It had been a rough night, but Cort had eventually fallen asleep. He had had maybe four hours before he was wide awake. Tossing the covers off, he simply got up and made some coffee. At least it was after five am and he could feel like it was something of a reasonable time to be up even if it was still early.

Awhile later, having had coffee and checked on messages and the news, a new message came through and he inhaled deeply. Dasca said to come over to her apartment before he went into the office. She had physio at six, but was free after that. He messaged back that he had a breakfast meeting at seven and would come by after. That worked for her, so he carried on getting ready for his day.

Just before seven, Cort approached the place Dorma had mentioned and stepped inside the door, searching for her, knowing it was highly unlikely he’d made it first.

Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.