Jung turned to me, a blank look on his face, a deer caught in headlights. “What?”

“You said you could hardly find anything in that mess. What were you looking for?”

He tugged on the collar of his sweaty shirt. “Nothing, but if I had been looking, I’d have had a hard time finding anything. That’s what I’m saying.”

I sat watching him, the tea coating my gut, keeping me calm. Jung was lying, badly. I glanced at Swami Rain, a potential witness to Jung’s homicide.

“We’ll come back to that,” I said. “Tell me about Vincent Darby.”

For a second, it didn’t look like he recognized the name. “Wait. That guy from the party? What’s he got to do with anything?”

“He turned up dead. Shot and cut to pieces. We may both be on the hook for that one.”

Jung blanched. “Me? Why would I kill him?” He ran his fingers through his hair, then grabbed tufts of it in his fingers and pulled. It was an act of utter frustration. He was over his head, out of his element. “I’m living a nightmare.”

Swami Rain raised a timid hand. “Excuse me, could we get back to the part about him being a murderer?”

Jung reeled on him, anger flaring. “What’s wrong with you, dude? I’m no killer.”

Rain pointed to me. “She said you’re a suspect in two murders and that the police are looking for you right now.”

“And I said I’m almost completely innocent.”

Swami Rain’s hands flew up. “What does that even mean?”

I took another sip of tea. It was amazing how quickly transcendental gobbledygook fell away when you were accused of murder. I cleared my throat, silencing the back-and-forth.

“We’re going to start at the beginning, with the break-in, and then work our way all the way through to the moment I walked in here and found you exercising in your pajamas. Understood?”

Jung gulped. He nodded. Swami Rain nodded.

“Okay. Good. Why were you on Tim’s boat? And why did you steal one of his paintings?”

Jung shook his hands out, as though trying to work the circulation back into them. “I guess I have to tell you. I guess he’d give me permission, considering the circumstances.” He began to wring his hands. “It was my solemn duty as his best bud. We made a pact. His number came up first is all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I need to stand up first.” Jung didn’t move.

“Then stand up,” Swami Rain barked. “What the hell, man?”

“Dude, you heard her. She told me not to move.”