The Mormon Candidate - a Novel (62 page)

“
A letter
?”

“
F
rom
the
holy
t
emple
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
.
” Ben kept smiling. “
I am here to deliver it to
Governor Morgan
personally
.”

The trooper examined it.

“
Have you heard
a
t
estimony of Christ
yet
?”

“
Yes, I have.” He smiled back. “Can you show me some i
dentification?”

Ben handed him Sampson Allard’s stolen Temple Recommend Card.
“May I share with you a marvelous
story
I recently learned
about the
p
rophet Joseph Smith
’s last sermon in Nauvoo
?”

“
Another time, buddy. Are you carrying?
”

Ben
shook his head.

“
It’s just routine.
” The trooper patted him down, then again over his back, under his arms, and between his legs.
He found Ben’s iPhone in a pocket and fiddled with it, making sure it was a working phone. “Okay,” he said.
“Follow me.
”

They marched up the driveway, passing by
a
black SUV
with federal government plate
s
and a few late-
model luxury cars. A
pproach
ing
the
house
, they reached a
set of wrought-iron gates
connected to a tall fence, which
was covered with
a thick layer of ivy that m
ade it disarmingly decorative.

The trooper spoke into an intercom, and the gate
clicked open
. Walking up a paved footpath, they entered
a
vestibule, which welcomed guests to the
main entrance under a dome
d
ceiling and a brass chandelier.
The front door
s, made of heavy wood
beams
braced by metal join
t
s
, seemed to have formerly belong
ed
to a cathedral in Europe.

The door opened. A
man in a
blue jacket appeared. He took the letter
and the Temple Recommend Card
from the trooper and went inside.

They waited.

A
few minutes
later
, the Secret Service agent re
appeared. He handed Ben the Temple Recommend Card and
beckoned
him
inside
.
The trooper turned and headed back to the street.

“
Wait here.” The agent pointed to a pair of armchairs on
one side of the spacious foyer.

Another agent, nearly a carbon copy of the first, peeked out of a side room, where they had likely set up camp after the candidate was given Secret Service protection.

Porter search
ed
the Ghost. He
found the
pager
, a
wallet
with cash
, a fake driver’s license, a fake Temple Recommend Card of the same name
, and th
e keys to the Ducati. She carried nothing else.

He
examined
her hands, which were cold and large, the fingertips burn
t off
with acid
to remove her prints. The wristwatch was a cheap drugstore piece, which he removed, just in case. He stood back and looked at her, the bloodied face frozen with a blank expression, turned up to the gilded ceiling. No one would
be able to
find out who she really was. A true professional.

Covering her face with the bloodied towel, Porter left the Celestial
Kingdom hall
.
“Too bad,” he told Brother Pat.
“A tragic accident.”

“Yes, tragic.”

In the lobby they found a fireman, who was unable to find out where to go in the huge
t
emple. His frustration was boiling. “What the heck is going on?”

Porter
held
up his badge. “
I’m with Community Relations.
One of the worshippers fell on a statue and got herself knocked off. A freak accident, but it’s done.”

“Let me see her.” The fireman picked up a red first
aid box. “Where—”

“Please!” Brother Pat held his hands up. “Temple sanctity requires removal of shoes and street clothes
. This is the House of the Lord.
”

The fireman hesitated. “I just need to see—”

“He’s got a point.” Porter pointed to his own feet i
n white slip
pers.

“You want me to take off my gear?” The fireman’s radio crackled, an
d a tinny voice reported a
car crash
on Rockville Boulevard.

“Listen,”
Porter
said, “
t
here’s no
thing for you to do. She’s gone. And I’m gone too.
”
He smiled. “You guys will take care of
the accident report
, right?
”

“Sampson?” A woman
in a business suit
walked out of another door
. “I’m Katie
, one of the campaign coordinators
.”

“
Hi
.” Ben
got up
. “
Are we going to win
?”

“
Sure l
ooks like it
.” She laughed. “Please follow me.”

