In the zippered coin section of his wallet was an emergency pair of contacts. Neil ripped open the foil packets and put them on, then changed out of his club clothes and into the jeans and tee. The outfit was almost a perfect fit. Remembering how they'd figured out his size only ignited his anger further. Neil stuffed his discarded club clothes into the toilet, shoving them as deep into the water as he could and closing the lid on them. He rattled the shower curtain open, cut on the water as high as he could, and pulled the curtain closed again. The sound of the water was almost enough to hide the sound of Neil opening the window. Getting out took some serious wiggling since it wasn't quite big enough for him, but desperation was a valuable lubricant.

Lingering sickness from the drugs kept him from moving as quickly as he wanted to, but he'd traveled in far worse shape and he refused to give up. He cut through the subdivision without knowing where he was going and thumbed through his wallet to count bills. He'd taken to carrying several hundred dollars on him at a time, preparations for the worst-case scenario of not having his binder around. He had more than enough to get back to the upstate.

Following the larger streets brought him out onto a main road at last. He only had to go a few blocks before he could flag down a taxi. It took him to the nearest gas station at his request. There was a decrepit pay phone at the edge of the parking lot. Neil pushed coins into the slot and dialed Matt's number from memory. Matt answered after a couple rings with an incoherent mumble.

Neil checked his watch. It was almost ten. "Matt, it's Neil. Did I wake you?"

"Nah, I'm up," Matt said, but Neil heard the yawn in his words. "Where've you been? I didn't hear you come back last night."

"I'm in Columbia with Andrew."

"You're—what?" Matt went from half-asleep to wide awake in a heartbeat. The alarm in his voice only made Neil feel worse. "Jesus, Neil, what the hell did you do that for? Did he—" Matt aborted that and asked again, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Neil lied.

He thought he sounded convincing, but maybe Matt wasn't really listening, because Matt said, "I'm going to fucking kill him." A girl's voice said something in the background, too muffled for Neil to understand. Neil guessed Matt turned the phone away from his ear to answer, because Matt's voice was quieter when he said, "He's in Columbia."

"Jesus Christ." That was definitely Dan, loud and furious.

Matt was back on the line in a heartbeat. "Seriously, are you okay?"