# III explained — Continental Op Stories

> Chapter companion for Continental Op Stories by Dashiell Hammett.

## What happens

The narrator endures a tense day after the shooting, with Hilary Gallaway mocking him. He investigates the bullets, grills the staff, and fears a third night attack. That night, he hides in a closet and catches Talbert Exon attempting to remove the nurse's bandages.

## Themes in this chapter

### Violence and Survival

The shooting of Barbra Caywood and Exon's feverish attempt to harm her highlight the ongoing threat to life.

### Deception and Identity

The narrator hides in a closet to uncover the true perpetrator, revealing hidden intentions.

## Character check-ins

### The Continental Op

Hides in a closet to catch the attacker; discovers Exon trying to remove the nurse's bandages.

### Hilary Gallaway

Mocks the narrator throughout the day; announces he will stay home that evening.

### Mr. Tennant

Referred to as Shand; investigates with the narrator and calls in an alibi for Gallaway.

## Key lines

> I crept stealthily into the girl’s room, crossed to a clothespress that I had noted earlier in the day, and planted myself in it.

The narrator sneaks into the nurse's room and hides in a closet he had spotted earlier.

_Shows the narrator's strategic planning to catch the attacker._

> Old Talbert Exon, his face flushed with fever, his night shirt hanging limply around his wasted legs. One of his hands still rested upon the bedclothes he had turned down from her body. The other hand held a narrow strip of adhesive tape, with which her bandages had been fixed in place, and which he had just torn off.

Exon, feverish and weak, is caught by the narrator as he tries to remove the nurse's bandages.

_Reveals Exon as the perpetrator of the attack on the nurse._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/continental_op_stories_se/chapters/iii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/continental_op_stories_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/continental_op_stories_se/chapters