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

to get up from the outdoor picnic tables and get on with the unpleasant task of sending Eliza into the belly of the beast, Las Vegas. At last Jacob finished his root beer and went off to find a prepaid cell phone for her to use. Eliza got up to use the restroom and came back to find Fernie and Miriam engaged in an intense discussion.
    “Of course I don’t want to share him,” Fernie said. “Why would I?”
    “Then why not keep your mouth shut?” Miriam asked. “He’ll never get there on his own.”
    They fell silent as Eliza approached. “No need to stop,” she said. “Count me with Sister Miriam. Jacob doesn’t want anything to do with plural marriage. I’m not sure why you do, Fernie.”
    “Who says I do? Who says any woman does?”
    “I know plenty of women who claim they love it. They love their sister wives, the idea of sharing the parenting and the household chores. And they say they’re never jealous.”
    “Silk slippers on a cow,” Fernie said. “You can dress it up fancy, but it still smells like manure.”
    “What?” Eliza asked, blinking. She turned to Miriam. “Have you seen my sister? I left her here five minutes ago, but she seems to have wandered off.”
    “Look, Liz, here’s how I see it,” Fernie continued. “We’re not getting rid of polygamy. It’s part of our culture. And I know in my heart that it comes from the Lord. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it’s just His way to make our lives more difficult, who knows? But I also know that when you keep it secret, when you barter women like livestock, it turns out ugly. If you want to get rid of the manipulation, the underage brides, trouble with the law, you need to bring it into the open.” She hesitated. “I might need to set an example.”
    “What about you, what do you think?” Eliza asked Miriam.
    “I don’t have any emotional attachment to polygamy, if that’s what you mean.”
    “Well, then?”
    She shrugged. “My family was moderately religious, but I never had any sort of spiritual experience until I came to Zarahemla.”
    “It’s not like that turned out well,” Eliza said.
    “I know, I’m still wrestling with that. But in spite of everything, I can’t deny what happened to me there. I know God led me to the truth, and I know I was promised I would be the wife of a great leader when the Last Days arrive.”
    “Meaning Jacob?”
    “I believe so, yes. In the Lord’s time.”
    Eliza glanced at Fernie, who said nothing.
    “But I don’t know for sure,” Miriam added. “Right now all I know is that Jacob isn’t acting to his full potential.”
    “How do you know that?” Fernie asked, her voice strained.
    Miriam looked surprised. “Don’t you think he is falling short of his calling?”
    “What I think or don’t think is irrelevant. I don’t know how you could make a judgment, that’s all. Whether or not you’ll be married to him some day, you aren’t right now and you don’t have any more insight than anyone else in the church.”
    “I think I do.”
    “Right, because you were an FBI agent, you think you have a special insight,” Fernie said. “Some super exclusive ability to discover hidden motives.”
    “I didn’t lose my skills when I quit the bureau. It’s why the Lord brought me here, so I could help Jacob reach his potential. I’m convinced of that. And I’ll do what it takes to make it happen.”
    Eliza didn’t understand either woman. Fernie wasn’t jealous about sharing her husband’s body with Miriam, but sharing insight into his soul was another matter. And Miriam claimed she only wanted to obey the will of the Lord, but Eliza had heard enough claims to know that the will of the Lord matches one’s own desires with startling frequency.
    Fernie opened her mouth to say something, but Eliza never found out what, because Jacob pulled up in the car, having secured the prepaid phone.
    #
    Eliza entered Las Vegas feeling confident. She knew the limitations of its power. She’d entered