Nocturne by James M. Cornett

Author:James M. Cornett [Cornett, James M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Columbo Moment

Before I could fully process my mental discovery, Levi pushed the stop button on the elevator. “Forgive me, I want to speak privately to you before we get to the others.”

“You just want to throw me out the elevator, don’t you?” We both burst out in laughter about that.

“One thing I’ll give you, you’ve got a wicked sense of humor.” His face then went back to a more somber tone as he began to morph back into his human state. “Sage...I can’t begin to express how grateful I am that you stepped up when we...” A quick pause, then his correction. “When I gave you no reason to.”

“I don’t blame you. We didn’t exactly get off to a good start.”

“I know. And that was on me. I didn’t realize how bad I off I was mentally until you had the guts to challenge me head on. That took guts. I appreciate you being that kind of person.”

“I just stand up for people I care about.”

“A quality that should never go away. I can’t promise a position here, but...if you’re willing to work with us, we could use an agent outside of Fort Wayne, especially in the western counties of Nocturne.”

“As honored as I am about that, I don’t have the resources I’m going to need in order to pull that off. I don’t even have a home at this point.”

“I’ll make sure you have everything you need and then some. And as far as your status in Fort Wayne itself, you’re more than welcome here any time.”

I raised my eyebrow for a moment. “Why are you being so nice to me now?”

“Two reasons. First, I need someone around who can call me out for being an ass. That’s the more selfish reason.”

“Well, at least you’re honest about needing that.”

“Tonight proved it more than I would have cared to admit, but sometimes it’s good to have that person who speaks their peace. Second, and more importantly, seeing you leap to the assistance of people you barely even knew...that’s the kind of people we need around here. I won’t lie, Sage, things have been getting bad lately, and Novis was but a fringe element.”

That worried me. If Novis was considered a fringe element of what the Nocturne community had been dealing with lately, then the rest of their issues must’ve been much more involved than Zack was letting on.

Speaking of...

“What about Zack?”

“I wouldn’t be asking you to join us if I felt you were a danger to anyone. And besides, Zakiraja has taken a unique liking to you.” A moment of quiet. “She’s never attached herself to anyone quite like you.”

“I know what you mean. She’s quickly turning into the best friend I’ve got here.”

“There’s a lot more going on between you two than that, I can tell.” Levi was very perceptive, I had to give him that much.

“One day at a time. My world just became an episode of Fresh Prince, remember.”

A genuine chuckle from him as he resumed the elevator’s descent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.