Read Online Righteous03 - The Wicked by Michael Wallace - Free Book Online Page A

learned some lessons from your brother.”
    “I hope so.”
    “You know, Liz, you remind me of my great-grandmother, still spitting nails until she died.”
    “Grannie Cowley?” Eliza asked, surprised. Even dead for decades, the woman was something of a legend in the church and as a child Eliza had visited the abandoned farmstead near the cliffs, where the woman had lived alone for twenty years until she died at ninety-eight.
    “Strong woman, didn’t always have much use for men.”
    “Thank you, Father. I knew you had it in you.”
    “Okay, let’s not get carried away. She still managed nine children. Why did you come, what do you want?”
    “I want you to call back the Lost Boys,” she said.
    “What? You can’t be serious.”
    “I’m serious. I want you to send word that they’re forgiven and they can come back. This is their home and we are their family and if we can’t support them, we have no business calling ourselves saints.”
    “Impossible. I can’t even believe you’d ask. You don’t know me at all if you think that I would even consider it. And it’s against the will of the Lord in any case.” He turned to Jacob. “Tell her, explain. It’s impossible. Especially after Gideon attacked the church, there is no way. And wives for all of these men? Where would they come from? Tell her.”
    Jacob shook his head. “Talk to Liz, Father, not me.”
    “Eliza, it’s out of the question,” he said. “You’ll never get that. Never.”
    She was prepared for his refusal. Eliza and Jacob had discussed it at great length during the drive from Zarahemla to Blister Creek and agreed that he’d balk. But, Jacob suggested, it would open an important door, as well as serve as a wedge for getting what they really wanted.
    “Okay, then. Call back one of the Lost Boys.”
    “Anyone in particular, or should I just draw names from a hat?”
    “David. Call him back.”
    A moment of silence. “David wandered into the mists of darkness years ago. There’s nothing I can do for him.”
    “You can remove your edict. Send word to Las Vegas that he’s no longer banned from Blister Creek or Harmony. That you want the prodigal son to return and you will kill the fatted calf when he does.”
    “That won’t put him back on the straight and narrow. He’s got bigger problems than my anger.”
    “Nothing that can’t be resolved.”
    “You don’t know the half of it, Eliza.”
    “We know about the drugs,” she said. “But if you welcome him, it will make David think. When he sees you’ve softened your heart, he’ll soften his own. And then I can talk to him and maybe he’ll listen this time. And Jacob can help, too. Fernie, Sister Miriam, the whole community at Zarahemla. He won’t even need to set foot in Blister Creek, not at first.”
    Father looked at Jacob. “And you agree with this?”
    “Yes, of course,” Jacob said. “It’s a reasonable request and you would show that you can be merciful as well as just. You’ll gain more with this one act than any number of punitive reactions could hope to accomplish.”
    He said nothing in response, but pulled on the end of his beard. From the kitchen, the gentle murmur of voices and the sound of a pot being placed on the stove, a rolling pin on the board. “All right,” he said at last. “David Christianson is forgiven. Nobody else.”
    Eliza got up and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you, Father. You’ll be blessed for this kindness.”
    “Maybe, maybe not. But I have to warn you, it won’t do any good. You have no hope of pulling David out of his spiral into hell.”
    “Why not?” Eliza asked.
    “Because David Christianson is already doomed. An evil spirit has marked him for destruction. I’ve seen it in my dreams. Only a miracle would save him.”

    Chapter Seven:
    Eliza and Jacob met Fernie and Sister Miriam at a hotdog and creemie stand in Cedar City, an hour north of St. George. It was a clear, warm day and none of them wanted