Theo is silent for most of the ride to the police station. The two officers don't speak to him either; they just drive and keep their eyes on the road. Theo's head is swimming with thoughts; he tries to remember if he did anything wrong. He works hard and respectfully; he goes to church every Sunday and is a kind person. Could there be something they found that he didn't know about? It would be just his luck to have done something terrible without knowing.

Soon, the car stops in front of a big gray building, and the three of them get out. Theo glances up and sees the words "City Hall" written outside the building in green letters. They walk inside and take a left down a long hallway, where they are greeted by a woman at the front desk.

"Theo Morgan?" The woman asks, looking down at a clipboard in front of her.

"Yes..?" Theo answers, confused.

She nods and grabs Thoe a visitors pass from a bin next to her, "Here you are, officers."

The three of them wait for the officer on duty to scan them with a wand and walk through the security gate. They enter an elevator and ride it up to the third floor. When the doors open, they are met by another woman who looks to be in her early thirties; she has long curly brown hair and is wearing a grey suit.

"Hello, I'm Detective Claire Masters." She introduces herself to Theo and holds out her hand for him to shake. "We're going to be talking in here today."

They sit down in an interrogation room; a long wooden table sits in the middle with several chairs on either side.

Claire begins to speak, "I just have to let you know that you are not in any trouble, and you are free to leave at any time."

Theo nods.

"Right then," she opens a manila folder in front of her and glances down at it. "We just need to go over some things and people that you might know." She looks up at him, "I was hoping you could help us with this if you don't mind."

"Yes, of course," Theo replies.

"Now, the person we need to know about is Ben Higgins," she looks down at her folder again. "Can you tell me about him?"

Theo shifts in his seat and crosses his arms, "Not much to tell, really."

"Come on, I'm sure you've got something." She says with a small smile.

"He's about my age, and we graduated high school together, that's it," Theo says with a shrug.

"That's pretty much what people always say right before they tell you the interesting stuff." She says, looking down at him.

"I really don't have anything else to say." Theo insists.

"I know you two left work together last night." She presses. "Where did you go?"

"We just drove around..." he replies hesitantly.

"Drank beer?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe a couple each." Theo answers.

"Is that all?" She continues with a faint smile.

"Probably," Theo admits.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Mind telling me why you snuck out of Ben's house around, say 11:30?" She says as her demeanor starts to change.

"I fell asleep on his couch watching TV. I thought he drove me home," Theo says, slouching down in his chair.

She sits back and thinks for a moment, slowly shaking her head, "...You don't know how this happened, do you?"

He looks up at her, "What do you mean?"

"Do you have any idea how far away you live from where Ben was found?" She asks.

"Was found?" Theo asks, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

She picks up her folder and flips through some papers before setting one on the table, pushing it over to Theo. It's a black and white photocopy of a map with the route he took home clearly marked in red Sharpie, along with two yellow arrows extending from it that she points to with a pen.

"This is where Ben was found." She taps the red line running through it. "And this is where you said you live..." she taps the end of the arrow. "That's over 20 miles away. You drove over a dozen miles out of your way just to come home another way? Why not just stay on the highway?"

She pauses, elbows on the table, leaning towards him, both hands under her chin, "What are you hiding and why?"

"Nothing. I didn't kill him." Theo says with a quiver in his voice.

She sits back and sighs, "Who said he was dead?"

He takes a deep breath and just shakes his head, "I don't know anything."

"What did you do to him?" She asks firmly.

"Nothing!" He says, raising his voice.

"Answer me!" She demands, slamming her hands on the table.

"I didn't do anything!" He yells and then looks away from her and stares at the wall.

"You must have done something."

Just as Theo is about to break down and cry, Detective Turner barges into the room.

"They found her!" he shouts. "They found Alice, and you won't believe this, but her arm was cut right off; we still haven't found that yet, though." He goes on to say as he notices Theo and sits down in front of him. "You need to tell us what happened, kid."

Theo simply sits there with his head down and says nothing.

Detective Claire just shakes her head and says, "He's not going to say anything else."

The two detectives stare at each other before Detective Turner asks Theo, "Was Ben in your house or did you go to his?"

"I didn't kill him..." Theo mutters.

In a slightly friendlier voice, Detective Turner asks, "Do you know who did?" Still, Theo says nothing.

After a few minutes of silence, he says, "Okay then," stands up and leaves the room. A moment later, Detective Claire stands up and follows, closing the door behind her.

Detective Turner and Claire stand outside the room talking about what they should do next. They're sure that Theo is hiding something; he's just not talking.

"Have they found the murder weapon yet?" Detective Claire asks.

"Not yet, but we'll find it eventually; we can't press charges until we do." He replies, and they both agree that Theo should be sent home and have undercover officers secretly keep an eye on him until the girl's arm or weapon is found. They both go back inside, sit down across from Theo again and tell him that they will be speaking with him some more later. For now, he's free to go. They also tell him not to leave town without notifying the department, and both detectives stand up and head out of the interview room door expecting Theo to follow.

Closing the door behind them, they find a man with dark, curly hair and a bushy mustache waiting for them in the hallway.

He wears a standard dark blue suit with a badge on his belt and says, "So he didn't confess?"

"Nope, we're at a dead-end for now." Detective Claire answers.

"For now?" The man asks.

"We'll find something to charge him with. We just need to keep an eye on him for a bit."

"Hmm, okay, I'm going to head to the house and see what the team comes up with there." He says, walking away. "Talk to you in a few days."

"Who was that?" Detective Claire asks her partner.

"Datyal Jackson, head of homicide."

"He sure seems pressed on bagging Theo for this," Claire says.

"Yeah, well, we gotta impress the captain too, letting some stupid kid go free ain't gonna cut it."

Theo's mother walks up to them and asks, "Am I able to take him home now?" Detective Claire nods her head, and Mrs. Morgan walks away.

"So what's next then?" Detective Turner asks Claire.

"I think we should ask Ben's sister if she knows anything. I'll talk to her; you go see what the team finds at the morgue."

Theo finds his mom waiting for him at a vending machine. She hugs him, and they walk out of the building together, not saying a word.