Midnight Noir
micro-fiction
From a corner booth Hatcher watched silently, nursing his Dewars and water. His instructions had been explicit - observe and wait. At five past midnight the actress walked in, un-escorted.
Hers was a face you couldn't forget, not if you read the scandal sheets. He lit up a Lucky Strike and drained the dregs of scotch. Five more minutes crawled by.
The next customer waltzed in and suddenly all the jigsaw pieces fell together. Hatcher ground out the Lucky Strike, and instinctively reached under his coat for the cold reassurance of the Colt .38 Detective Special.
Waiting ... that's for suckers.
About the Creator
Steve Murphy
He/Him. A writer & actor living in the Arizona desert. Born in Idaho, have also lived in California, Maui, & Seattle. Married to a creative art quilter and blessed with the companionship of an Airedale Terrier.
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Yuen Long MTR station, on the Tuen Mun/Wu Kai Sha line, at 08:32am
He caught a glimpse of his face reflected in the train station's platform glass barriers. The skin under his eyes were red. His eyes were tired. His hair, again, a mess. But this was Hong Kong, not a single person around him would care to notice. They had all been in his situation before. They had all appreciated being ignored in their own similar moments. He looked up at the arrival board. Just under a minute until his train arrived. Just three stops until Mei Foo, then it was time for another day.
By Hywel Latimyr3 days ago in Fiction
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