“Ah,” said Patty with an approving light in her eyes. “There was a famous yogi who said, ‘The handle on the razor of evil cuts more deeply than its blade.’ ”

“Sounds like a fortune cookie to me,” said Bruce. “Try telling it to the victims of the Mexican drug lords.”

Iona looked at him with no discernible emotion. “It’s like a lot of those sayings. ‘The harm I do to you, twice that much I do to me.’ There are so many ways of talking about karma.”

Bruce shook his head. “Far as I’m concerned, karma’s a crock. If a murderer has already done twice as much damage to himself as to the one he’s murdered—which seems like a pretty neat trick—does that mean that you shouldn’t bother to convict and execute him? That puts you in a ridiculous position. If you believe in karma, there’s no point in bothering to arrest and punish murderers. But if you want murderers arrested and punished, then you have to agree that karma’s a crock.”

Mena jumped in happily. “So we’re back to the issue of crime and punishment. Here’s my question for Dave. In America we seem to be losing faith in our criminal justice system. You worked in that world for over twenty years, right?”

He nodded.

“You know its weak points and strong points, what works and what doesn’t. So you must have some pretty good ideas about what needs to change. I’d love to hear your thoughts.”

The question was about as appealing to him as an invitation to do a jig on the table. “I don’t think change is possible.”

“But there’s so much wrong,” said Skip, leaning forward. “So many opportunities for improvement.”

Patty, on a different wavelength, said pleasantly, “Swami Shishnapushna used to say that detectives and yogis were brothers in different garments, equal seekers after the truth.”

Gurney looked doubtful. “I’d like to think of myself as a seeker of truth, but I’m probably just an exposer of lies.”

Patty’s eyes widened, appearing to find something more profound in this than Gurney had intended.

Mena tried to get things back on point. “So, if you could take over the system tomorrow, Dave, what would you change?”

“Nothing.”

“I can’t believe that. It’s such an obvious mess.”

“Of course it’s a mess. But every piece of the mess benefits someone in power. And it’s a mess nobody wants to think about.”

Bruce waved his hand dismissively. “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Simple! Thinking’s not the solution, it’s the problem.”

“A kick in the balls for a kick in the balls!” cried Skip with an addled grin.

Mena pursued her point with Gurney. “You said you wouldn’t change anything. Why not?”