Scarlett looked at the clock. It was one-thirty in the morning. That had to be wrong. She looked to her watch for confirmation, and the DVD display, and the readout on the little orange microwave. They all said a variation of the same thing…1:32, 1:33, 1:34. How had it gotten so late? They must have been there for over two hours.

Eric leaned against his door and banged his head lightly against it in concern.

“That was your brother,” he said. “He didn’t sound very happy.”

“It’ll be fine,” Scarlett said. A quick glance in the mirror as she stood revealed a head of curls standing on end and a lot of makeup smudges around her eyes. She flattened the curls as best she could and rubbed away the blotches.

“Do you want me to go down with you, or…?”

“I should probably go by myself,” she said.

“But you’re okay?”

“Don’t worry,” she said taking a deep breath. “It’s just Spencer. It’ll be fine.”

He reached for her hand and rubbed a little circle on her palm with his fingers.

“I…” He shook his head. “I guess you have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

THE IMPOSSIBLE BREAK

Spencer was outside on the sidewalk, sitting on the stoop and drumming his fingers on the lid of one of the trash cans chained to the front of the building. His unicycle was balanced against his knee. There was a look in his eyes that Scarlett had never seen before—a distant, dim stare. She saw him notice her tousled hair and slightly rumpled clothes.

“You didn’t answer your phone,” he said. “I called you about a dozen times.”

Scarlett looked at her phone in confusion. The answer was depressingly dumb—it had run out of charge.

“Oh, it…”

She held it up to explain. This didn’t impress him much.

“Come on,” he said.

He said nothing as they waited five minutes for a free cab to come by. Spencer tossed the unicycle into the trunk. She got in and he slid beside her, keeping close to his side of the seat.

“I called home and covered for you,” he finally said in a low voice when they were halfway uptown. “That wasn’t easy. You were supposed to be home two hours ago. I told them we were working late and that I was with you. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it, because I might not have.”

“You’re angry,” she said.

“Yeah,” he snapped. “I am seriously pissed.”

The cab made a frighteningly fast turn. She slid into him and then edged her way back.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he said.

There was no point in denial.

“I…couldn’t.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t?”

She was about to say, “Because Eric said not to.” But no matter how she put that, it was not going to come out well. She left the question unanswered as they rode up Third Avenue.

“Then you took off from the party without telling anyone where you were going. So, suddenly, you just aren’t there, you’re not answering your phone, you’re just gone. No one knew where you were, not even Mrs. Amberson. To be honest, Scarlett, it scared the crap out of me. I only went to Eric’s because I had no idea where else to look.”