Green River KIiller Page #5

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MULLINAX walks over.

MULLINAX:

He fooled us and everyone else for

twenty years, remember? Not too

shabby for a ‘retard’. Tom, Sheriff

wants us in the conference room

before it gets started.

INT. THE BUNKER, CONFERENCE ROOM (2003) - DAY

GRADDON and SHERIFF REICHERT address the INTERVIEW team -

MULLINAX, PETERS, MATTSEN and TOM.

SHERIFF REICHERT

The rights and wrongs of this thing

don’t matter anymore. We have a

gentleman in the next room waiting

to tell us he’s the Green River

Killer, and you four have been

chosen to handle these interviews.

(MORE)

24.

SHERIFF REICHERT (CONT'D)

Let’s hear what he has to say, pick

up those extra bodies he’s gonna

tell us about, and then we can all

go home. Case closed.

GRADDON:

Before we start, I just want to

remind you. We get one shot at

this. If this falls apart, for any

reason, and it becomes public

knowledge that Gary Ridgway was

making a deal to confess, no jury

in the world could be impartial.

We’d have a hard time getting a

trial, and we’d have made the

biggest f***-up in the history of

f***-ups. There is no margin for

error. I know how important this is

to you all. Some of you have been

on this case a very long time.

On TOM, listening.

GRADDON (CONT'D)

So, I warn you now, if at any point

we feel like one of you is not up

to this, if any one of you lets

your own personal feelings get in

the way, or jeopardizes, for any

reason whatsoever, what we’re

trying to do here, then you will be

taken off this team immediately, no

questions asked, and you will play

no further part in these

proceedings. Is that clear?

The TEAM take this in. TOM tries not to show any nerves.

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

On a MONITOR SCREEN we see GARY sitting in the INTERROGATION

ROOM ready to start the first interview. Across the table

from him is Prosecuting Attorney, JEFF MCDONALD, reading from

a file, VIDEO CAMERA on a tripod beside him. To one side, at

another table, sits MARK PROTHERO,(GARY’s defence attorney).

We hear MCDONALD over a live-feed, as we realize this is

being watched by a room full of DETECTIVES, including

MULLINAX, MATTSEN, PETERS, DOYON and TOM.

25.

MCDONALD (O.S.)

“The time is approximately 4:03

P.M. on Friday, June 13th, 2003.

Present are...”

MATTSEN:

It’s Friday the 13th? You’re

kidding me.

DOYON:

If he pulls out a hockey mask, I’m

getting the hell outta here!

Enter SHERIFF REICHERT and GRADDON. The room quiets.

GRADDON:

Once Brian’s done going over the

formalities in there with him,

we’ll get started.

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

MCDONALD:

Mr. Ridgway, in your previous

appearances before the court, you

have pled not guilty to these

crimes. Is that correct?

GARY:

Yes.

MCDONALD:

It is our understanding that you

are now prepared to confess that

you are responsible for the deaths

of forty-eight women in total, and

several additional women whose

bodies have not yet been found. Is

this accurate?

GARY:

Uh, it’s.. Well, it’s around.. or,

uh, pretty close.

MCDONALD:

Is it accurate or not?

GARY:

It depends on how many they... not

100 percent sure. I mean 99.9

percent.

26.

MCDONALD:

As to what?

GARY:

...is forty-eight.

MCDONALD:

(confused)

That is the number ‘forty-eight’?

GARY:

It is.

MCDONALD:

It is what?

GARY looks confused and worried. Everyone is thrown. This

wasn’t part of anyone’s plan. MCDONALD looks over at

PROTHERO. Sort your guy out.

MCDONALD (CONT’D)

Perhaps you should take a moment to

consult with your attorney?

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

SHERIFF REICHERT

I’m completely confused. Can

someone please explain to me what

the hell is going on?

TOM:

I think he’s worried about being

tied to a specific number. If we

don’t find them all, then he’s

worried he might be back on death

row.

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

GARY turns back to MCDONALD after talking with PROTHERO.

GARY:

Okay.

MCDONALD:

(unsure)

So, where are we?

27.

GARY:

(points to the file)

I believe it says in there, I

recall forty-eight to fifty-three?

MCDONALD:

Is that the ambiguity you have,

about the number of murders you’ve

committed?

GARY:

Uh, yes, it is. I think.

MCDONALD:

So it’s somewhere between forty-

eight and fifty-three?

GARY:

(looks at PROTHERO, he

nods)

Yes, it is.

MCDONALD:

Okay.

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

SHERIFF REICHERT looks around at everyone, confused.

SHERIFF REICHERT

He said it, right? He just admitted

he’s the Green River Killer.

TOM:

(quite a moment)

Yes, he did. Now we just have to

get him to prove it.

A GUARD enters and nods to GRADDON, who turns to MULLINAX and

TOM.

GRADDON:

Tom? Randy? You’re up.

They both go to leave. TOM feels the eyes of GRADDON and

REICHERT on him as he exits to make his way to the first

interview.

MCDONALD (O.S.)

Gary Ridgway, we are prepared to

accept your confession...

28.

INT. THE BUNKER, CORRIDOR (2003) - DAY

TOM and MULLINAX walk down the corridor.

MCDONALD (O.S.)

... provided that you furnish our

detectives with complete, truthful

and candid information about your

crimes within King County...

TOM hears a phone ring in a nearby office. Remembers...

INT. JENSEN HOUSE, KITCHEN (2001) - DAY

Two years earlier. Someone is leaving a message on the answer

machine to an empty kitchen. Through the window we see TOM in

the early stages of building his deck.

HIMICK (V.O.)

“Detective Jensen, this is Beverly

Himick at the Washington State

Police Crime Lab. We need to meet.”

The loud BEEP at the end makes TOM look up, out back.

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

On TOM, as he and MULLINAX walk through the main workspace,

watched by everyone there.

MCDONALD (O.S.)

... and disclose the existence and

precise locations of all

undiscovered remains of your

victims.

INT. KING COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, SEATTLE (2001) - DAY

TOM sits opposite SHERIFF REICHERT, holding a folder.

TOM:

As you know, he didn’t leave us

with much DNA to work with. And the

stuff we did get was impossible to

test with the technology at the

time. But things have moved on a

lot, so earlier this year I sent

samples from three of our possible

suspects.

They look at each other. The room is starting to crackle.

29.

TOM (CONT’D)

They’ve found a match for two of

the River girls. Marcia Chapman and

Opal Mills.

TOM places photographs of the BODIES down as he names them.

TOM (CONT'D)

Which means it’s statistically

probable that Cynthia Hinds was

placed there by the same man.

TOM points her out next to MARCIA under the river. REICHERT

has stopped breathing.

SHERIFF REICHERT

But that’s just three. What about

the ones we found on land? There’s

a lot more of them. That doesn’t

help us tie him to those.

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