I really think that sitting in on Tilly's pre-assignment briefing would have been instructive. What did Beatrice (or, more likely, someone working under the instructions of Beatrice's PA) tell her? I can well believe that, through the Chinese Whispers chain of multiple managerial levels, Beatrice's initial instructions and intentions (which she likely was too busy to express too clearly herself) were distorted beyond imagining.
Tilly, on the other hand, being a good corporate drone, is used to rationalising away obvious contradictions and even blatantly illegal means in order to obey orders and get a 'satisfactory' performance review at her next supervision session. It wasn't until, as we see here, Hannelore points out that, by obeying
one set of instructions that it became
logically impossible to obey the other that she realised just in what kind of a no-win scenario she had been left in by her supervisor!
Tilly's a good kid but I don't think it's guilt that's motivating her in panel 4. It's the realisation that it will probably less painful to kill herself in some clumsy and slow manner than to let her managers discipline her for failing in her assignment. I mean, the next assignment could now be a
real winner like 'inventory the ceiling tiles' or 'chair the Working Group on Employee Empowerment until morale improves with a time limit of three months'.
And I'm afraid I can't see how that distinction makes a difference to anybody but Tilly - once she realizes the error of her ways and starts asking herself what the hell motivated her to blatantly refuse to leave another person alone unless being forced to by the police.
Because most large corporations consider the law to be something
to work around, not something to obey. I doubt that this is the first project Tilly's been involved in where obeying the law and the rules of human decency is only an issue when a SWAT team, assisted by FBI officers and a SEC auditor or two come busting in to arrest the entire project team.
"Low-pollution diesel engines" comes to mind.