A court rules Madeleine's death a suicide, and Scottie, who feels responsible for her demise, winds up in a sanitarium, where he is treated for "acute melancholia" — 1950s speak for clinical depression — and "a guilt complex." He is eventually released from the sanitarium but remains deeply affected. Still infatuated with Madeleine, Scottie frequently returns to the places where he used to follow the possessed possessor of his heart, his obsession growing until one day he spots a young woman who, despite her brunette hair and different style, resembles his lost love.
Scottie follows the woman into the Empire Hotel and knocks on her door, but when the two start talking, it's clear that this is not Madeleine. The woman — named Judy Barton — has a coarser demeanor, a different accent, and (most importantly) wants nothing to do with the retired police detective. But Scottie is persistent and ultimately convinces her to let him in, where he asks all about her life, gobsmacked that this splitting image of Madeleine has her own backstory — she at one point even has to get her old Kansas driver's license out to make him believe her.
Despite his coming off as a major creep, Judy agrees to go to dinner with Scottie, and when he leaves her hotel room, the audience learns why. Judy flashes back to that fateful night at the mission, where she, as Madeleine, runs up the stairs of the bell tower to find Gavin with the real Madeleine, already dead, in his arms, waiting to throw her onto the roof below. Not only was Scottie right to see Madeleine in Judy, he's also in love with a character, an imitation — and an accessory to murder!
