10.22

He flicked the ash from the end of his cigarette—or did he? I'm not sure. I haven't actually seen someone smoking, in person, in years. I didn't observe those who did because I was so uncomfortable that I left. So maybe he tapped the ash away on the window of the car? This is hopeless. He could just as likely have held the cigarette up to his mouth the wrong way round and blown the ash away like the smoking barrel of a pistol and it would have killed the same way. Regardless, he was disdainful of what Samuel Quilty had just said, and if you don't believe me, the thing he did after Samuel implored him to take up his case with the President was that he took a long drag on his cigarette and cut the ash off with a small pair of silver scissors from his breast pocket.