The Patron

Abstract

Detective Gilbert Hayden fumbled with the cigar. Trapped between the vice-like grip of his leather clad fingers, it could not escape no matter how much the carriage bounced. In his lefthand Hayden held an old bronze lighter, battered by time and use. Idly he thumbed the lid of the lighter, letting it flick open. With a bored and apathetic motion, he flicked the lighter to life. Hayden waved the flame below his cigar, watching as the orange flame touched the corners of his cigar, igniting the tobacco into the smallest plume of smoke.