Portrait In Black - Retribution
Another anonymous letter has arrived for Sheila, this one hinting at her involvement with Mason's death. So Mason had been wrongly killed after all. Rivera is now convinced the chauffeur Cobb must have sent them. In a rage he grabs him in a violent choke-hold.
To save his skin, Cobb blurts out that it was Sheila who had asked him to mail the letters! Rivera is shocked at the realization she was behind it - all because she was desperate to keep him from leaving. After a pitiful soul-searching exchange they kiss in an emotional embrace then look guilty as sin when they realize Cathy had walked in and overheard their every word.
Then ... Rivera by now is a basket case ... he tries to grab Cathy even as he babbles that they had to do it. She runs upstairs and locks herself in a bedroom but is forced to climb out of a dormer window as Rivera batters down the door. He climbs out after her ...
... and Now, this rooftop view at 2898 Broadway hasn't changed one bit.
Then ... Somehow Cathy reaches the safety of another window but behind her Rivera is less fortunate ... he slips and falls.
... and Now, it's still a long way down.
Then ... The ghosts of Cabot and Mason probably said a collective 'Amen' at the sight of Rivera's crumpled body on the vertiginous Baker Street steps (map).
... and Now
In a closing shot that mirrors the classic movie Vertigo, Sheila, just like Scottie Ferguson before her, stares out in stunned disbelief, mortified by the loss of the one she so dearly loved.