True Story Page #3

because it was there

I met my wife.

For two months, we had to

sleep in the warehouse.

We went on the run.

Shame is a terrible emotion

for a man.

To lose your dignity in front

of your wife and children...

I took any work I could find.

I spent four months

in Starbucks,

making coffee for kids and guys

who used to work for me.

The car we had broke down,

so I just drove off the lot.

All my friends

were going to college.

We were teaching our kids

how to walk.

I wish I could have

gone to college.

It felt so good

just to make M. J. happy.

When I think back to my life

before that awful night,

it's like looking

at a watercolor.

The outlines are clear,

but they fade at the edges

leaving blurs and smudges.

Everything after that

is dark.

How long are you going for?

A couple days.

What was her name?

The wife?

MaryJane.

And the baby?

Madison.

How old was she?

She was three years old.

Look, I know

what I'm doing, okay?

I know.

Take care.

I'll call you, all right?

Love you.

So this is it?

Second floor,

the one on the left.

Can we see it?

Well, it's totally empty,

the cops cleared it out.

But I can show you

where they were found.

According to the coroner,

MaryJane and Madison

were beaten

and strangled to death,

and then zipped inside

two suitcases

with free weights

and dropped here,

breaking a water pipe

on the way down,

which is noticed

the next morning

and becomes part of

the reason the canal

was searched the following week.

It's pretty public here.

I know. Crazy.

And then Zach and Sadie

are driven 15 miles south

and dropped in the water

at Waldport, over there.

Why drive 15 miles

to dump bodies on the edge

of the next town?

Don't you find that odd?

Maybe something in him

wanted to get caught.

Then why'd flee?

I guess he changed his mind.

So this is

where he dropped them.

It's not high enough

to kill them outright,

so they would have drowned.

Unless the cold made them

go into cardiac arrest.

It was well below zero

that night.

Terrible thing for him to do.

If he did it.

If?

He's gonna plead innocent.

How do you know?

He told me.

You spoke to him?

I met him.

Why?

I wanted to hear

his side of the story.

I'm not sure Christian Longo

deserves to have

his story heard.

Everybody deserves to

have their story heard.

Mommy!

I know you did it.

You know you did it.

We don't need the how or why,

just three little words.

They can be spoken real quick.

I just can't right now.

I'm sorry.

Chris, your letter was

an extraordinary thing.

But this story

between the two of us,

it's not an article I can write.

But it could be a book.

Really?

But if we're gonna write

something like that together,

it's what you tell me,

not how, that's important.

I know. It's just that,

you speak so beautifully,

you have such

a mastery of words,

and I want that.

- It inspires me.

- I need it.

Okay.

Let's make a trade.

I give you a note,

you answer a question.

Okay.

All right.

All right,

so on page 23 you write,

"When I lost my position

at the realtor's,

"MaryJane thought

I'd tried to get fired,

"but I never said it was

a job I didn't want."

So that's a double negative,

"never said I didn't want."

Okay.

It's weak, a double negative.

In good journalism,

we would write,

"It was a job I wanted."

I get it.

Two negatives

don't make a positive.

Okay.

My turn.

Okay.

Why did you hook up with

that German girl in Mexico?

How'd you know about that?

I spoke to her.

I don't know.

I was...

I was grieving so much,

it was as if the old

Chris Longo was dead.

But you slept with her

on the first night.

I don't know.

That's what she says.

Chris,

did you do what you're accused of doing?

I loved my family.

I only wanted

what was best for them.

I'm really sorry, Mike.

I can't do this right now.

Do what?

I can't tell you

what really happened.

Okay.

Okay. Then...

Then why flee to Mexico

right after they were found?

You have to understand,

that makes you look

incredibly guilty.

Sometimes,

you have to accept

looking one way

in order to protect

something more important.

Chris, if you're hiding

something from me,

I will find out.

That's what I do.

I look everywhere.

Why did you kill them?

I didn't kill them.

It's part true crime,

but it's part mea culpa.

It's really about

writing itself.

And you're sure

it's a full book

and not an article?

You're really feel that

there's enough there?

It's a book, it is a book.

We're not gonna find out later

it's like the African story?

You can imagine how difficult

that would be for us.

Of course, of course.

And I...

You have nothing to worry about.

It all came at once,

and I had five mouths to feed,

so I took any job I could get.

That was when

you started stealing?

You know about that?

It was just small amounts.

Food and clothes,

and diapers. Books.

That

teddy bear

they found with Madison,

with her body.

That was originally Zach's.

And it was handed down to

Sadie and then to Madison.

All because

I couldn't buy new toys.

I mean, what kind

of loser can't even...

That says more about you

than anything.

It does?

That's exactly what I would

want to use in the book.

Chris, it's not easy

to relate to someone

who's accused of four murders.

But everyone understands

a child needing a toy.

And the teddy bear ending up...

It's like it died when she died.

I never thought of it that way.

This is my notebook from Africa.

You gotta see this.

Look.

That's weird.

Two men, same age,

from completely

different worlds,

different educations,

and yet there's something

so similar about us.

Some of what

he writes is really...

It's moving.

You think he's innocent,

don't you?

I don't presume

anything anymore.

I'm going to say a word,

then we just write

the first thing

that comes to our mind.

Don't even think about it.

All right.

Okay? The future.

Future?

I wrote

"always another opportunity."

I didn't write anything.

All right, you try one.

Love.

"Something

I always screw up."

That's depressing, but true.

That's really weird, because

for "love" I wrote

"Mike and Jill."

What?

I guess I was just

looking at you

and I thought you were

writing about her.

Maybe you were, in a way.

I'd have thought

you would have written "M.J."

I couldn't.

Why not?

It's too complicated.

What was she like?

Beautiful.

Supportive.

She was a great mother.

Loyal.

We made a pact

that we would never lie

to each other.

That was very important.

You must miss her.

Yeah.

She was like the ocean.

How so?

She was deep.

Rolling.

Sometimes stormy.

That's really nice.

Let's do one more.

All right, but they're so hard.

It's good that it's hard.

That's why it's a good exercise.

Yeah. Okay.

"Lies."

"Lies"?

I'm a liar?

Yes.

I'm a liar?

Um...

You stole my identity.

I was in Mexico.

Who was I supposed to choose?

I don't know. Dr. Seuss.

No, I needed somebody

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