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check out in my theatre the night before. After all, I was the owner , wasn’t I?
    I moved closer to where Sophie and Anthony were talking, noticing that Sophie’s pseudo-Goth face appeared a little agitated. “Just don’t tell them anything, okay?” I heard her hiss.
    “They’re your parents,” Anthony said. “They’ll understand. ”
    “Have you ever had parents?” Sophie saw me walking over and straightened up, made her face impassive. I ushered Sophie back toward O’Donnell, who had more questions for her. She stared at her shoes.
    Meanwhile, Ron patted his wife on the shoulder. “Come on now, Ilsa,” he said, somehow speaking without actually moving his lips. “You know she’s got to get right back on the horse.” Really, the man had a future in ventriloquism if he wanted one.
    “I don’t know anything about a horse .”
    Anthony, sitting with his feet up on a seat in row G (which I’d asked him not to do, since it leaves marks, and our seats aren’t in such great shape to begin with), put his head back and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to embarrass Sophie, so he’d pretend he was asleep. He’s a nice kid.
    O’Donnell, however, wasn’t interested in anybody’s feelings. He stared past Sophie’s parents and spoke to her directly. “Are you sure he came in alone?” he asked.
    “I’m not sure of anything,” Sophie said, her tone Gothful and disinterested. “How can we be certain of our own existence?”
    “Don’t be rude, Sophie,” her mother admonished. “Mr. O’Donnell’s simply trying to do his job.”
    O’Donnell ignored her, which was a talent I was hoping to develop. “We need to establish whether or not the man was here alone or with someone else who might have poisoned him. So I’ll ask you again, Sophie. Do you remember whether he came in with another person, or by himself?”
    “I don’t look at every face,” she said, staring into his. “But I think he was alone. I think he bought one ticket. And I think Fargo is the capital of North Dakota. I can’t be sure.” (She was wrong: the capital of North Dakota is actually Bismarck.)
    “And I think that you’ll have to do better than that if you want to get home at a decent hour today,” O’Donnell said, seeing her Goth and raising her a Bad Cop. “Think hard, and I’ll come back to you.” He waved his hand, and Sophie and her parents walked to a corner near the exit. Sophie looked like she wanted to keep going, but her mother stood between her and the open door.
    Through the auditorium door, I saw Officer Levant call over Officer Patel and ask him something, pointing to the basement door. Patel shrugged, then nodded his agreement. Reluctantly, I diverted my attention from Levant, who demanded attention even in a cop’s uniform, and toward the guy running the investigation, although he wasn’t as much fun to watch.
    Sergeant O’Donnell glanced at Anthony, who by now really was asleep in perhaps the only two adjacent unbroken seats in row H. O’Donnell shook his head slightly, as if convincing himself not to do something he really wanted to do, and beckoned to me. I decided not to hide my resentment at the way he had talked to Sophie.
    “You swept up after the cops left last night?” he asked.
    “Yeah,” I nodded. “Glad to see that you reserve the threats for the sixteen-year-old. She’s just putting on a brave face, O’Donnell.”
    “ Sergeant O’Donnell.”
    “You’re not going to earn respect with me by browbeating that slip of a girl,” I told him.
    He curled his lip. No, really. “How am I going to get anywhere if your staff won’t cooperate with me?” O’Donnell asked.
    “Cooperate? Nobody’s done anything but cooperate. Do you seriously believe that a high school junior poisoned Mr. Ansella at the movies because she had nothing better to do that night?”
    “Of course not.”
    “Then why are you treating her like a suspect?”
    “Because I don’t know who the suspects are yet.”