Zodiac Page #11

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 61.

97 INT. TELEVISION STUDIO -- MORNING 97

VOICE (O.S.)

I feel awful lonesomeness.

BELLI:

We should meet and talk. Just us.

VOICE (O.S.)

Okay.

BELLI:

How about Old St. Mary's Church in

Chinatown?

CLICK.

VOICE (O.S.)

No, I pick. In front of the Daly

City St. Vincent De Paul at 10:30.

BELLI:

I'll see you there. Take care of

yourself, Sam.

He's gone.

98 INT. CONTROL BOOTH -- MORNING 98

Toschi scooping up the phone:

TOSCHI:

I need an address in Daly City...

99 EXT. DALY CITY STREETS -- MORNING 99

A HUGE CONVOY of POLICE CARS scream through the streets.

Following them are at least SIX NEWS VANS.

100 INT. TOSCHI'S CAR (MOVING) -- MORNING

Armstrong drives. Toschi sits shotgun.

TOSCHI:

There is no way this guy shows.

They pull up to the St. Vincent De Paul. Getting out...

100

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 62.

101 EXT. ST. VINCENT DE PAUL -- MORNING 101

Cops everywhere. Helicopters circle. In the midst of it all

is a smiling Belli. He looks to Toschi and Armstrong.

BELLI:

You gents put on quite the secret

meeting!

We PULL BACK from the scene to take in all the hub-bub...

CUT TO:

102 INT. CONTROL BOOTH -- DAY 102

A REEL TO REEL TAPE - Playing back the television program.

BRYAN HARTNELL, the survivor from Berryessa. Listening.

It's not him.

too young.

BRYAN:

Voice is too high,

Toschi shuts off the tape.

TOSCHI:

Thanks for coming down.

Bryan nods and gets to his feet. It's a slow, agonizing

process because of his wounds. Armstrong goes to help...

I got it.

BRYAN:

Armstrong steps back. Bryan finally manages to straighten up

and grips a cane. He slowly hobbles out of the booth.

Toschi watches him go. Pained. Once he's out of earshot:

ARMSTRONG:

They pulled off the trace. Our

Daly City no-show called from a

mental institution.

Toschi snorts.

ARMSTRONG (CONT'D)

The operator from Oakland PD is

sure the man who called her had a

deeper voice. Calmer.

(pause)

Could've actually been him.

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 63.

103 EXT. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE THIRD FLOOR -- DAY 103

November 10, 1969. Graysmith, stepping off the elevator to

find... The room is practically DESERTED. That can onlymean one thing. He drops his briefcase and RUNS.

Headed for the Editorial Room. Rounds a corner to find it

PACKED WITH PEOPLE. Theiriot's faint voice in the center:

THEIRIOT (O.S.)

...so I shall change my way of

collecting slaves. I shall no

longer announce to anyone when I

commit my murders, they shall look

like routine robberies, killings

of anger and a few fake accidents,

etcetera.

Graysmith politely tries to get through the throng towards

the table. Not wanting to jostle anyone. ANOTHER REPORTER,

whispering, filling Graysmith in:

THEIRIOT (O.S.) (CONT'D)REPORTER

The police shall never catch Two new letters,

me because I have been too mailed a day apart...

clever for them. One - I

look like the description

passed out only when I do my

thing, the rest of the time I

look entirely different. I

shall not tell you what my

disguise consists of when I

kill. Two - as of yet I haveleft no fingerprints behind

contrary to what the police

say about me, I weartransparent finger tips. All

it is is two coats of

airplane cement coated on my

finger tips...

Graysmith reaches the table. Theiriot, ringed by Avery,

Hyman, Peck, Toschi and Armstrong.

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

...I enjoy needling the blue pigs.

Hey, blue pig, I was in the park,

you were using firetrucks to mask

the sound of your cruising prowl

cars.

Close on TOSCHI'S FACE.

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 64.

103 CONTINUED:
103

THEIRIOT (CONT'D)

Hey, pig, doesn't it rile you up

to have your nose rubbed in your

booboos? If you cops think I'm

going to take on a bus the way I

stated I was, you deserve to have

holes in your heads-

(flips the page)

Oh, no.

TOSCHI:

Let me see.

He takes the pages. One - a crudely sketched DIAGRAM.

Toschi examines it as Armstrong takes the letter:

ARMSTRONG:

Take one bag of ammonium nitrate

fertilizer, and one gallon of stove

oil, and dump a few bags of gravel

on top-It's a bomb.

TOSCHI:

Somebody needs to call the army

and see if this Rube Goldberg

contraption could actually work.

ARMSTRONG:

Dave, take a look at this.

He's opened the dripping pen card to reveal - A HUGE NEW

CIPHER. Avery blinks. Looks across the table to see

Graysmith...

104 OMITTED 104

105 INT. MORTI'S -- NIGHT 105

Graysmith sits with Avery. Finally allowed in to the inner

circle. On the table - whiskey for Avery and a HUGE BLUE

UMBRELLA DRINK for Graysmith. As he sips it:

AVERY:

So, tell me about yourself. You

married?

GRAYSMITH:

Divorced. Two kids.

AVERY:

What do you do for fun?

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 64A.

105 CONTINUED:
105

GRAYSMITH:

Well... I like to read... I

enjoy books...

AVERY:

Those are the same things.

(leaning forward)

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 65.

105 CONTINUED:
(2) 105

AVERY (CONT'D)

Why have you been going through my

trash?

Graysmith doesn't respond. Looking guilty.

AVERY (CONT'D)

How'd you know he was going to

send another code?

GRAYSMITH:

I guessed.

AVERY:

You guessed.

GRAYSMITH:

The first code was too easy.

AVERY:

This can no longer be ignored -

what is this you're drinking?

GRAYSMITH:

You wouldn't make fun of my drink

if you tried it.

Avery, breaking. He takes the drink. Takes a sip and...

CUT TO:

GRAYSMITH AND AVERY - Later. Now both have huge bluedrinks. Both buzzed now, the new code in front of them. He

removes a vial of coke from his coat. Taps some into a dish.

Rolling the tip of an unlit cigarette in it.

GRAYSMITH (CONT'D)

Who actually cracked the code?

A married couple who like puzzles.

So what does that say about

Zodiac?

AVERY:

He's no expert.

GRAYSMITH:

Right. The first one was just a

substitution code like the kind we

all did as Boy Scouts, A is 1, B

is 2, and so on-

AVERY:

We weren't all Boy Scouts.

Graysmith pulls a rumpled copy of the FIRST CIPHER from his

pocket and spreads it out on the table.

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 66.

105 CONTINUED:
(3) 105

GRAYSMITH:

It looks hard, but you just have to

know where to start-

AVERY:

You actually carry that around

with you?

GRAYSMITH:

Why?

AVERY:

(smiling)

No reason.

GRAYSMITH:

What is the most common double

consonant in the English language?

AVERY:

Consonant?

GRAYSMITH:

The double L. And what's the one

word we know Zodiac will use in

here?

AVERY:

"Kill".

GRAYSMITH:

Exactly, so the Hardens start

looking for double symbols which

they find here, here, and here -

each with the same two symbols

preceding them. Now they've got a

repeating four letter word ending

with two symbols they assume stand

for "L"

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