WHO: Detective Tony Troy and Serial Killer Nate Griggs WHEN: Wednesday August 8, afternoon WHERE: Fall City Municipal Building, interrogation room SUMMARY: After his arrest this morning, Nate waits to be picked up by Seattle PD but first has to convince the cops that he didn't kill Moira. Tony learns more than he expected to. WARNINGS: Mentions of violence and murder. Language. Internal self-flagellation. Read this first.
Nate rested his head in his hands, elbows on the table. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. He was tired, but it was the tired of someone who knew he had reached the end. He had been so confident that the police would never find anything to tie him to Moira's murder that he didn't realize they were watching him so closely to follow him to Seattle. This was all that blonde cop's fault. If she'd just taken his interview and left it at that, everything would be fine. But no, she had to go after Eli, and Eli told Wynnie about the photo, and god, he'd never seen Wynnie so angry. He didn't know she could get that angry. But apparently that damn blonde cop was having him followed, too, and they managed to tie him to the murder.
And now here he was, sitting in an interrogation room in the municipal building, waiting for someone from Seattle to come pick him up. And apparently being arrested for murder made him even more suspect for the murder here-- fancy that-- so he was also waiting to be questioned (again) about the crazy actress' murder. He smirked inwardly as he wondered what the officers would think if he told them he always used a knife. That unless the actress was stabbed in the lung, it can't have been him.
He kept his head in his hands, his face blank, even as he heard the door open and close. As the other man sat in the chair opposite him, he finally lifted his head and brought his hands down to rest lightly on the table. "Detective Troy. Congratulations on that promotion, by the way."
Tony ignored the congratulations. It was a dig, which honestly wasn't all that surprising from Nate. And maybe he should have been more surprised with what they were faced with now. Or maybe he shouldn't. Right now it seemed everyone had something to hide, and some of the skeletons were bound to be more murdery than others given recent circumstances.
“Mr. Griggs.” Tony took his seat across from the other man.
It actually wasn't a dig, Nate's congratulations to the younger man was genuine. But then, everyone always expected the worst of him. Though now everyone had reason to, at least. They could clap themselves on the back, they had been right about him all along. "So, if I told you again that I had nothing to do with the actress' murder, would you believe me?"
“I'd say boy who cried didn't murder getting caught on murder might make that a little questionable.” Tony commented dryly. He set his notepad down and watched Nate across the table. Pencil primed. “Let's talk about Cora March.”
Well, he did say that. "I didn't have anything to do with her death, either." He didn't want to talk about Cora March. "I have a question for you, Detective. How was the actress killed? Because I'm sure you know that the woman in Seattle was stabbed. On the right side, between the ribs, puncturing her lung. Is that how the actress died?"
Tony put on a curious expression. “And why would that matter?” He asked.
Nate shrugged, slouching back in his chair. "Murderers usually use the same method all the time, don't they? That's how it is on TV, isn't it? And I thought I heard the actress was hit on the head. Pretty different from stabbing. It'd make sense that the person who killed the woman in Seattle and the person who killed the actress are two different people."
“Depends. Both could have just been what was available.” Tony offered. “Some serial killers will have specific methods they absolutely need. But right now it just looks like we have two wrong place wrong time who just happened to be around the vicinity of you.”
"A hunting knife happened to be available?" He wasn't wrong about the need part, though. "I wouldn't be here if Seattle was a wrong place wrong time thing."
“Sure.” Tony shrugged slightly. “A lot of people have them in more rural areas. And there's nothing to say it wasn't wrong place wrong time in Seattle or here.”
"Look," Nate said, leaning forward again, resting his elbows on the edge of the table, hands loosely clasped on the tabletop in front of him. "I'm not denying anything you have on me for Seattle." It was pointless to, anyway, what they had was pretty damning. "So why would I continue to deny that I had anything to do with the actress' death?"
Tony just continued on instead. “We have you at the party. You were drinking. And staring at her, caught on film. You've lied about it. And you clearly can killed someone. So seems pretty simple to me. Maybe she even did something. But you lost control and you killed her. Maybe you panicked. Maybe she fought and you weren't expecting her to.” Tony watched Nate across the table. “All you've given me so far is she wasn't stabbed. That's not evidence you didn't kill her.”
