Godless by James Dobson

is the skeptic. His brother the believer.”
    â€œI see. Which book?”
    â€œ The Brothers Karamazov .”
    Matthew tapped his pad several times, then paused. “Spelling?”
    â€œK-A-R-A-M-A-Z-O-V. You’ll never find more ruthless arguments against the goodness of God.”
    â€œReally?” Matthew said as he continued entering the title.
    â€œOh, yeah,” Mori continued. “Ivan really makes Alyosha squirm. Even I cringe every time I read the part about the kid and the dog.”
    Curiosity piqued, Matthew tapped the DOWNLOAD icon. The book instantly appeared on his screen. “Eight hundred pages?” he exclaimed.
    â€œI told you it was long, but worth the effort.” The professor jotted down a passage from the book. He handed it to Matthew. “Here you go. Read book five, chapters three through five. That should give you a taste. The section on the Grand Inquisitor will put you on the edge of your seat, I promise.”
    â€œGot it,” Matthew said while making a mental note.
    They chatted about this and that for about five minutes before Mori appeared to lose interest in his new protégé. A look of pleasant surprise came over his face while he waved to a fortysomething woman entering the front door. His partner? Or perhaps a colleague he could use to fill the next lonely silence?
    â€œI need to give you back your chair,” he said while standing. “It was nice to meet you, Matthew Adams. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
    â€œI hope so,” Matthew replied while accepting a firm farewell shake. He meant it.
    Bryan “Mori” Quincy disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived.
    Matthew glanced down at his tablet, eager to dive into his assigned reading. But a bouncing icon reminded him of his unfinished task. A single tap resurfaced the abandoned “spiritual dialogue” request form. He chose the first available morning appointment. Then he felt the threat of a yawn that reminded him why he usually stopped after two beers. Matthew waved toward the waitress. She winked an acknowledgment before tapping a device that sent him his tab. While entering his payment code Matthew heard the ping of an arriving confirmation message from Christ Community Church of Denver, Colorado.
    A Protestant church? Hmm , he thought. Could be interesting .

Chapter Four
    â€œNice of you to come,” Mandy teased while closing the car door. “I was afraid you’d given up on me.”
    â€œSorry I’m late.” Matthew wiped the last bit of sleep from his eyes. “What’ve we got today?”
    It was the trainee’s role to review the string of assigned visits. MedCom provided a series of times and addresses.
    â€œI figured we would start with the three addresses on the east side of town and then head north.” Mandy waited, then smiled in response to Matthew’s affirming nod.
    He had trained her well. Matthew had been on the job long enough to discover a consistent glitch in the automated scheduling system. It was possible to disregard the scheduled appointment times; you could visit more prospects if you sequenced them by neighborhood. The less time spent driving the better. In Matthew’s experience prospective clients were just as likely to be sitting anxiously at home whether he arrived early or late. What else did they have to do? Their lives had been put on hold until they received the news he had been assigned to deliver.
    Of course, it would be much more efficient to send word of treatment denial directly from the attending physician’s office via digital voice or text message. But MedCom had stumbled onto a huge opportunity to grow the transition market by offering a “high-touch service to patients receiving disheartening news.” After successfully pioneering the service in Arizona and Florida, the company had been featured in the Wall Street Journal as a “model of best practices” that, if