Wymack exhaled smoke into the air between them. The wind ripped the cloud to shreds as quickly as it formed. Neil watched Wymack watch him, then turned his attention to his cigarette. He turned it over and over between his fingers. There was still dried blood beneath his fingernails. For a moment he thought it was his mother's, clinging stubbornly to his hands after all these years. He gave his cigarette a violent shake, dislodging those thoughts with the first clump of ash.

"Neil," Wymack said.

Neil knew that tone too well. "I'm fine."

"Give me that bullshit answer one more time and see what happens," Wymack said. "I stopped by the station on the way here and got a censored rundown of things. The police have labeled you as a hostile witness, you know. They said you wouldn't talk to them, not even to give them your name. They had to get that from Kevin."

"I'm fine," Neil said again. "I just don't like talking to cops."

"Then don't talk to them," Wymack said. "Talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth," Wymack said.

"No."

"Why not?"

Neil shook his head. He didn't know how to explain the fear eating a hollow knot in his chest. Something like this demanded complete honesty, and Neil had been lying since he was old enough to speak. He didn't know how to tell the truth now. If he tried, would it still be the truth, or would he poison the words by saying them aloud? Would it be instinctive to twist it? He wouldn't risk it. Andrew didn't deserve that.

"Coach, call Oakland," Neil said, because he needed to turn Wymack's questions to a safer target. "Higgins needs to know what happened tonight. You remember him?" he asked when Wymack frowned at him. "He called us at the start of the year when he was investigating Drake's father. I know he shifted the focus to Drake last month, but I don't know if he registered him as an official suspect in the system. If he didn't, the cops here won't know to notify him."

Wymack stared him down in silence for a minute, then pulled a card out of his wallet. Neil saw a glossy blue shield printed on the front and guessed it was from one of the officers handling this mess. He didn't plan on sticking around for this phone call, so he ground his cigarette out beneath one shoe.

"I'm going back inside," he said, and Wymack didn't stop him.