"Maybe," Neal says, hand still over Malcolm's, voice going softer. "Or the man he cares about, maybe even loves, just slid onto the side of the barge that has no guarantees but death if they disappear. The security he had around the idea of Arthur's safety is gone. Not only that, but Arthur's own feelings about the situation cannot possibly be positive. It might be too much to handle right now, trying to help other people through their problems and psychological hangups when he's being confronted with something that's so wrenching on so many fronts. Maybe he wasn't lying on purpose, maybe he was telling the story he was comfortable with people knowing."