Part XXIV:
Back at the lodge, the staff had been alerted to the mess that Artemis had left in the hallway. Several housekeepers had collected in the area and began cleaning up the pieces. There was quite a mess of glass and sundries left behind.
“Did you notice the door is wide open?” one asked another.
“Yes, I think we should close it. Barstow said that the guest staying here hasn’t been seen since he stormed off yesterday. I hear that it was quite a spectacle!” and saying so, she closed the door to the room Artemis had previously occupied..
The shutting of the door seemed to reverberate up and down the hallway, but nowhere near loud enough to be heard by Mavis, who had finally made her way back to her car. With renewed vigor, she turned the key in the ignition and immediately shifted into drive. It had been some twenty minutes since she left Artemis and she had thought of nothing else since. Within a couple minutes, she drove her car to a much better roadside spot, closer to where he was sitting.
Mavis reached into the back seat and grabbed two bottles of water from the case she had kept there. Without any further delay, she hopped out of the car and ran down the slope to the beach, moving back and forth between making a misstep and tumbling all the way down and stepping on something sharp and hurting her bare feet. When she made it down to Artemis, he had risen to his feet and was swaying back and forth, stretching his arms.
To be continued…
