I didn't do it!
I swear to God, I didn't do it!
Those women were always good to me.
I'm innocent!
John, you know me.
I have nothing to do with any murder.
I'll kill you!
Please. You must believe me.
Is this the man you saw commit these terrible murders?
It's all right. You're safe here.
- Jesus loves me. - The devil loves you.
Jesus loves me...
Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me...
The State of New Hampshire
versus Louis Wagner.
Call your first witness.
The people call Evan Christenson.
And what did you do when you got to Smuttynose?
When I got to Smuttynose, I went up to the house
- And went right in. - And what did you see?
I saw my wife lying on the floor.
Dead or alive?
Evan! Evan!
Evan.
Your mother looked a little tired.
She can handle it.
If you're not used to having a five-year-old around...
I thought the whole point was to get away.
If you're gonna worry about Billie all weekend...
All right, Thomas.
What?
Nothing.
I'm looking forward to seeing Rich.
It's been quite a while.
A weekend with my brother... that's a rare treat.
I'm a photographer for a magazine.
They're doing an article about the murders.
My brother-in-law has a boat,
and I thought he could take us to Smuttynose Island,
- Where the murders happened. - Hey, there...
We left our daughter with her grandmother.
I thought it would be sort of a vacation.
Jean, this is Adaline.
Adaline, this is my favorite sister-in- law.
- Favorite and only. - Caught on a technicality.
Rich introduced us to his new girlfriend.
- Hi. - Hi.
I didn't know he was bringing anyone.
This is my husband, Thomas. Adaline, wasn't it?
We've met, actually.
Hi. At the writers' dinner, right?
- Yeah. - Oh yeah.
- Hey. - Hey. It's been too long.
Where's all this go?
Old man lays down.
Come on, I'll teach you how to dive.
It was impossible to know that we had 17 hours left.
Or 12... or three.
This is it?
"... the two women were discovered in the kitchen,
strangled and bludgeoned with an axe. "
Isn't "bludgeon" a wonderful word?
One of the best.
Oh, this one's good. "The nude body of Anethe... "
"An-nette. "
"The nude body of Anethe Christenson
was draped with a cloth as if the killer could not bear
to look at his handiwork while he sipped his tea. "
Imagine the psychology of a guy who could sit
and drink tea with two women he's just bludgeoned.
This must be the kitchen, right?
Where they found the bodies.
Yeah, about...
over there and...
here.
Help!
Hello!
Help!
"Although Louis Wagner was convicted of the murders,
the matter has been debated for over a century. "
I'm working on the "Oswald 'single axe' theory" myself.
Adaline is hoping you might read something
for us later tonight, Thomas.
Whatever you're working on, you know...
we're not critics.
Many poets can turn a phrase,
but most of them don't have the balls
to tackle the really great themes.
I'm not sure I even know what the "really great themes" are.
Abandonment...
Ioss, castration...
That's never gonna be one of my problems, thankfully.
Chauvinism?
That's tired, don't you think?
What about Yeats?
The celebration of the human imagination.
- The magician. - Melancholy.
It's all melancholy.
"The room swinging with emptiness
like an unswung bell. " Valentin Iremonger.
I think the really great ones
use words in such a way you can never take them back.
Yeah, they do.
"To separate from life...
from tantalizing mysteries and salt spray...
from the grave gypsy eyes...
and the sacred, poignant flesh of long-limbed dancers,
unsullied, but not for long. "
She's memorized you, Thomas.
I stole "poignant flesh"
from Rich.
- I don't remember saying that. - You were drunk.
I don't think I'd ever use that word.
That's so like you.
You probably read more than anybody I've ever met.
But you always pretend you'd rather be drinking beer
- At a Red Sox game. - Depends on who's pitching.
How did Wagner know the men would be gone?
Sorry. Still thinking about the murders.
But Louis Wagner... the man they hanged...
how did he know the women would be alone?
He's got a 12-mile row back to shore,
why take time to drink tea?
And why cover one woman's face and not the other's?
Axe murderers don't tend to have the most razor- sharp intellects.
Maybe her eyes were open. It was the sight of them,
the accusation.
He couldn't stand to have her looking at him.
So it was an act of passion.
But using an axe requires intimacy.
Think about...
how close you have to be to your victim...
the vibration in your hand,
and the handle as the blade strikes bone.
The spray of blood warm on your face,
and standing over her, her last choking gasps.
If he had gone there with the intent to murder,
he would've taken a gun.