Not much to see when watching Nate: his face was as calm and blank as it had been the entire time he'd been here. Not so much as a twitch. "I was at the party, but so was most of the town. I was drinking, but not that much. Only had two or three drinks all night. And she was a big Hollywood actress who was clearly trying to get people to watch her. None of what you have is evidence that I did kill her."
“You were glaring at her enough that people noticed.” Tony commented easily. “She was dressed as Cora March. Let's talk about Cora.”
"I have nothing to say about Cora."
“Because a picture says a thousand words?”
That got a reaction out of Nate, a tightening of his jaw and tensing of the muscles in his shoulders. He knew Eli had told Wynnie about the photo, but not that he'd told the police. "What picture?" he asked, attempting an innocent tone that just sounded a little strained instead. That damned photo.
“Can you tell me about your relationship with Cora March?” Tony asked instead.
"I didn't have a relationship with Cora March."
“Then explain the photograph.”
Nate looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his jaw. "It was a mistake." He couldn't justify that photograph, or any of the others. And he couldn't even try to explain it without explaining the rest. It would be coming out anyway, he knew that, but he needed to hold onto it for now. He needed a bargaining chip to keep Eli and Wynnie out of it.
“That's not an explanation.” Tony countered. “See. The way it looks is that you were obsessed. And since you're bringing up repeat behaviors, Moira's death looked so much like Cora's. Like really it's uncanny.”
He looked into Nate's eyes. “So here I have a guy that I know can kill. With pictures like that of Cora March. Caught on film staring daggers at Moira dressed as Cora. And then later that night she ends up like Cora did. And that same guy is giving me no explanation on why I might think otherwise.”
Nate had looked back up, but when Tony looked into his eyes, he dropped them back down to his hands again. "Maybe I was, but there was a lot going on back then. I never did anything to her. I would never do anything to hurt Wynnie like that. She adored Cora, she was the reason she was even here. So yeah, I was annoyed at the actress for going around acting like Cora all the time, because it was disrespectful to the people who had loved Cora." Partial truth, at least. The most he could give. "But I didn't do anything to her."
“I don't believe any of that, Nate.” Tony answered, leaning in. “I think you're lying to me, to Eli, to Wynnie, that you've been lying for a really long time and now you just can't stop. But maybe it's time to stop.”
He had been lying to everyone for a really long time, but there were some things that were never lies: he loved Wynnie and Eli, and he would rather die than to hurt them. Even though he knew that what was coming would devastate them. Looking back up at Tony, he said, "I killed the woman in Seattle. But I had nothing to do with Cora's death or the actress'. While you're wasting your time on me, there's another killer out there."
“Because I have a killer here who was at the very least stalking Cora March and possibly doing the same to Moira MacTeer. And he can't be bothered to stop lying.” Tony’s voice remained calm. “He won’t tell me what he actually knows.”
"I wasn't stalking the actress. And I don't. know. anything. about her death."
“Tell me about Cora March.”
Nate closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to drop his face back into them. "When I came back, there was a lot going on. I- yes. I started following her. I took some pictures. But that's all I did. I never touched her. I had nothing to do with her death. I wasn't stalking the actress. I didn't kill her, I don't know who did, I don't know anything about what happened to her."
“Why did you take those pictures?”
"I don't know." No, that was a lie. He knew, even if he couldn't explain. "I thought they would help. But they didn't and I destroyed them all, or I thought I did, but that one damn photo somehow ended up in Eli's book." He brought his head down to the table, arms crossed over it. He was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of feeling, tired of lying. "I never touched her." Muffled. "I had nothing to do with her death. I had nothing to do with the actress' death. I don't know anything."
“Help with what, Nate?” Tony continued on, voice level, face almost concerned. “Help with what?”
"Help with making the feelings go away."
“What feelings Nate? What did you need to go away?”
"The darkness. Pulling me down. Had to keep it away from them. I couldn't let it drag them down, too, so I had to leave."
