"Have you heard of Randolph Carter? The melancholic author."

"Yes."

"He saw Parker--" Being euphemistic is not going to work here, is it? "--kill someone. What he saw made no sense, but if I can convince him to tell a story that makes sense-- we might be able to get Parker to swing."

Evie looks up at him with wide eyes. "Thank you so much for rescuing me."

He should not be looking at those eyes, trying to work out if the expression is genuine or theatrical. "I can't promise it will work-- Carter wants me to get him a publishing deal, somehow? And prove that it happened several years after the fact. But I'm working on it."

She shakes her head. "I don't think it will work. Mr. Parker is a powerful man. He has friends in high places.

Men like that-- don't hang."

"He can't exactly marry you in jail. Or at least it won't help your father if he does."

"They don't go to jail, either. Not for murdering a tramp in a way that didn't make any sense, with information found by an out-of-work actor."

"I do have contacts myself. Alas, not the kind that will keep me out of jail if I murder someone."

"I still think you should just stab him!"

"I want to, I really do! I just can't get rid of the body like he can. And even if I do-- if I marry you, I immediately have an obvious motive his contacts can use against me."

"I'm just-- worried."

 "I know-- and that's why I'm trying to fix it." He smiles lamely. "I do really have contacts."

"You do?"

"I need you to promise to keep this secret."

(It feels strange saying this to the woman he loves, who is bearing his child, who would be his wife but for one obstacle-- but, well, they all know he's an awful paranoiac.)

"Of course," she says.

"While acting is my main trade-- working for the police is what pays the bills."

She gasps.

... he maybe should have expected that reaction.

"It's not as bad as you're picturing," he says, not actually sure what she's picturing.

"Oh?"

And now he has to guess.

"My superiors so far do not care much about ...indecency that does not involve witnesses. It's much more riots at theatres, making sure no one is plotting to blow up parliament to bring about Communism. That sort of thing."

"That makes sense. Still! It's a terrible secret."

"There are far worse ones. This one at least is a paying job that does"

...arguably

"help people."

"You must feel so lonely with no one you can tell about that."

...he does, actually. "I do get to tell the police, at least," he says with a smile.