[2] Rhonda Farr, an actress, is rejecting an ostensible blackmail attempt by Mallory, a private detective, involving love letters she wrote to a man named Landrey, who is now a gangster.
They bring Mallory to their hideaway, and Macdonald angrily confronts the other gang members about the unplanned kidnapping.
He explains that Landrey used him to fake a blackmail attempt on Farr, as part of a kidnapping scheme to scare her into taking him back.
Mardonne is unsure what to make of it, and Mallory suspects him of hoping to continue the blackmail, which is over now that Farr has the letters and can enlist help from the studio.
At the police station, the captain tells Mallory the official story for each killing: separate, run-of-the-mill homicides.