Zodiac

Where have you been? I've been waiting since 7:00.

Get in. I had to find fireworks.

Let me drive.

Get in. I haven't eaten in 24 hours.

Are you coming or not?

It's too crowded.

I thought you were starving.

Let's go someplace quiet.

Okay.

What are we doing?

Sitting. Listening to music. Talking.

- You seem weird. Is everything okay? - Yeah, everything's fine.

It's July. How many shirts are you wearing?

- I'm cold. - You're cold on the Fourth of July?

Fuck off and die!

- What? - "Fuck off and die"?

Shut up.

Was that car at the drive-in?

I saw that car at Mr. Ed's.

- Do you want me to tell him to leave? - Stay in the car.

- Was that your husband? - No.

Who was that, Darlene?

Don't worry about it.

- Don't tell me not to worry. Who was it? - It's nothing.

Oh, shit.

Let's go.

Now, D.

Get your wallet.

Man, you really creeped us out.

- Vallejo Police Department. - I want to report a double murder.

May I have your name and where you are calling...

If you go one mile east on Columbus Parkway,

a public park, you'll find kids in a brown car.

They were shot with a 9mm Luger.

I also killed those kids last year.

Goodbye.

Spit.

Come on, buddy.

- I swallowed it. - Why?

It was minty.

You can't do that. It's not good for you.

Lunch box.

- Why am I not going on the bus? - Because we're late.

Okay, you're staying with your mom and Aaron tonight.

So, you don't like having a new little brother?

- No, not really. - Oh, that's honest.

Learn a lot.

There will be a test tonight!

Morning.

- Hi. - Good morning.

- Morning. - Morning.

How's the coffee today, Shorty?

Editorial in two.

Good morning, gentlemen.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Well, Stanton, tell Mr. Howe

the draft board piece was damn near perfect.

Mr. Graysmith.

Horrid.

Horrid.

Not so horrid.

Horrid. I'm thinking we go with not so horrid.

Paul, what's on the crime beat?

Janice in Datebook left the fondue party before everyone got naked.

That's a crime.

Have you seen her? Wouldn't kid you.

It may be the beginning of a crime wave.

You need to see this.

Go get the publisher.

"Dear Editor,

"This is the murderer

"of the two teenagers last Christmas at Lake Herman

"and the girl on the Fourth of July near the golf course in Vallejo.

"To prove I killed them,

"I shall state some facts which only I and the police know.

"Christmas, brand name of ammo, Super-X.

"Ten shots were fired.

"The boy was on his back with his feet to the car.

"The girl..."

Would you read that, please?

"The girl was on her right side, feet to the west.

"Fourth of July.

"One, girl was wearing patterned slacks.

"The boy was also shot in the knee.

"Brand name of ammo was Western.

"Here is part of a cipher.

"The other two parts of this cipher are being mailed to the editors of

"the Vallejo Times and S.F. Examiner.

"I want you to print this cipher on the front page of your paper.

"In this cipher is my identity.

"If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry,"

F-R-Y, "First of Aug '69 I will go on a kill rampage Fry night.

"I will cruise around all weekend killing lone people in the night

"then move on to kill again

"until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend."

It's unsigned except for a symbol.

Is it me, or does that look like a gunsight?

Today's August first.

He wants his code in the afternoon edition.

If the Examiner doesn't have the balls to run it, we scoop the Bay.

Al, this man is talking about shooting 12 people.

And not running this might make him do that.

If we run it, we might be setting a very dangerous precedent.

Oh, come on, now, it's newsworthy.

Well, giving some sick bastard a soapbox,

what does that say to people?

Back up. Is this Vallejo story true? Do we know that?

- Paul? - What? I cover crime in Vallejo?

Yeah, I cover crime in Vallejo. Ten minutes.

Let's shoot the code and call SFPD.

If it turns out to be real, at least we'll have the material.

All right.

Graysmith, don't you have that cartoon to finish?

Oh, yeah.

Hi, this is Paul Avery from the San Francisco Chronicle.

I'm looking for someone to shed some light on a letter we received.

Thank you.

Sergeant Mulanax.

Sergeant, Paul Avery from the San Francisco Chronicle.

I just wanted to check

if you had an unsolved firearm-related homicide

on Christmas and maybe one on July fourth.

Shit.

You guys got one, too?

Confirmed. VPD, they confirmed the shootings.

Al's on the phone with the Examiner.

They got the same letter with a different code.

So did Times-Herald.

Christmas, two teenagers on lover's lane. Both DOA.

David Faraday and Betty Jensen.

July fourth, Darlene Ferrin and Michael...

I think it's "Mayhew." Anyway, he lived, she didn't.

The murder weapons?

Ballistics, everything he said in the letters matched.

I mean, I think the Times-Herald's gonna go with it.

The Examiner's going, but won't go front page.

I say let's go front page. If he kills 12 people, it's not our fault.

Robert! We need the cartoon.

- You're not finished? - No, I'm finished, Carol. I'm finished.

Thieriot's still here.

Really?

The first edition is off the floor in 10, Charles.

Give us a sec.

Okay, re-plate.

We'll go on page... Page four.

What do you say, 20 bucks whoever cracks the psycho's name?

He won't give his name.

Morti's? Anyone?

- That's where I'm heading. - All right.

Put those on my desk. Turn on the light.

Grab your book.

Now go get your jammies on.

All right, people, listen up.

The cipher's broken into three sections, each with eight lines and 17 symbols.

No breaks between the symbols denoting different words.

No numbers or clues to substitution keys.

And you got symbols from at least seven different sources.

Greek, Morse code, Navy semaphore, weather symbols, astrological signs.

- Hey, take a gander at this code thing. - Okay.

You wanna give it a go?

Guy who used to sit there was a great cartoonist. Bob Bastian.

Now he's doing public television. For some reason.

Paul Avery.

Robert Graysmith. I've been here nine months.

You were right, by the way. He didn't give his name.

Who cracked it?

A history teacher and his wife in Salinas.

"I like killing people because it is so much fun.

"It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest

"because man is the most dangerous animal of all to kill.

"Something gives me the most thrilling experience.

"It is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl.

"The best part of it is that when I die,

"I will be reborn in paradise.

"And all that I have killed will become my slaves.

"I will not give you my name because you will try to slow down

"or stop my collecting of slaves for my afterlife."

Methinks our friend's a tad bit fuckered in the head.

I heard he even sent Vallejo a code key, just to help.

- What is that at the bottom? - Leftovers.

Maybe an anagram.

How does one do that?

I like puzzles. I do them a lot.

How did you know he wasn't gonna give his name?

Dangerous animal.

Dangerous animal.

What dangerous animal? How do I know that?

- Paul. - Yes, Templeton.

- Editorial, now. - Very well.

Another letter.

More of the same. Details about the murders.

He taped a flashlight to the gun. That's how he hit them in the dark.

And he gave himself a name.

You know this used to be the town of Montecello?

But at some point,

the county decided that the land would work better as a lake.

So they flooded it.

- But there's an entire... - Hidden city under the water.

We were here last spring, remember?

Oh, yeah.