"I'm not his friend," Neil said. "I'm his teammate."
"Are you not his, or he not yours?" Betsy asked, and when Neil just looked at her, said, "They are distinctly different matters and it is possible to have one without the other. I'm sorry if I'm making assumptions, but it seems to me that he views you as a friend." When Neil didn't immediately respond, she said, "What about the rest of the team? Are they your friends?"

"What do I need friends for?" Neil asked. "I came here to play. That's what Coach's contract asked of me, so that's what I'm going to do. Is this really what you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about last night, but I also want to talk about you. I want to make sure you have a support network that can get you through the next few weeks. If you don't want to talk about the latter, we can focus on the former. Can you tell me what happened?"

"How many times do you want to hear that story?" Neil asked. "I'm sure you got it from Nicky and Kevin. Coach probably told you what the police said. Maybe you even got answers from Andrew. I have nothing to add."

"Could you at least tell me why you brought a racquet into that room?"

"Do you own a gun?" Neil asked, and when Betsy shook her head, said, "Imagine you did. One night you wake up because you hear someone moving around in your house. You have the right to confront them and, not knowing whether or not they're armed, are smart enough to bring your gun with you. If he attacks you and you fire on him, the police will call it justified self-defense. I don't have a gun, but I had a racquet."

"I understand what you're getting at, but no one else suspected Andrew was in any trouble," Betsy said. It wasn't really a question, so Neil didn't answer. When they stopped at the next red light, Betsy considered Neil in silence. Only when the light turned green again did she say, "There is a fine line between self-defense and premeditated murder here, Neil. Why did you bring the racquet upstairs?"

At length Neil grudgingly said, "I knew who Drake was."

"How? Did Andrew tell you about him?"

"He told me parts of the story, not enough," Neil said. "I knew the Oakland police were investigating the Spears and I knew Cass's son was a Marine. I can't take on a Marine in a fair fight. That's why I grabbed my racquet." Neil stared out the window and wished the conversation was already over. "I gave it to Aaron so I could break down the door, and I didn't have time to take it back."

"You stormed the room," Betsy said. "What did you see?"