Karpin shook his head. "He never got a chance. He spent all his time dancing, up till he went and killed himself."
"So you painted it yourself."
He nodded.
"And then you went on into Atronics City and registered your claim, is that the story?"
"No. Chemisant City was closer than Atronics City right then, so I went there. Just after Jafe's death, and everything—I didn't feel like being alone any more than I had to."
"You said Chemisant City was closer to you then," I said. "Isn't it now?"
"Things move around a lot out here, Mister," he said. "Right now, Chemisant City's almost twice as far from here as Atronics City. In about three days, it'll start swinging in closer again. Things keep shifting around out here."
"So I've noticed," I said. "When you took off to go to Chemisant City, didn't you make a try for your partner's body then?"
He shook his head. "He was long out of sight by then," he said. "That was ten, eleven hours later, when I took off."
"Why's that? All you had to do was paint the X and take off."