Jayus stared at the man before us with unfocused eyes. Despite his vision split in two, he had managed to squint through the blurry vision and pain to get a proper look at the man who had just knocked him down with the door.
Light brown hair sat on his head like a mop under a flat cap, and eyes that darkened like rained soil seemed to scowl at us. He wore a white shirt hidden behind brown blazers and pants.
"Lous Darwin." Jayus said. I snapped my head to him in surprise. Our second suspect has just appeared in front of us before we were prepared. Lous Darwin, son of the town's preacher. Like his father, he disdained every earthy desires and scorned all sin. From alcohol to murder, greed to sloth.
So why was Lous Darwin holding a lit cigarette in between his fingers.
His eyes seemed to widen the moment he took a proper look at out faces and immediately coughed out the awkwardness lumping in his throat.
"Ah..." Lous said, quickly extending his hand for Jayus to take, "My apologies, detective. I didn't see you there." The apology was quick to escape his lips. The bitter hostility and cold eyes just a second ago that lingered in his eyes were already no longer visible but I could sense it loud and clear, and I don't doubt hadn't either.
Lous Darwin is a conservative man like his father who both preached against those who indulged in extravagant lives. The lit cigarette in his hand which he had long forgotten, sparked a huge question in Jayus mind. He let the hand hanging in the air before Jayus pushed himself up, the pain on his face no longer mattered.
"No, I'm quite alright," Jayus said, dusting himself off. Having his help be ignored sent a flicker of unpleasant feeling in Lous eyes as his smile stiffened. "I must say, I'm quite surprised to see you here, Mister Lous. This is not the kind of place you usually frequent, no?" The question seemed to catch Lous Darwin off guard. Was he trying to hide something? Inspite the cool breeze these tight alleyway's shadows casted, I could clearly see Lous Darwin sweat over the question. The cigar on his hand seemed to finally come back to him when its ash hit the ground. With quick, frantic movements, he quickly put out the cigarette, letting it fall to the ground before he stomped on it. But to me, he had already grown quite suspicious.
"Oh, I was just on a stroll. Thought I'd go around and—" Lous Darwin said, the smile on his face seemed to stretch on his face. Forcing an air of ignorance around him. I didn't wait any longer for him to finish his words before I cut him off, "And have a smoke?"
He choked on my words, and for a moment he continued to gape his mouth like a fish on land. In one of Isolde's entries in the notebook, she stated having been to one of Lous Darwin's preachings after his father's insistence. She had only been to one of them after passing by the small church and growing curious. In her letters, she had mentioned Lous Darwin shared his great dislike and bias thoughts on the indulgence of earthly material desires. As I stare at the cigar on the ground, I was sure cogar was included in her notes.
When words wouldn't come up in his mind, an aggrieved sigh escaped his lips, "Jeez, detectives. Can't a guy catch a break? Even preachers are humans too. Besides, I was only trying to understand how human sins come to be. If you've been to one of my preachings, you would know that to understand how to combat sin, you must also understand why it is desired in the first place. I merely want to give the people of the church the best help I can give. Forgive me though, it's my first time smoking, I'm not even quite sure how to do it," He laughed it off.
He's babbling. I thought to myself. Does he really feel that guilty for being caught smoking? Had he just admitted to getting caught smoking, he'd have gitten away with way less apprehension.
Though that defense seemed rather loose and unconvincing, I didn't say anything else.
"We thank you for always looking out for the town's people, Mister Lous," Jayus said. That seemed to delight Lous Darwin.
"But I must say, you have a rather fine taste. Not everyone could casually choose such a refined cigar," Jayus tilted his head to the ground. Lous Darwin was confused, then his eyes turned to the cigarette he had stomped on on the ground, and he seemed to realize Jayus's implications as he tried to hide away the cigarette with his foot.
But Jayus was quicker than that, he had already seen the designs etched on the cigar. "A centurion no. 1766 made from all the way in Kinsqurk. Not everyone can get a hold of that, you seem to know your stuff,"
"Ah..." Lous Darwin flinched, "that, I... didn't know," was all he could come up with. In his nervous state, one could easily see him swallow the lump in his throat before he casually tried to put on the smile that had grown weary on his face. "Well, I actually have a different appointment right now. If you detectives don't mind, I best be on my way," He quickly excused himself, "Have a great day, detectives."
As I watched him quickly walk off, I had almost completely forgotten about the original perpetrator we had been following. I turned to Jayus, "So what now? Do we just let him go?"
Jayus kept his eyes on Lous Darwin's silhouette with growing suspicion until he was completely out sight, "Yeah. We aren't sure Lous Darwin owns the lighter at the crime scene, we'll only be charged with false accusation if we apprehend him now."
"And what if he did own the lighter? Big chance he could just deny being a smoker later because we didn't arrest him here," I asked. But Jayus werely shrugged, "Don't worry about that, we'll just have to get our information in here." He pointed towards the door which Lous Darwin had originally appeared from.
Now that I had a clearer mind from running, the scent of cigarettes and smoke were only stronger in this area. "What is this place?" I asked.
"A Tobacconist." Jayus answered before he swiftly pulled back the door. As the door pulled open, the stronger scent of tobacco and cigarette hit my nose like a whirlwind that made my face wrinkle.
"If we dig out some information here about Lous Darwin, we might even find out the owner of that peculiar lighter." Jayus said as he lead us both to what we could barely identify under the dim lights to be the owner of the shop who stood behind the counter. The tobacconist behind the counter remained still, his hand gently packing what seemed to be extremely high quality tabacco. As far as I could tell. I don't know. I've only seen those things on cartoons. The big man behind the counter merely took one glance at us before he turned his head to the back door where we had come from.
"Leave."