Zodiac Page #25

GRAYSMITH:

Darlene Ferrin was being followed.

Toschi stares at him.

GRAYSMITH (CONT'D)

I know Mulanax says they already

found this guy, a George Waters.

But he also says Darlene had lots

of "admirers" who would come by

the restaurant where she worked.

When Darlene and her husband moved

into their new house, they threw a

painting party-

TOSCHI:

What's a painting party?

GRAYSMITH:

It's a party where people come

over and help you paint.

TOSCHI:

That sounds like a terrible party.

GRAYSMITH:

But someone who was not Waters

showed up that night and Darlene

was really scared of him.

Toschi, considering.

TOSCHI:

You think Zodiac knew Darlene.

GRAYSMITH:

And if Zodiac knew her, maybe

Mageau knew Zodiac.

TOSCHI:

We’ll never know. Mageau's gone.

In the wind. If you want to

connect Zodiac to Darlene, you're

gonna have to find another way.

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 145.

196A CONTINUED:
(2) 196A

GRAYSMITH:

I have another way. Phone calls.

The night of Darlene's murder-

TOSCHI:

Yeah, Zodiac called the police.

GRAYSMITH:

But there were four other calls.

Two to Darlene's house, one to her

brother-in-law, and one to her

father-in-law, just heavy

breathing. They started around

1:
30 a.m., before anyone in thefamily knew Darlene had been shot-

TOSCHI:

This was in the Vallejo files?

Graysmith nods.

TOSCHI (CONT'D)

Goddammit...

Margot begins to whine. Graysmith extracts a bottle from his

bag and starts feeding her as he continues.

GRAYSMITH:

Inspector, somebody doesn’t just

randomly prank call a victim’s

entire family ninety minutes after

a shooting. Either Zodiac shot a

random couple and then recognizedDarlene

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 146.

196A CONTINUED:
(3) 196A

TOSCHI:

-or he killed Darlene on purpose.

GRAYSMITH:

Either way, Zodiac had to have

known her.

Toschi, mulling this over.

TOSCHI:

That’s good, Robert.

GRAYSMITH:

I need to find Darlene's sister.

Maybe she can tell me who the

mystery man is.

TOSCHI:

Try that. I gotta get back. Bye,

cutie.

He pats Margot's head and gets out of the car. About to

leave when something occurs to him. Leans in the window.

TOSCHI (CONT'D)

It is interesting you mention

Zodiac calling people at home. I

heard he did that in San Francisco

once.

GRAYSMITH:

Who did he call?

TOSCHI:

That's privileged information and

as lead on the case, I really

can't tell you.

(musing)

But maybe Melvin Belli could.

197 INT. BELLI'S HOUSE -- DAY 197

Graysmith sits in the parlor, waiting for the famous lawyer.

His HOUSEKEEPER sets a tray of cookies in front of him.

HOUSEKEEPER:

He should be along soon.

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 147.

197 CONTINUED:
197

GRAYSMITH:

Oh, it's fine. I've only beenhere

(checks his watch)

Oh, wow. Two hours.

HOUSEKEEPER:

He is not usually this late-

GRAYSMITH:

No, really, it's fine. These look

like very good cookies.

He tries one while she watches. He smiles, showing how good

they are. Makes an "mmm" sound. She's satisfied.

HOUSEKEEPER:

You are here about a case?

GRAYSMITH:

I'm writing a book about the

Zodiac.

HOUSEKEEPER:

Oh, I remember that. I spoke tohim.

GRAYSMITH:

You mean to Mr. Belli about the

case?

HOUSEKEEPER:

No. To the Zodiac when he called.

He said he had to kill because it

was his birthday.

Graysmith puts down the cookie.

GRAYSMITH:

He said it was his birthday?

HOUSEKEEPER:

Yes. You want more cookies?

GRAYSMITH:

When did he call?

HOUSEKEEPER:

So many years ago... Mr. Belli

was away for Christmas. Gone for

a week. The Zodiac called, wanted

to talk to him. I said he is not

here.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

197

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT

CONTINUED:
(2)

HOUSEKEEPER (CONT'D)

He said "I have to kill, today is

my birthday" then he hangs up.

Then the letter arrives.

148.

197

GRAYSMITH:

So - he called before the letter

arrived on- on(

checking his notes)

December 20th. But Mr. Belli was

only gone a week-

HOUSEKEEPER:

He came back on Christmas.

good day to work-

Not a

GRAYSMITH:

So he left on the eighteenth.

HOUSEKEEPER:

(smiling)

Is that helpful?

198 INT. SAN FRANCISCO STREET -- PHONE BOOTH -- AFTERNOON 198

Graysmith, on the phone with Toschi.

GRAYSMITH:

She says it was his birthday!

TOSCHI:

You'll need to confirm that, won't

you?

How?

GRAYSMITH:

TOSCHI:

I never spoke to her, but maybe my

partner did-

GRAYSMITH:

How do I get in touch with him?

TOSCHI:

Don't. Bill wanted out of this as

far as I'm concerned.

GRAYSMITH:

So how do I confirm it?

TOSCHI:

If my partner spoke to someone at

Justice about it, they would have

put it in a report. Standard

procedure.

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 149.

199 INT. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE -- NICOLAI'S OFFICE -- DAY 199

Graysmith, sitting across a desk from MEL NICOLAI.

GRAYSMITH:

I just need to confirm the date.

NICOLAI:

Mr. Graysmith-

GRAYSMITH:

I've narrowed it down to between

the 18th and the 20th of December-

NICOLAI:

Okay, I'll play. Let's say this

call did take place. And let's

say it really was Zodiac. Why

would he volunteer the day he was

born? Plus, nobody died on

December 18th. Just like nobody

died over the weekend when he was

going to kill a dozen people, or

when he threatened to shoot school

kids and blow up buses. He's a

liar, Mr. Graysmith.

GRAYSMITH:

But if it was him and he wasn't

lying-

NICOLAI:

Do you know how many qualifiers

you just put in that sentence?

(before he responds)

Look, off the record - Bill

Armstrong checked this out. We

took it seriously. But none of

our suspects at the time had the

same birthday as this phantom

caller.

Silence. Graysmith flips his notepad shut.

NICOLAI (CONT'D)

Can I give you a piece of advice?

You're looking in the wrong place.

Handwriting and fingerprints,

that's what this whole thing is

about.

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 150.

200 INT. GRAYSMITH APARTMENT -- LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT 200

Melanie sits, staring at a newspaper article. The door opens

and Graysmith enters. Hanging up his coat:

GRAYSMITH:

Hey, how was your day?

MELANIE:

Long. Who's Sherwood Morrill?

GRAYSMITH:

He's a handwriting expert in

Sacramento.

MELANIE:

He called, he says he can meet you

tomorrow morning at 7.

GRAYSMITH:

Great.

MELANIE:

So you're taking off work?

GRAYSMITH:

Just in the morning-

MELANIE:

Sacramento's two hours away.

GRAYSMITH:

Really?

MELANIE:

Yes. What's this?

She holds out the newspaper to him.

GRAYSMITH:

Oh, the article came out! Yeah, a

reporter called me.

MELANIE:

It talks about you researching

Zodiac.

GRAYSMITH:

Well, yeah, that's why they wrote

it

(CONTINUED)

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 151.

200 CONTINUED:
200

MELANIE:

I'm not sure that's something I

want people to know about.

GRAYSMITH:

You're not embarrassed, are you?

MELANIE:

No, Robert, it's in the paper.

What's the one thing we know about

Zodiac? He reads the newspaper.

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