He
tugged on the visor of his
baseball cap
. It
covered most of his back-from-the-blond natural hair.
They walked down
a hallway decorated with
framed
family photos
of skiing vacations,
sailing trips, and
weddings
.
A doorless entry led into a
kitchen that could easily belong in a
busy restaurant
.
A
cook was busy at the stovetop, and a
woman in a maid’s uniform was scrubbing pots in a stainless steel tub.

A long table was s
et against a wall of windows overlooking
a
well-lit
back
yard
swimming pool
. T
wenty
or so
family members
of all ages were sitting at the table
.
At the head of the table was Joe Morgan
, who
stood up and extended his hand. “Welcome, Brother Sampson!”

Ben shook his hand, which was dry and firm. Up close, Morgan’s handsome face and silver hair
were
as impeccable as
they
looked on TV. “It’s an honor, Governor.”

“Oh, please
, c
all me Brother Joe.”

“Thank you, Brother Joe.”
Ben looked at the others. “Hello
,
everyone.”

They chorused, “Hello, Brother Sampson!”

Katie circled the table and whispered s
omething in Morgan’s ear. He grinned.
“
Great news! You’re a wiz, girl!
”

Beaming, she left the kitchen
.

There
w
as an awkward silence.

Mrs. Morgan, sitting at the opposite end of the table from her husband, cleared her throat.

“Please,
have a seat
,” Morgan said
to Ben
. “
Jeremy
i
s teaching us
from the
Book of Mormon
.”

Morgan’s son, about twenty and every bit as handsome as his father,
he
ld up the volume
. “I’m sharing the
prophesies
about the fate of the Jewish people.”

Ben almost said, “How appropriate,” but held his tongue, instead nodding and smiling at
Beanie
Morgan, the candidate’s youngest daughter
, who sat next to him
. She moved her
copy of the book
closer to him so that they could
share
. It was a heavy volume titled:
The Book of Mormon – The Earliest Text – Edited by Royal Skousen.

Noticing Ben’s interest in the cover, Morgan said, “We like to study the original text. The
p
rophet Joseph Smith said that the first version of the
Book of Mormon
is the closest to the word of God
as it
was
revealed to him.”

“
W
e read in
One
Nephi
,
twenty-five,” Jeremy said, “
the prophet
’s
recount
ing of
the
events during the
years
before and
after the destruction of the Jewish Temple
,
the ruination of Jerusalem
, and the exodus of his family, led by his father Lehi, over the oceans to the new promised land of North America
.
Nephi explain
ed
why the Jews, who hardened their hearts
and
reject
ed
the message of Christ
when
He
first appeared
and
then crucified H
im
, were
therefore
destroyed
and exiled
by God the Father as punishment
.
Nephi prophesi
z
ed
that they would suffer for generations—”

“A true prophesy,” Joe Morgan interjected,
“as we now know.”

E
veryone nodded in agreement.

“But he also,” Jeremy continued, “predicted that they would eventually be restored to Jerusalem
—another true prophesy, as
it turned out
.
Let me
read
to you
the pertinent parts. First, in verse nine, Nephi prophesi
z
ed: ‘
And as one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of inequity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their inequity
.’
And continuing in verse eleven, he
added
: ‘
And notwithstanding that they have been carried away, they shall return again and possess the land of Jerusalem. Wherefore they shall be restored again to the lands of their inheritance
.
’
”

“Which
indeed
happened after two thousand years,” Mrs. Morgan said from
her
end
of the table
.
“
I
n nineteen
forty-eight,
many
centuries after Nephi
had
spoke
n
, and also over a century after Joseph Smith
translated the golden tablets and
published the
Book of Mormon
. T
he
establishment of the modern
s
tate of Israel confirm
ed
the trueness of Nephi’s prophesy
.”

“Which pro
ves,” Beanie
said, “that he
was
a t
rue
p
rophet, because he
correctly
predicted that
the Jews would be restored to the land of
Israel!”

“And so did Isaiah
and Ezekiel,” Jeremy sai
d. “B
ut Nephi further
prophes
ized
that modern Israel
would
suffer from wars, which
indeed
has happen
ed
continuously since its founding. A
nd
he
also
predicted
what w
ill
happen to the Jew
s
when
Christ the
Lord
comes
again.”