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She knew she needed to leave this bathroom, to meet Daphne, to launch a groundbreaking podcast and kickstart her career, but she couldn’t seem to make her feet move. Lately, she’d felt so frustrated and angry with life. She couldn’t seem to get out of this hole she’d been floundering in since her mid-twenties, couldn’t seem to break free of the past. This was her big break, an opportunity to change everything. But what if she fucked it up? Ruth wished she could call Jenn. For the last two years, Jenn had been the one talking Ruth down. But that was the whole point of a breakup: you had to figure it out for yourself.
Ruth took a deep breath, yanked the hem of her shirt down, and stormed out of the bathroom, hoping that momentum would carry her even if willpower wouldn’t. The Coconut Grove employee fell into step beside her, not saying a word until she stopped abruptly.
“That’s her door,” the woman said, pointing around the corner.
“I thought someone might be posted outside her door,” Ruth said.
The woman scoffed, her white teeth flashing under the dim overhead lights. “She can barely walk more than a few steps. We keep her door and the patio doors locked and our facility already has excellent security.”
“Okay. Well, thanks for bringing me,” Ruth replied.
“It’s my job. Personally, I think it’s disgusting that you’re here. We all loved Warren,” the woman replied flatly, knocking and then opening Daphne’s door with her key.
RUTH (Voiceover):It’s a strange situation, interviewing a serial killer in an old folks’ home. There were no shackles or armed guards to keep me safe. Instead, I found myself in a spacious apartment with an old woman sitting in a striped armchair, the sunlight glinting off her dyed black perm. Daphne didn’t look dangerous; she looked like she was one slippery bathmat away from death. But I knew there was milk in my fridge older than her last kill and I reminded myself not to eat or drink anything in this place. Daphne said hello and offered me a seat, and I was struck by her voice immediately. It was flatter in person, a cut-the-crap tone, as if she only had a minute to talk before she needed to get back to her chores.
RUTH:Hello, thanks so much for having me, Mrs. St Clair.
DAPHNE:You can call me Daphne. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together so we might as well dispense with all the Mrs. bullshit.
RUTH:Okay, Daphne, then please call me Ruth.
DAPHNE:Ruth? There are a lot of Ruths in here. Everyone here is named Ruth, Doris, or Phyllis. But young people aren’t named Ruth anymore.
RUTH:I guess my mother hates me.
DAPHNE:It’s certainly possible. But she’ll probably never admit it.
RUTH:Are you normally this blunt or just with journalists?
DAPHNE:Don’t get your undies in a twist. This is just how I talk.
RUTH:Well, we are here to talk about you. So, why did you decide to confess to these murders?
DAPHNE:I was bored. In this place, every day feels exactly the same. I just felt like making something happen.
RUTH:You do realize that prison is also a place where every day will feel the same. And that it’ll be much less nice than this place?
DAPHNE:Yes, Ruth, I’m not senile. Maybe I also wanted people to know that I’m not your typical fogey. When you get away with something for so long, you want people to know.
RUTH:Okay, so you’re not like other girls. It’s not common though, for serial killers to just call up and confess to a murder that’s being treated as a natural death, is it?
DAPHNE:No. Usually they only confess when the police already have enough to nail ’em. And the Palm Haven Police were never going to catch me; they’re a bunch of yokels with sunburns and Segways.
RUTH:I don’t disagree. They have a history of bungling murder investigations. They got lucky when you confessed.
DAPHNE:But serial killers do confess, you know, every now and then. Ed Kemper called up the police and confessed. I’m pretty sure the Railroad Killer did too.
RUTH:Do you know a lot about serial killers?
DAPHNE:I read a lot of true crime books. I read a lot in general, though. Not much else to do around here. So don’t make a big deal about that.
RUTH:So do I. Books, documentaries, podcasts, ever since I was a kid and found an old copy of Ann Rule’sThe Stranger Beside Mein a motel. After that, it was a bit of an obsession.
DAPHNE:And here you are, finally getting into the mind of a killer. That’s why you liked them, right? Because they taught you about monsters?
RUTH:Hmm. . . I suppose that is interesting. But for me, it was the solving of the mystery. My favorite part was always when they’d caught the killer and were trying to make him confess, to reveal all the people he’d killed and all the places he’d dumped the bodies. But I guess your story is different because you confessed when nobody even thought a murder had happened. Was it guilt that made you do that?
DAPHNE:No, I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve always had very high self-esteem.