I think the killer was in love with one of the women.
And murder was the only way he could possess her.
I like that.
Wagner... Wagner.
He came into the house.
Wagner?
He took an axe
- And he swung it. - Oh God.
God help us.
Anethe...
Is she hurt?
Evan. Evan.
Is she all right?
- Maren... Maren? - Evan... !
Is she all right?
Evan! Evan!
It was funny the way I found out.
Our daughter was in the hospital.
Jean had...
I guess neither of us had paid enough attention
to an infection that she had.
Next thing we knew, she was barely breathing.
We rushed her to the hospital.
It was pneumonia.
She was tiny... she was six weeks old...
and had tubes going in one end and out the other.
And she was fighting for every breath.
And I think in a moment like that,
you feel hope crossing over into grief.
Nicely put, Thomas.
And they had her in this fucking box...
an incubator... and it looked like a coffin.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Then someone from the committee found me in the hospital.
I got on the phone, they told me I'd won.
Oh, I didn't have any idea. I'm sorry.
Of course, Billie's fine now... tons of trouble.
But it was just so unimportant to me at the time.
I don't think I know what it's like to win a Pulitzer.
Love is never as ferocious
as when you think it's gonna leave you.
Thomas!
What?
Have you done something with the wine
- We're having for dinner? - The wine?
- It's almost time to eat. - I've got it right here.
Open it for me, Thomas. You're the expert.
There was a flesh wound upon the right forehead,
separating the upper part.
The left ear was nearly cut through,
separating it from the head.
In my opinion, a very heavy instrument
had to make those blows.
An axe, in all probability.
The only people who knew
the women would be alone that night
were Emil Ingerbretson... 'cause I asked him
to tell Maren we couldn't make it back...
and Louis Wagner.
When did you arrive in America, Mrs. Hontvedt?
I arrived five years ago with my husband John.
He is a fisherman.
We left our home because we were told
this is a land of opportunity.
This is not it, John.
Surely this is not it?
Hello!
Sit...
and have a rest.
We don't have any money to go back.
We'll make it.
The best cure for melancholy is industry.
And though the winds blew for days, neverending,
and the gulls never ceased their cries,
we drew strength from the rhythm of our labors.
And from God.
My husband and I grew accustomed to the solitude.
I didn't mind the work.
I never complained.
I was brought up for this.
The wind carried off our speech
so we spoke less.
And with work, I suppose, we had less to say.
It is better not to take the chance
of asking an uncomfortable question,
or revealing an affection for another person
that may bring unintentioned pain.
It is wiser, I think,
to keep silent and preserve the bond.
I knew that I would not be able to leave the island.
I had to bite my cheek to keep from breaking into tears,
that once started, might continue forever.
Can you get me a drink, please?
Sure.
Adaline... - Shit! Quick.
Shit!
Jesus Christ. Help!
Can you help?!
Jesus.
- Something blew this way. - Here.
- Thanks. - And here.
Thanks.
Jesus.
Thanks.
What's all the excitement?
Nothing.
Nicely done.
Hah!
Never get it.
There's a certain poetry in photography, don't you think?
You know, putting a frame around the world?
I imagine that's maybe part of the attraction
between the two of you.
You think so, Thomas?
Makes sense.
I always felt it was more of an animal attraction myself.
Two strays sniffing each other in an alley.
You overreached.
I was thinking about what keeps people together
over the long term.
So how did you two meet?
Thomas introduced us at the dinner.
I think actually he was trying to get rid of me,
because I was acting like a groupie
and asking too many questions.
Two seconds after I met him, I was asking him
how he got his scar.
I couldn't help noticing it in his photograph...
you know, the one in the back of "The Magdalene Poems"?
Seemed like it would've been so easy for him to just...
turn away a little so it didn't show.
But he didn't.
What did he say?
I said...
that I had a car accident when I was a kid.
The driver was drunk.
I probably read too much into things,
but I thought it was maybe something we had in common.
'Cause I put my arm through a window once.
- We need more wine. Sure.
I'll be right back.
I'll get a towel.
Oh, help!
Anethe!
Please...
Thomas?
- Thomas? - Hm-mm?
I don't think he did it.
What?
The murders. I don't think Wagner did it.
It was the woman, the survivor... she killed them.
Jean, I just need a few minutes' sleep.
I can't sleep at all on this fucking thing.
Maren.
Yes?
John? What's this?
It's for you. A little company, I thought.
- Do you like him? - Yes.
