An artery began throbbing in his neck

“Away? He didn’t say anything about it to me. You know where he might’ve gone?” Reynerd shook his head. “He was going out with a little suitcase the night before last, as I was coming in.” “He tell you when he’d be back?” “We just said how it looked like rain coming, and then he went out,” Reynerd replied. “Man, he’s so close to Uncle Harry—we both are—he’s going to be upset he didn’t get a chance to say good-bye. Maybe I could leave him a note, so he sees it first thing he gets back.” Reynerd just stared at Ethan. An artery began throbbing in his neck. His speed-cycled brain was racing, but although meth ensured frenetically fast thinking, it didn’t assist clear thinking. “The thing is,” Ethan said, “I don’t have any paper. Or a pen, for that matter.” “Oh. Sure, I got those,” said Reynerd. “I really hate to bother you—” “No bother,” Reynerd assured him, turning away from the open door, going off to find a notepad, a pen. Left at the threshold, Ethan chafed to get into the apartment. He [27] wanted a better look at Reynerd’s nest than he could obtain from the doorway. Just as Ethan decided to risk being rude and to enter without an invitation, Reynerd halted, turned, and said, “Come on in. Sit down.” Now that the invitation had been extended, Ethan could afford to inject a little authenticity into this charade by demurring. “Thanks, but I just came in from the rain—” “Can’t hurt this furniture,” Reynerd assured him. Leaving the door open behind himself, Ethan went inside.