How does Ida Sessions know what's going on at the Albacore Club?
Why would she know that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z55W6ihUY-c
Moderators are terrorists.
It's inferred that Ida Sessions was "handled" by either Mulvihill or "the midget" aka Polanski's gunsel character. When the time came to get someone to impersonate Evelyn, the hired help enlisted someone they already knew. It could be that the midget was her pimp, we don't know but they certainly know where to find her when it came time to kill her.
She got the kissing "love nest" photos from Jake, and then someone, presumably her decided to make some side money by selling them to a tabloid newspaper. This is how Noah Cross zeros in on Hollis, and might be what their argument was really over - the girl, not the water project. We don't know and it doesn't really matter. Probably both. But the whole fake Mrs Mulwray ruse seems to have been not to disgrace Hollis but to find the girl.
Ida's death was not so much because she knew about Hollis' murder but because she blew her assignment, to get info to Noah Cross and to keep it all quiet. The newspaper story caused Katherine to go back into hiding, and this is why Noah Cross suggests to Jake that he look for "the mistress."
But just as Ida needed to be "handled," so did the elderly proxy owners of the Valley. Again, we have to guess but perhaps the midget or Mulvihill was the one dealing with the land deeds, and the paperwork of all the proxy buyers. They certainly arrived at the old folks home in short time, so you wonder how far away they could have been. Maybe they even live on the grounds, we don't know. But you can imagine that if Ida Sessions was associated with the duo of muscle then she may have also been enlisted to go to city hall and close on various property deals too. Or, she just heard about the deals and the Albacore club and old folks home because she was sleeping with Mulvihill. In any case it is her association with the gunsels that got her killed, so we can assume she knew what they knew because they couldn't keep quiet and then had to cover their sloppiness.
Actually let me amend that. The argument at the Pig & Whistle was about "apple core" aka Albacore and the water scam, not the girl - yet. Noah Cross didn't know about the girl (his daughter/granddaughter) Katherine being in LA until he saw the morning papers. It was then that he went to the Mulwray house - Evelyn was "out riding" she says and Noah killed Hollis in the koi pond, arguing over the girl, or the girl and the scam. jake barely missed the murder which presumably happened out of sight of the servants shortly before his arrival.
Ross Yelburton hired Ida Sessions because he was suspicious of how close Mulwray was to figuring out the details of the water diversion, and wanted Mulwray's movements tracked. Noah Cross would not hire someone to spy on his own meeting with Mulwray and the Pig & Whistle. Why have yourself followed?
Noah Cross is rich and powerful and wasn't worried about details, and had he wanted to have Mulwray followed to find a girl he thought he had lost forever he would have done so without a ruse. And if Cross was worried about Mulwray spoiling the scam he would have done something besides argue at the Pig & Whistle. The murder was up close and personal and took place at home in a moment of passion. Cross could have had Mulwray killed by an assassin at the reservoir if he wanted that. The murder was about the girl. But Yelburton is the one who meddled and caused her cover to be blown. He's the one who needed an excuse to have his boss followed. He also thought there would be no discovery of a "love nest" since he knew his boss was not a ladies' man.
Ida Sessions only seemed to be interested in the love nest pictures, and she probably withheld them from her employer on purpose so as to make some side money by selling them to the newspapers. The information about the pig & Whistle argument and the movements around the reservoir were of no value to her.
It's still a leap to say how Ida knew about Japer Lamar Crabbe and the Albacore club, but one hint we are given is that when Jake has lunch on Catalina island with Noah Cross, in the background a "sheriff's posse" riding club is seen. Noah Cross had influence with men like Mulvihill, a former (and presumably somewhat disgraced) sheriff of Ventura country who Jake knows to have been in bed with bootleggers and rum runners.
We're left to guess how Escobar knows to be at Ida's house after she is killed. Escobar seems to genuinely want to solve the crime of Hollis Mulwray's death. But he's also "swimming in the same water" as Jake says of him. He's honest only up to a point where it helps his career. Loach, the "second cop" guy on the other hand always is angry and impatient and this is because the film is building up to HIS pistol fire killing Evelyn and bringing the tragedy to a climax.
But again, who knew where to find Ida Sessions? Russ Yelburton and/or presumably Mulvihill, who worked for him as Yelburton admits to Jake outside his office. He's "guarding the reservoir" aka diverting the water. Yes, the scam is to enrich Noah Cross but also to enrich and empower Yelburton, too.
If Cross acted alone in killing Mulray, just before Jake arrived, how did he manage to remove the body by himself, without being noticed?
I thought I had a second question, but I think you answered it above. Am I right that (according to your post) Yelburton only had Sessions pull the masquerade and hire Gittes so that he could keep track of Hollis' movements related to the water scam? And that Yelburton never actually expected Hollis to be caught in what seemed to be a "love nest"?
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