eeeeeeeeeeee. "You're too kind."

"What were you doing this afternoon?"

"My original plan was to go poke around in police files, but that can wait until tomorrow."

"Are those relevant to acting?"

Her voice is teasing.

"Dr. Aarons, alas, pays better than acting. But I can always use it as preparation for a role. As a detective, as a madman--"

"Ooh," she says. "Can I see your performance as a madman?"

"I'll let you know if I ever play one. But I think you have already seen me in that role."

"Mad with love?"

"Definitely."

"The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact," she quotes.

"More than cool reason ever comprehends."

She kisses him. "Go save your lunatic, and then you can be a lover and a poet as much as you like."

He kissed her cheek. "I wouldn't dare cause any delay that would keep me from you."

Meanwhile--

Sal wants to get his hands on Der Wanderer. Sal absolutely does not want to get his hands on Der Wanderer. Sal wants to talk to a relatively sane person with reason to believe in cursed books about Der Wanderer.

(He is also, though he wouldn't say this out loud, regretting the earlier urge to be respectful of William Way's boundaries and not probe him about the grisly murder scene he witnessed.)

In pursuit of this goal, Sal arranges another visit to William Way's house.

"Who the fuck are you? Are you another one of my brother's whores?"

"--Excuse me???"

"One of his other whores showed up earlier," the man explained, "and now I have to figure out where the fuck she is because apparently she inherited all of his fucking money. Anyway. He's dead and you're not even in the will, so fuck off."

"When did he die??? I was over here two days ago!"

"Last night. He got stabbed in St. James' Park. Like an idiot."

"Have they found the murderer?" This is so upsetting and concerning! For more reasons that this asshole might realise!

"No. The police are still looking."

"Is he-- is the body--"

"I don't know what the fuck you want to know."

"Where is the body now." There might be more delicate ways of phrasing that but fuck that he's upset and also getting angry.

"In the morgue. So the coroner can report that, yes, he definitely got stabbed, see this stab wound. Are you intending to engage in necrophilia?"