In the evening of the Monday after the murder, Detectives Harrison and Grayson knocked on the door of 234 State Street.  Eli Thawne answered the door.  'May I help you?'

'Is Magnus in?'

'Yeah, just a minute.' Eli stepped back into the house.  The detectives could hear some muffled talk, then Magnus stepped out onto the front stoop.

'You wanted to speak with me?'

'Yes.' Detective Harrison held out an evidence bag. 'Does this look familiar?'

Magnus took it, and read the note.  'Yes.  I mean, this looks like my typewriter.   The 'r' is crooked, and the 'y' is half-gone, like mine.'  He handed the note back.  'What's the point?'

'This was found in the purse of the victim.  By your admission, it appears to have been typed on your personal typewriter, and has been positively identified as something that you could have sent.'

'Yes.'

'Magnus Stark-Woolf, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Beatrice Lauren Wheatley.  You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.  You have the right to an attorney.  If you do not have or can not afford an attorney, the court will provide one.  A scene doesn't have to be made if you will come quietly.'

'I need to make a phone call.'

'By all means.  At the station.'

Magnus nodded, and allowed Detective Harrison to grasp his arm and guide him to the car.

The drive to the police station was short, only up State Street and across the South Mill Pond Bridge.  They walked through the lobby and up the split stairs to the left.  Magnus was processed, fingerprints and photographs, before he said anything, and then it was a short 'Phone call.'

He picked up the receiver on the phone proffered, and tapped in a number.  'Hello Geoff?  It's Magnus.  No, I'm fine, but the police think I murdered someone.  Could you come to the station and help sort things out?  Yeah, Portsmouth. Ten minutes?  Ok, bye.'  He turned to the detectives.  'Family lawyer.  Could we hold off any important questions until he arrives?'

Geoffrey Ramirez parked his motorcycle in the visitor parking of the Portsmouth Police Station.  He pulled an attaché case out of the saddlebag, and propped the helmet on the seat.  He stopped at the front desk.  'Geoffrey Ramirez.  I'm here to represent Magnus Stark-Woolf.'

He followed the officer to the interrogation room, and waited before he was let in. 

Magnus stood face to the one way glass.  He turned around, 'Hey Geoff.'

'What's wrong?'

'Didn't you read the paper?  Murder victim found in home of one of Portsmouth's founding families. Delightful.'

'Nothing untoward?'

'In a manner of speaking.'

Geoff set the attaché case on the table that was bolted to the floor.

'Is there any point to that?' Magnus sat in one of the chairs, almost calm.

'Not really, it just looks official.' Geoff glanced up as Detective Harrison entered the room. 'Detective. Geoffrey Ramirez. I represent the Stark-Woolfs in legal matters, I do hope that we shall have but a brief interview.'

'Don't bet on it.' Detective Harrison sat opposite Magnus, and dropped a file folder on the table. He opened it, began to slowly turn each photograph over.

First one, then another.

A second.

A third.

He glanced up at Geoff. 'Oh, you can take a seat.'

'Oh dear, did I forget to not stand?'

Detective Harrison returned to his photographs.

Magnus recognised the dining room. The cup of coffee that he had made just before he discovered the body had been carefully numbered at photographed, as if it was evidence.

'It takes a cold-blooded killer to set up a crime scene then have a cup of coffee looking at the body. You haven't had much reaction to anything, you don't say much. Are you even human?'

Magnus didn't break eye contact. The vague midwestern accent of the Detective grated his ears. 'Yes, well, the last time I checked, don't have any robotic bits latched on to me.'

Geoff lightly poked the back of Magnus's hand with the eraser end of a Ticonderoga pencil. 'My client has nothing to comment.'

'Well, from the looks of it, he doesn't tell anyone anything. He didn't say that he had been in a relationship with the victim, he didn't say that he had arranged to meet with the victim the night of the murder, and he certainly didn't mention that he had broken into his house after it had been sealed off for a murder investigation. That right there constitutes obstruction of justice, and tampering with evidence. More than enough grounds for arrest.'

'Any other tangible proof? Perhaps if you directly inquired as to the relationship of my client with the victim?'

Detective Harrison looked at Magnus. 'What was your relationship with the victim?'

'Bea and I were friends. We had talked about dating, but dropped the subject. I didn't think I was up to it. We were just friends.'

'With benefits?' The detective knew the reaction, or at least thought he did.

'What kind of childhood did you have?' Magnus asked.

'Why did you break off the relationship?'

'I didn't break it off. We never had a relationship.'  Magnus said.

Geoff tapped the back of his hand again with the eraser end of the pencil.  'My client has nothing more to say.'

Magnus glanced at Geoff, as though he had said something of the same genius someone might say of Stalin being a kind and generous dictator.  'What about bail?'

'The judge will determine that.'

Bail was set the next day, and the day after, a bail bond was posted, and Magnus walked out into the parking lot of the Rockingham County Jail. To his surprise, his parents were in the lobby, patient and aware that he'd rather not talk about it. Not yet.

They walked out to the Fairlane Estate that they owned, Mr. and Mrs. Stark-Woolf waited. They had flown in from Israel the night before, greeted at Boston-Logan by Geoff, who told them all he knew. Now, they waited, and hoped that Magnus would do the same. After they crossed the South Mill Pond Bridge onto Pleasant Street, Magnus's Dad parked the station wagon on the Square, in front of the house.

'Do you want to go in?

Magnus shook his head. 'I need to go to the library, look at colleges.'

'I think we can do that. I have to go and buy groceries, and your dad has papers at the office to look over.'

Magnus nodded and got out of the car. He didn't bother to look either way before he crossed the street, and he shoved his hands in his jacket pocket, despite how bright it was.