Green River KIiller Page #21

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As we slowly move in, keeping our distance, we see it’s GARY

sitting naked in the dark, drinking from a bottle of wine,

eyes glistening.

GARY (O.S.) (CONT'D)

But she wouldn’t wash herself with

me... too much in a hurry.

Now we’re moving along another corridor. On the wall a framed

picture of GARY and his son MATTHEW. In the reflection, we

see GARY, naked, pulling a TRUNK along the corridor towards a

room at the end.

GARY (O.S.) (CONT'D)

It had been so good before, but...

she wasn’t satisfying me. She

wasn’t enjoying it.

INT. BEDROOM, RIDGWAY HOUSE, SEA-TAC (1983)

Very close on GARY’s face. Locks of blonde hair across it.

Slow pullback over the next speech, revealing GARY laying

next to CAROL CHRISTENSEN, both naked in his bed, sheets

pulled back. He holds her lifeless body close to him. Clothes

on the floor, a belt at the foot of the bed, the trunk

waiting near the doorway.

GARY (O.S.)

I couldn’t climax on top of her,

like before... and every time she

said hurry, I got madder and

madder. I got behind her, and after

I was done... I killed her.

INT. THE BUNKER, INTERROGATION ROOM (2003) - CONTINUOUS

GARY:

I cried afterwards.

TOM:

Did you keep her overnight?

GARY:

Uh, maybe...

118.

TOM:

Did you have sex with her again?

GARY:

I don’t remember...

TOM:

It’s okay.

GARY:

I, uh... I might have.

EXT. WOODED AREA, MAPLE VALLEY (1983) - DAY

Close on FISH SCALES. Another slow pullback reveals the fish

laying on the body of CAROL CHRISTENSEN, laying on the ground

among bits of trash, fully clothed, bag over her head,

sausage meat in her hands. Finally, a wine bottle is placed

on her by an unseen GARY.

GARY (O.S.)

When I dropped off her body, it was

in the day, I know that. I had some

stuff in the refrigerator, the fish

and the sausage meat and... They

didn’t mean nothing. I was just

trying to confuse you guys. I put

her clothes back on, because I

didn’t want to go back. I couldn’t

do that to her. I cared for her.

INT. THE BUNKER, INTERROGATION ROOM (2003) - CONTINUOUS

GARY:

I really cared for her. I’d had

great times with her before. Why

not this time?

GARY stops. The room is silent. TOM just looking at GARY.

MATTSEN unsure where TOM is at. PROTHERO looks up from

writing.

INT. THE BUNKER, PROSECUTION VIEWING ROOM (2003) - CONTINUOUS

REICHERT standing, watching on the monitor, next to him JIM

DOYON.

SHERIFF REICHERT

I think Tom’s losing it. Do we stop

it now?

119.

DOYON:

Just give him a little longer...

REICHERT looks to GRADDON. GRADDON gives a small nod.

INT. THE BUNKER, INTERROGATION ROOM (2003) - CONTINUOUS

TOM staring at GARY. Looks down, shakes his head.

TOM:

Help me here, Gary.

GARY just looks at him.

TOM (CONT’D)

Carol was special to you, right?

GARY:

Yes.

TOM:

You cared about her?

GARY:

Yes.

TOM:

Okay. So, why kill her?

GARY:

I told you. Because of the

hurryingness, and...

TOM:

I know what you told me, Gary. But

it doesn’t make any sense.

GARY stares at him, blankly.

TOM (CONT'D)

In all these interviews you say you

just wanted sex, and these women,

they do something wrong, they piss

you off, and you snap. They tap

your ‘rage’ and you end up choking

them.

GARY just blinks.

TOM (CONT’D)

But Carol, she tells you right

away, she’s in a hurry. She can’t

give you the time you want.

(MORE)

120.

TOM (CONT’D)

Right there, you should have known.

And I think you did. You say this

was just about the sex. But it was

about the killing too. Wasn’t it?

GARY and TOM, eyes locked, no-one else exists.

TOM (CONT'D)

You’d killed before. Many times.

GARY:

Yes.

TOM:

You know what’s going to happen if

she pisses you off?

GARY:

Uh huh.

TOM:

And you like this woman. You care

about her?

GARY:

Yes.

TOM:

And you get into this anyway.

Knowing full well she could end up

dead.

GARY:

Yes.

TOM looking into this man’s face. Into the last twenty years.

Into nothingness. Finally

TOM:

Why?

GARY:

(not understanding)

What’s that?

TOM:

Why? Why’d you do this?

GARY looks at him.

GARY:

I just...

121.

GARY has a FLASH IMAGE of standing among the trees inside the

‘OLD FOREST’. He is looking at JUDITH, who stands just

outside in the grey light. (We cut between the room and the

forest).

GARY (CONT’D)

I needed to kill.

JUDITH is walking away across the fields towards the rise in

the distance. TOM intent on GARY’s face, his words.

GARY (CONT’D)

Because of... that.

Just before JUDITH disappears over the rise, she turns and

SLOWLY WAVES in that familiar way. GARY watches her from

within the darkness. And then she’s gone.

GARY (CONT’D)

I just needed to kill.

Everyone sits in silence. We realize TOM is crying.

TOM:

You touched me, Gary. You touched

me. I need to take a break.

TOM stands. He leaves the room, as MATTSEN turns off the

camera.

GARY:

(to PROTHERO)

What happened? Did I say something

wrong?

INT. THE BUNKER, CORRIDOR (2003) - CONTINUOUS

TOM walks along the corridor. Enters an empty room. Sits at a

table and starts to weep. JIM DOYON stands outside the door,

watches his friend sobbing. A man who has looked into the

abyss and found no answers, only darkness.

EXT. MOUNTAIN ROAD - DAY

We’re travelling along a mountain road. We can’t see

surroundings yet, just the ground beneath us moving fast.

TOM (V.O.)

The interviews with Gary Ridgway

went on to last 188 days.

(MORE)

122.

TOM (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Even though he continued to

frustrate, the breakthroughs of

that day gave us what we needed to

continue.

EXT. JENSEN HOUSE BACKYARD (2003) - DAY

TOM and CHARLAINE sit next to each other on the deck. She can

see he’s been through something shattering.

CHARLAINE:

How was your day?

TOM just smiles and shakes his head. It’s all he can do not

to break down again. He takes her hand.

TOM (V.O.)

The next day I went back to work

and resumed my place.

EXT. MOUNTAIN ROAD - DAY

As we travel along, the camera rises and we see that we’re on

a mountain road, steep bank to one side.

TOM (V.O.)

We never discussed what happened,

my ‘breakdown’ as I call it, and

nothing like it occurred again.

INT. KING COUNTY COURTHOUSE (2003) - DAY

A packed courtroom, nearly three hundred people squashed in.

Jury box crammed with REPORTERS. Cameras. POLICE and SWAT

team members everywhere. The main seating area full of the

VICTIM’S FAMILY members. TOM sits to one side of them. At the

very front, GARY. PROTHERO next to him.

TOM (V.O.)

On November 5, 2003, Gary Leon

Ridgway was formally charged with

forty-eight counts of murder.

We hear the names of the victims being read out. (This will

now continue under until the end.) “...Wendy Lee Coffield...

Giselle A. Lovvorn... Debra Lynn Bonner...”

123.

EXT. MOUNTAIN ROAD - DAY

As we travel along, we look down the embankment at the side

of the road. In the distance below us, we see two pale

figures, naked, dirty, watching us as we pass. They stand

where their lifeless bodies were left. “...Alma Ann Smith...

Carrie Ann Rois...”

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