‘Recently yes, but we don’t take the feast for granted here on the isle. Looks to me like you
aren’t looking for a place to rest your head.’
‘Let’s say I hope I don’t have to stay the night. I was hoping to find a friend of mine on the
island. She had mentioned the Sheridan last time we spoke and I was wondering if she might still
be here.’
‘Do you know if she checked in?’
‘No, I can’t say I do. But you would probably recognize her from one of these,’ I placed a few of
the photos in front of him.
‘Well, might look familiar, might not. We get a lot of different folks coming and going around
here. What did you say your Friend’s name is? I can look her up in the ledger.’
I was hoping to avoid the whole name thing. Because for a women who was already know to
three different people by three different names anything I said could be wrong.
‘Well, her name is Celine, but sometimes she uses her nickname Twilight,’ I said, hoping that
one of them might be in the book.
He opened the ledger, flicked a bunch a pages back and began rolling his finger down the
names.
‘When did she come in?,’ the desk clerk asked as he paused to gaze up at me.
‘A few weeks ago I believe. I think she was going to look for some seasonal work.’
He flicked through a few more pages and raced his finger along the printed names.
‘Nope! No one by either of those names have checked in here.’ the clerk announced as he
closed the book and rested his hand on top of it.
‘Thanks. Mind if I hang out for a bit?’
‘Suit yourself, just keep to the grounds or the lobby, oh you could also visit the dining hall if
you get thirsty or want to buy lunch.’
I picked up the photos from the front desk and wandered over to one of the plush chairs in the
lobby. Something told me that Twilight was definitely here, might even still be, but without a good
name there was no way of narrowing down my search. I scanned the lobby again as I sat down
and not much had changed except that the phone booth was now unoccupied.
I figured I would play a hunch and wait for the desk clerk to get pulled away from the desk. It
didn’t take long when I saw him set out a sign that he’d be back in five minutes. The desk clerk
sauntered down the hallway that lead toward the dining hall. I quickly rose from my chair and
walked back to the front desk. The ledger, which he had slid back onto the shelf under the desk,
was just visible. I glanced back over my shoulder leaned over and grabbed the book. I flicked to
the pages that corresponded to when she might have checked in and I found what I was looking
for. There was one entry under Dawn Ulrich and I figured this was my lead. I ungracefully put the
ledger back in place as I heard the clerks footsteps coming back.
I made my way over to the phone booth and pretended like I was going to make a call. The
phone booth, as luck would have it, was a stones throw away from the stairs to the upper floors.
When I saw the desk clerk take his plate of apple pie ala mode into the backroom I made my
move. Room 23 was located on the right side and halfway down the hall from the stairwell. I
listened to see if I could hear any signs of life coming from the other side of the door. No one
seemed to be home so I jimmied the lock and stepped inside.
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THE CONE - ISSUE #15 - 2018