lifting his foot off the accelerator . “You’re dying to tell me.”
    “Nothing to tell,” Keera said innocently. “ G irl talk. You know. ”
    “Come on, out with it!”
    “She’s concerned about you . T hat’s all.”
    “And you happen to agree with her.” Ben took another turn and stopped in front of the club . “Let’s see. First, he’s still riding that stupid motorcycle. Second, he’s still pursuing that foolish freelancer gig. Third, he’s still not—”
    “—eating enough,” Keera ended the sentence. She leaned across toward him, threaded a hand under his jacket and shirt and rubbed his belly while imitating his mother’s voice. “He’s a skinny weed! Make him eat! ”
    “I’ ll eat you any time.” He took Keera’s fa ce in his hands and kissed her. “Any time . ”
    “How about tomorrow night ? ” S he stepp ed out of the car. “At your mom ’s place . She’s m aking chicken soup with those go lf balls.”
    “ Matzo balls. ”
    “Yes, those.” Keera raised her coat collar. “Bye.”
    He watched her trot to the door in her high heels and long legs. Wisteria’s Secret was a n upscale version of an unsavory night club . It s location, on Wisteria Avenue, gave it its name , a clever play on the famous lingerie catalogue company . Ben waved at the bouncer and drove off . At the end of the dark street, he turned the corner and sped up the road toward the circular neon sign of Starbucks.

 
     
    Chapter 5
     
    The usual faces were there, pecking at their laptops while the baristas joked around about something . Ben didn’t have to ask, and t he cashier yelled, “ Skinny c h a i l atte , hot, for Ben,” and collected the money while exchanging pleasantries .
    The table in the back was his favorite, providing a full view of the place while ensuring pri vacy. Ben set aside Zachariah’s iTouch and untied the plastic bag that held the debris he had collected at the accident site.
    There were perhaps twenty items. He examined each one and passed it from one pile to the other . The bolts could have come from anything, but even if they came from the Harley, it meant nothing. A shard of hard plastic had most of a white star agains t blue and red . A metal brace with two little holes could have fallen off the engine. A hose clamp, made of rubber, looked as if it had torn away from its position . A zipper tab , bent badly, had the tiny letters US sta mped into it. And a chrome cap from a gas tank . He set it aside, but then picked it up again a nd held it up. The top part was an original Harley Davidson piece,