Cleo Sherwood is a character in the Lady in the Lake novel and in the adapted television series, of the same name. In the TV series, she is portrayed by Moses Ingram.
Biography[]
Cleo is mistreated at the department store where she works as a model, particularly from saleswomen who disregard her approved early leave and threaten to dock her pay. Later, Cleo attends a political meeting and expresses disapproval of her son's involvement in a local gambling ring. Frustrated with her husband, Slappy, for not finding a job or parenting their two sons, she decides to move herself and the children to her mother's house.
At night, Cleo works as a bookkeeper for a crime boss named Shell Gordon, who owns a popular nightclub. Shell disapproves of Cleo's political involvement, fearing it might interfere with his illicit operations. Despite this, Cleo continues her work at the club, where she interacts with Dora, a talented but heroin-addicted singer, and Reggie, Shell's right-hand man, who was previously seen with a black eye in the pet store.
Cleo's political activities put her in a difficult position when she discovers that Shell once financed Myrtle Summer’s campaign. Now, Summer opposes Shell's illegal activities, complicating Cleo's situation as she believes in Summer's progressive ideas but relies on Shell for her income. When Cleo asks Summer for a job, she is rejected due to her association with Shell, leading her to seek more work from him.
As Cleo navigates her complex circumstances, she convinces her husband, Slappy, to take a stand-up gig at Shell's club to secure their livelihood. Despite his crude act, this ensures Shell's control over them. Reggie, under police suspicion for Tessie's murder, asks Cleo to deliver cash for a hit on Myrtle Summer. Unaware of the plan, Cleo finds herself caught in the middle of a chaotic shootout, which forces her to run for her life.
Later, Reggie calls her, providing her with a winning number and instructing her to leave by Christmas Day. Accompanied by her son, Cleo visits a hairdresser who operates from her apartment, proposing a deal that could help the hairdresser open her own salon if she bets on the number 366 on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, while celebrating with her family, Cleo confronts her mother for years of neglect and lack of support. Meanwhile, Reggie is given the grim task of killing Cleo after a confrontation with Shell, a task that weighs heavily on him.
Reggie arranges to meet Cleo at midnight in the early hours of Christmas to collect his share of the money before she leaves. Cleo goes to meet Reggie alone at their designated spot, visibly frightened when Reggie arrives. It appears that Cleo gets killed as she disappears, however it is later revealed that she is in fact alive and might have faked her own death.
It's revealed that Cleo Johnson orchestrated an elaborate plan to fake her own death to escape dangerous circumstances and threats in her life. After the tragic overdose of her best friend Dora, Cleo and Reggie concoct a plan to make it appear as though Cleo has died. They dress Dora's body in Cleo's clothing and leave it in a public fountain to mislead everyone into believing Cleo is dead. This ruse allows Cleo to secretly escape with the lottery money she had obtained, which would have otherwise made her a target in Baltimore.
Cleo's plan is successful, and she manages to leave her old life behind, ultimately relocating to Europe. In her new life, she adopts the identity of Dora Carter and starts a new chapter as a singer in a Parisian club.
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