The door closed, and I heard Darby lock it tight from the inside. I stood on the stoop, trying to process what I’d just heard. He’d admitted to being on Tim’s boat, but to buy art, which he didn’t end up buying. He’d found Tim feeling a little down, not himself. That didn’t jibe with what Jung had told me about Tim, but it did match what Stephen Ayers told Marta and Cap. According to C.D. Ganz, the night of Tim’s party, he was not only down but drunk, which was the same state he was in the night he died. Darby had upped that by saying that Tim appeared stoned. Which one was lying, or was it both?

I could see why Darby might not want to admit to arguing with Tim, in light of what happened. If it turned out Tim killed himself, Darby admitting to arguing with him could lead some to think the confrontation they’d had could have pushed Tim toward suicide. But what reason would Ganz have for making the entire thing up?

Darby didn’t have much of an alibi for the night Tim died. Dinner with friends? But if he’d killed him, he’d have had plenty of time to come up with a much better one. Or did he figure not having much of an alibi made him look all the more innocent? If he had reason to kill Tim, didn’t it stand to reason it might be related somehow to Sterling? The two didn’t appear to be connected any other way. I’d need to keep digging.

I started to walk away, but stopped when I heard Darby’s muffled voice coming from inside the house. He was talking to someone, but I could only hear his end of the conversation. He was on the phone and he sounded agitated. Who was he calling so soon after talking to me? I strained to make out what was being said, but couldn’t catch any of it.

I made a big show of walking back to my car and unlocking the door, getting in, and driving away, but I didn’t go far. I drove up the block, turned around in an alley, and headed back, pulling into a spot across the street and down a bit from Darby’s place where I had an unobstructed view of his front door. It was the phone call so soon after he closed the door on me that made me suspicious. Who was Darby checking in with? What had gotten him so upset?