Abby got up and left. She reached for Neil as if to turn Neil out into the hallway ahead of her, but Neil evaded her questing hand and went to Aaron. Abby waited, likely expecting Neil to get kicked out as well. When Aaron said nothing about Neil's presence, Neil looked at Abby. She shook her head and left them in peace. Neil watched to make sure she'd gone, then crouched to get a better look at Aaron's face.

"He's already gone, isn't he?" Aaron said.

"Yes," Neil said. "They tried to make him stay, but he wanted to be gone before you got back. He didn't want to talk to you."

"There's a change of pace." Aaron's mocking tone fell flat.

"Are you at all sorry?" Neil asked. "You took his family away from him."

If looks could kill, the one Aaron shot Neil should have flayed the skin from his bones. "That man was not his family."

"Technically, he was only a couple signatures away from being Andrew's legal brother. I didn't mean him, anyway. I meant Drake's parents, Cass and Richard Spear," Neil said. "They were going to keep Andrew. Drake was an inconvenience Andrew was willing to live with in exchange."

"An inconvenience," Aaron echoed as he surged to his feet. "You fucking—"

"And now Drake is dead," Neil said. "Do you think Cass will ever forgive Andrew? It doesn't matter what Drake did to him. She won't be able to look at Andrew without knowing her son is dead because of him."

"I don't care." Aaron gave a savage jerk of his hand. "I don't care if Andrew never speaks to me again. I don't care about Cass or Drake or anyone. What Drake did—no. If I could bring him back from the dead and kill him again I would."

"Good," Neil said quietly. "So now you understand why Andrew killed your mother."

It was not at all what Aaron was expecting. He was so angry it took a couple seconds for the words to really register, and then he recoiled from Neil. "Why he—what? That isn't the same. He didn't do that for me."

"He told me he did," Neil said. "I didn't even have to ask him. He warned her to stop hitting you and she wouldn't. He had no choice but to get rid of her. Just like last night, right? Drake was hurting Andrew, and you made him stop.

"Except I lied," Neil said, getting to his feet. "Unlike you, he's not angry that you interfered. I just said that because I needed you to understand."

"You don't know anything," Aaron said.

"I know you've got a couple weeks to think about it," Neil said. "When Andrew comes back sober you're going to have to talk about this. You won't get anywhere if you start with Drake, so you might as well start with your mother. Now let's get out of this city."