To take the sudden death of such a man in stride — a man whose alleged misdeeds cast him as a veritable pimp to the elite, not to mention a monster in his own right — would be a bit irrational, I think, even if it had happened in Times Square at noon on a clear day. Yet Mr. Epstein died in a locked room guarded by agents of the same establishment, the same power structure that he so broadly and horribly corrupted.

Image Jeffrey Epstein. Credit... Florida Department of Law Enforcement, via Associated Press

This kind of makes one think. What kind of thoughts? Not easy ones, not simple ones and not reassuring ones, if you ask me.

On the internet, where this story is being arbitrated in lieu of our court system, which lost control of it, I’ve ventured a few distrusting comments recently about Mr. Epstein’s befuddling demise. Under the circumstances — someday I hope we’ll know what, exactly, they are — I feel that some wild speculation is warranted, if only to preserve one’s mental health by releasing built-up intellectual pressure. Others disagree. They suggest that unleashing one’s imagination on a situation that defied imagining when I and the country were younger and more innocent is a sign of social decay. These critics warn of a “post-truth” society in which rumors vanquish facts and fever dreams displace cold analysis. They use the term “Occam’s razor” quite a bit, reminding me that simple explanations should always be preferred over complex ones.

I wonder where they come from, these trusting souls, for whom Jeffrey Epstein himself may have once appeared implausible. Was the last presidential election lost on them? Weren’t they here for the 18-month Mueller investigation, the premise of which was that our commander in chief was possibly working with a rival superpower whose leader is given to having his enemies poisoned? Do they realize that every keystroke of their replies to me is subject to capture by our intelligence agencies, whose budgets run to hundreds of billions of dollars, a lot of them spent on deception operations that may or may not ever be revealed? Finally, do they understand that those with a potential interest in masking the truth of Mr. Epstein’s death are as easy to find as opening a magazine or turning on TV, while the parties who are invested in disclosing it may be as rare as the California condor?

Incredible, these “sane” voices. Just incredible. And, according to my count, fewer by the day.

Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) is a literary critic and the author of eight books, including “Up in the Air” and “Blood Will Out.”

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