Mr. Drake would not be able to breathe after falling down the stairs and very obviously breaking his neck. The whole reason a broken neck is supposed to be fatal is because it severs the nerves from the neck down, including to the heart and diaphragm.
When Shelby calls Becca in Taiwan, it is nighttime for both, and apparently evening, as Becca is just going out. But there is a 12-hour time difference between North Carolina and Taiwan, and therefore it could not be nighttime for both.