Mrs. Dalton's Visit

The third and final chapter of the Confidential Passion film noir. Black and white, 1950s.

Detective Clark Reed gets a midnight visit from Linda Dalton, an ice cold femme fatale, and her jittery assistant Harold in a too tight grey suit. She wants the photos and reports on her husband gone, and she's brought Harold as payment.

When Harold bends down to gather the spilled files, his trousers stretch tight and Clark can't look away, sweat at his temple, finger under his collar. Linda sees everything and leaves Harold behind with one order : stay until the detective is satisfied you can keep a secret.

The blinds cut the two men into stripes of light, the boss's hat still on the desk, and Clark takes what was left for him.

The series ends the way it lived : nobody innocent, everybody guilty.