About Last Night

Suspect

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 visitor's 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.

"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.