“That's not an answer and you know it, Nate.” Tony leaned forward. “Stop lying. Stop dragging them down right now because you won't tell the truth. Give me the truth.”
Nate dragged himself back upright, gripping the edge of the table so hard that his knuckles turned white. His face was pale, haggard. "It is the truth. You don't know what it's like to live with that darkness. That's why I had to leave. And I thought it was gone so I came back, but it wasn't gone and I thought the pictures would help, but then she died and the darkness was dragging me back down and I had to leave again to protect Eli and Wynnie from it." He closed his eyes, releasing his death grip on the table, resting his elbows there again to bury his face in his hands. "I never touched her. I had nothing to do with her death. I had nothing to do with the actress' death. I don't know anything."
“What darkness? What are you protecting Eli and Wynnie from?” Tony answered back, staying calm and seated as Nate attempted to straighten up, manic energy unraveling in the other man. This was a man who had killed, yeah, something Tony couldn't really imagine. But there was something here, he knew it.
"I never wanted to do it." His voice was a little muffled by his hands. Tired, so tired. All the fight in him was gone, he just wanted it all to stop. "I needed to but I never wanted to. I needed to see it. Feel it." He shook his head, just a slight movement back and forth. He couldn't even say it, had never actually been able to say the words. "But I never touched Cora. I had nothing to do with her death. I had nothing to do with the actress' death. I don't know anything."
“What did you need to do?” Tony continued, caught on a scent and unwilling to pull away. “What did you do, Nate?”
"They deserved better than me. But I tried to be who he thought I was. But I couldn't escape it and I broke him. But it was better that way because he's… so good, he's the best thing to ever come out of my life and if I'd stayed he would have ended up like me."
“They deserve to know the truth, Nate.” Tony shook his head along with Nate's comment. “Eli's strong in spite of you. Wynnie's strong in spite of you. What did you do?”
He shook his head, just a constant slight back-and-forth of his head. "I killed her. The woman in Seattle." And all the others. But he couldn't talk about the others, not now. He needed to hold on to that, it was all he had left to try to use to get them to agree to leave Eli and Wynnie alone. They shouldn't be dragged into this.
“What else did you do, Nate.” Tony repeated, a constant cadance almost like a chant. “What's the darkness, what did you have to do? Why were you taking pictures of Cora March?”
"I thought it would help." Still the slow shake back and forth of his head. "But I didn't touch her. I had nothing to do with her death. I had nothing to do with the actress' death. I don't know anything." Around and around again, would he please just accept that it was the truth and leave him to suffer in quiet?
“No.” Tony wasn't going to back down. There was something here. “What would it help? Tell the truth, Nate.”
His head was still moving. Back and forth. Back and forth. "I'm telling you everything I can."
“You know, once you told me that if you had anything to confess you'd tell me.” Tony commented as he watched the swaying of Nate's head. “You were lying then and you're lying now.”
"I just followed her. I took pictures of her. I never touched her. I didn't have anything to do with her death. I didn't have anything to do with the actress' death. I don't know anything. But I did kill the woman in Seattle. I bought a knife and I killed her."
“And why am I supposed to believe that?”
"Because I'm already caught. I'm going away and I'll never be coming back this time." The back-and-forth of his head finally stopped and he lifted his face out of his hands. "But there's another killer out there who hasn't been caught. And they'll get away if you keep thinking I did it."
“That isn't a reason.” Tony pressed a finger to the table as he spoke. “You know something.”
"I don't. know. anything." He sagged back against the chair. "I don't know anything about her death. I had nothing to do with her death. It's not what I do. She wasn't stabbed, it wasn't me." He was never going to convince them he had nothing to do with the actress' death. The person who did do it would get away. Maybe they weren't like him… maybe they wouldn't do it again. But maybe they would. "I can't tell you anything else because I don't know anything else."
There it was. A crack. “What do you mean if she wasnt stabbed it wasn't you?”
"Because that's what I do."
“As in more than once?” The enormity washed over Tony but he kept his voice and expression calm.
Nate closed his eyes, dropping his face back into his hands. "Yes." A lot more than once.
Well fuck. That was new information. “So. Cora and Moira were drowned, and you don't drown. You stab.”