Shadow on the Wall

New York based architect David Starrling has been convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death in the shooting death of his second wife, Celia Starrling. While he does not deny it, he does not remember the actual act of the shooting as Celia knocked him unconscious by hitting him over the head, rendering him of any memory of pulling the trigger. The motive is that he caught her in a lie revealing that she was having an affair with her sister Dell Faring's fiance, Crane Weymouth. There are two people additionally affected by the shooting. The first is Susan Starrling, David's six year old daughter from his first marriage. While Susan was discovered in bed by the authorities after the fact of the shooting apparently not knowing anything, Dr. Dan Hodge, the family physician, believes Susan is in shock from something associated to the incident, and places her under the care of psychiatrist, Dr. Caroline Canford, who further comes to the conclusion that Susan witnessed the actual shooting, but has hidden what she witnessed within her subconscious. In reality, Susan did witness something, solely the shadow of the shooter which she has transferred to a like image, namely the native American figurine David just gave her and which she named Cupid. The second is Dell herself, she the actual murderer who killed her sister in a fit of rage, the affair only the last straw in a relationship for Dell characterized by self-privileged Celia taking whatever she wanted. In this case, Crane would have just been a dalliance for Celia, while she would have known that Crane was the love of Dell's life. Dell is torn between wanting to do the right thing by confessing against heading to the electric chair if she does. The issue for Dell becomes clearer when she believes that Susan did actually see her kill Celia.