the first witness, herman rundvik, a waiter, recalls a dinner at a secluded tavern, hosted by the charismatic and profligate torsten barring. guests include vera, the faithless wife of plastic surgeon gustaf segert, and eric, her latest conquest. the manager, bernard dalvik, refuses credit, and torsten meets the proprietress, anna. the right side of her face is mutilated, but torsten ignores her scars and compliments her beautiful eyes. anna forgives the bill and hints that she might be useful to him. after the party leaves, eric returns to ask rundvik if something dropped from his overcoat pocket... rundvik identifies anna as boss of their blackmail ring.