Double Indemnity

Huff visits Phyllis for tea three days later to discuss insurance policies. Huff believes Phyllis has lured him there to seduce him and has a difficult time ignoring her physical appearance. Huff learns that Mr. Nirdlinger works in the oil industry as a manager. Phyllis claims that she wants the accident insurance because Mr. Nirdlinger’s work is dangerous. She wants to take out the policy in private to not worry her husband. Huff doesn’t trust Phyllis’s intentions. Despite his worries, the two have sex.

The narrative fades to black and continues after Huff returns home. He lives in Los Feliz hills, an upper-class neighborhood, and has a young boy he pays to take care of his home and dinner. While Huff contemplates the bad situation he’s gotten himself into, Phyllis shows up on his doorstep. She says she regrets the affair and has never had one before. Huff calls her bluff and says she came to see him because she wants to kill her husband. Phyllis is angry and storms out. Huff wants to believe he’s gotten himself out of his bad situation but has a feeling she’ll be back.

Phyllis returns the next night. The two plan to murder Mr. Nirdlinger to collect on a double indemnity accident insurance policy. Phyllis says that she loves Death more than anything and believes she is Death incarnate. She believes she’s doing her husband a favor by murdering him. Both know the plan is risky but neither is willing to back out. Huff has seen plenty of fraudulent insurance claims and knows how to plan the perfect murder with three key ingredients: help, correct setting and time, and audacity (20). Huff insists that they aim for a railroad accident to get a double indemnity payout.

Huff has spent a lifetime watching others game the insurance system, which he sees as a heartless industry that plays people for their money. Huff has been itching for an opportunity to “crook the wheel” himself for his own personal gain (24). Phyllis is the accomplice he’s needed to get rich using his insider knowledge.

Huff meets Mr. Nirdlinger and renews his auto-insurance. One of the copies Mr. Nirdlinger unknowingly signs is an accident insurance policy with a double indemnity clause. Phyllis made sure Nirdlinger’s daughter, Lola, was present for the insurance signing. Huff puts on a show of trying to persuade Nirdlinger to take out an accident insurance policy, while Phyllis dissuades him from doing so. This is so Huff can make it seem as if Nirdlinger wanted to take out the policy in private later, with Lola as a witness to her father rejecting the policy in front of his family.

After business is settled, Huff takes Lola downtown to the movie theaters because her father can’t. Lola is actually going to see her boyfriend, Beniamino “Nino” Sachetti. Huff promises to keep their meeting a secret and lies to Phyllis about Lola’s activities.

Lola and Sachetti visit Huff in his office the next day. Sachetti needs a loan on his car so that he can cover the expenses to finish up his degree at the local university. Huff agrees and Lola begins trusting him as a friend.

Huff needs to acquire a separate check from Nirdlinger to pay for his accident insurance so that the policy is active before Huff murders him. Huff visits Nirdlinger in his office and explains that he accidentally charged Nirdlinger the wrong amount. Huff asks him for a check that is less than the original—and exactly the cost of the accident insurance policy—and promises to pay Nirdlinger the original check’s amount in cash. Nirdlinger does as Huff wants, believing he’s getting extra money out of the deal. Huff puts both checks through General Fidelity’s processing to make it seem like Nirdlinger purchased both auto and accident insurance.

Huff struggles to figure out how to stage a train accident and a perfect plan for murdering Nirdlinger. Huff is wracked with anxiety and hardly sleeps. To cover up his agitation, Huff throws himself into his work and exceeds his past performances. Phyllis learns that Nirdlinger is going to a class reunion in June. Huff and Phyllis decide the class reunion trip is the perfect time to murder Nirdlinger. However, Nirdlinger refuses to take a train, wanting to drive to his reunion.

Nirdlinger breaks his ankle in a stroke of bad luck. Phyllis uses the injury to persuade her husband to take the train. Around this time, Huff receives a copy of Sachetti’s college dissertation in the mail as a sign of appreciation for his help.

Huff and Phyllis murder Nirdlinger.

Huff takes great precautions to make an airtight alibi for himself. He makes a late- night visit to a winemaker that he knows he can’t sell insurance to just yet. He tells his secretary that he’s certain he can make a big sale to the winemaker and then goes home.

At home, he calls the office’s security guard, Joe Pete, to look for his rate book in his office. Huff hid it so Joe wouldn’t find it, and so that Huff could make it seem as if he was working late on the winemaker’s case. Phyllis calls to inform Huff that her husband is wearing a blue suit. Huff dresses in his own blue suit and wraps his foot in bandages. He calls his secretary Nettie to ask about the rate book to continue his ruse. Before leaving his house, Huff sets up cards that will fall down if anybody knocks or calls, so he can account for them in his alibi.

Huff drives to an arranged meeting place. Phyllis lures Nirdlinger out of the car so Huff can climb in. Huff breaks Nirdlinger’s neck when he returns to the car.