- I like him very much. - Good.
Thank you.
I'm going to call him "Ringe. "
Oh... you have a letter from home.
- Do I? - Yeah.
I thought Evan would never write.
It's from my sister, Karen.
Our father has died.
She's coming to America.
She can't.
We have no other bed and no money for it.
That's all right.
I've been saving some money for the new schooner.
It's fine.
You're seasick. Yes, I am a little.
Welcome.
Be careful with that trunk.
I'm sick from the boat.
I need tea and bread.
Karen... how is our brother?
He's well.
Is that all?
Hasn't he written you?
We had one letter.
One letter in all this time?
I'm surprised.
I thought our brother bore you a special affection.
He's probably busy.
He was not too busy to be a comfort to me.
He took me on a holiday over Easter.
And to the theater. And to supper.
And we stayed in a hotel.
He's prospered wonderfully.
And put money by.
No doubt he will soon meet a young woman
to turn his head.
Perhaps he'll come to America.
Don't be absurd.
A man who prospers in his own country
has no need to flee.
He's well, though?
And happy?
Oh yes, Maren.
Never better.
We found Karen a domestic position
early that spring at the Appledore Island Hotel.
I hoped the work might occupy her.
- Hi. - Hi.
- You sleep well? - Yeah.
Guess I'm the last one up.
- Hi. - Hi.
I thought we could call Billie later.
I just did.
Oh.
Oh, you could have told me.
They were going to the park. I said you'd call later.
- Is she all right? - She misses us.
She said that?
I could tell.
But it doesn't matter. We're gonna be back tomorrow.
"Hi. We're unable to take your call right now,
so please leave a message, and we'll call you back. "
Hello, John.
I brought a mate from Portsmouth
to board with us.
He has some rheumatism, and it needs nursing sometimes,
- But he's a good hand. - It's so cramped as it is.
Come in, Louis.
Louis Wagner, madam.
From Germany?
I hope I won't be a burden to you.
It's no burden. What's one more?
Louis, let me show you your room.
Come.
Sorry to be so stiff.
I'm afraid you will soon be looking after me
and my rheumatism.
Do you mind the extra work?
I never mind work.
May I see your hands?
They're strong. That's good.
Sometimes it helps to have my joints massaged.
Would you do that for me?
If my husband has no objection.
If he doesn't know, he can have no objection.
They're waiting for you on the boat.
It's coming on again. I can feel it.
Would you help me to the bed?
Please?
Thank you.
All right. Ease me down, Thomas.
"Dear Mr. Plaisted,
I will be in Portsmouth on April 15th,
and would very much appreciate it
if I could meet in your chambers that afternoon.
Please respond by return post.
Sincerely, Mrs. John Hontvedt. "
Aren't you hot?
Do you want to swim or something?
Take a look at this. Tell me what you think.
What is it?
A letter Maren Hontvedt wrote to the prosecutor.
- What do you think? - Not much to it, is there?
- Look at the date. - April 7th, 1875. "
That's two years after the trial.
What reason could Maren have for meeting the prosecutor then?
Okay, I give.
Louis Wagner was hanged three weeks
after she wrote this letter.
Maybe Maren couldn't live with the guilt
and she wanted to confess before an innocent man died.
Confess?
I thought you were snapping a few photographs,
- Not re-opening the case. - Aren't you curious?
Yeah.
I want to go back to the mainland for a few hours,
Iook around the courthouse in Portsmouth.
Maybe there's a record of this meeting.
We are running a little low on wine.
Thomas is outdoing himself, hmm?
Hey...
you all right?
So I thought...
Never better.
"And in that day they shall roar against them
like the roaring of the sea,
and if one look unto the land,
behold darkness and sorrow,
and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. "
You're a good cook.
I'm not.
You're right. It's dreadful.
I must be a fool to keep eating it.
I think you are feeling better.
A miraculous recovery, I think.
You are a "sister of mercy. "
Are you lonely here?
No. Of course not.
I have my dog Ringe.
Yes, your dog.
Is he enough?
I have my husband too.
Dog first, husband second...
that is the usual order of things.
Should keep such observations to yourself, Mr. Wagner.
I'm lonely too, Mrs. Hontvedt. That's why I asked.
You're too young to be a married woman.
John doesn't deserve such a beautiful wife.
I have made some konfetkake.
- Would you like some? - Konfetkake? I don't think so.
You are the only confection that interests me.
Perhaps I could have just a little "taste"?
Mrs. Hontvedt, don't be offended.
I only tease you. You've not been teased much.
Am I correct?
You should go.
As you wish.
I would do anything to have you.
And did the defendant cease his unwelcome overtures?
He did not.
Women's motives are always more concealed than men's.
So you think Jean's right about it being the woman?
It's always the woman.
I can't see a woman using an axe.
- Lizzie Borden? - She was acquitted.
Because 12 men on the jury couldn't see a woman
using an axe.
Maren must have used an axe every day chopping wood.
But why would she kill them?
When a woman kills, it's generally a spouse.
For obvious reasons.
But her sister and sister-in-law?
It doesn't make much sense.
It is remotely possible they hanged the right guy.
Come on, Rich. What's the fun in that?
Excuse me, but aren't you that writer?
Yeah... William S. Burroughs. A pleasure.
I read "The Magdalene Poems" for my class.
What'd you make of them?
Good. Really good. Thomas Janes, right?
What are you working on now?
An infomercial, but don't tell anybody.
That's my brother, Rich, the handsome one.
Can I go to the courthouse with you?
It's not necessary.
I want to go.
All right.
That Mr. Wagner is quite handsome.
He seems to like me very much.
- Is that why you're smiling? - Heavens, no.
I was thinking how much I enjoy my work at the hotel.
Making beds and washing chamberpots?
Don't be crude.
Perhaps I am smiling because I have a wonderful secret.
- Secret? - Be patient, Maren.
You will find out in good time.
Karen? Please...
tell me what your secret is or I shall die of curiosity.
Oh, it's nothing.
Only that I had a letter from our brother.
Evan?
Did you bring his letter with you?
I'm so sorry, I left it in my room in Appledore.
What has he written you?
Only that he's coming to America
in October.
Really?
Evan's coming?
He says he wishes to stay with you and John.
Hello!
Evan.
Evan!
Hello!
- Evan! - Maren!
Is that woman with you?
Evan! Evan!
Evan!
Hello to America!
Such a happy day.
We have to have a little celebration.
Maren, this is Anethe.
This is my beautiful wife Anethe.
A toast to the new arrivals.
My beautiful sister Maren.
This is Louis. Louis Wagner.
Anethe, will you dance with me?
Okay, you're gonna dance.
Play it.
Come and dance with me.
Bravo, John.
Please continue when you're able, Mrs. Hontvedt.
When I could open the door,
I looked out and saw the man grab a chair with both hands.
So I shut the door again and hurried back to my sister.
I told Karen to hang on and we would escape
through my bedroom window.
But she said she was too tired...
just laid there on the floor.
And the man kept pounding on the door.
I told Anethe to hide, so she jumped out the window.
When I told her to go and to look for help,
she said she could not.
The fear had taken her voice.
I was standing at the door...
keeping out the man.
And then suddenly the pounding stopped.
I heard Anethe "Hello, Louis"
several times.
And I went to the window
and looked out, and saw that man.
Louis! Louis, no!
With a big axe he struck her once and she fell.
Please... !
He struck her again, and back he came toward the house.
Again I told my sister Karen to run,
but she said she was too tired.
So I jumped out the window...
ran down to the henhouse...
saw the little dog...
and I thought to row away, but could not find a boat.
So I ran to find some rocks,
to hide myself away from that man.
And is that man among us today?
If it so please the law,
I shall with my heart and soul and sound mind,
speak of the true and actual tale
of that incident which continues to haunt me.
I make this statement not in defense of myself,
for what defense have those who still live, breathe and eat
and partake of the Lord's blessings,
against those who have been so cruelly struck down,
in such a way as I can hardly bear to recall?
I can't do this.
What is it?
I don't know. I can't do this here.
It's not you, Thomas. It's me.
Hold me, please.
Something's gonna happen.
I believe it was God's hands that caused me
to realize that I must somehow survive my ordeal
so that I would one day be reunited with my brother.
I vowed to keep as still and as silent as possible
so that the stormy motions that threatened to consume me
might come under my control.
If you hurry, you can catch John
before they sail off for Portsmouth.
This island has everything I need.
My wife is here.
That is all I ever need or want.
And my sister is here, too.
I don't need the distraction of the city.
I am content to stay here and bait the trawls
and think about my good fortune.
You and Anethe are settling in well?
Isn't it obvious how happy she is?
She's... very agreeable.
And also pleasant to look upon.
But Anethe has a lot to learn about keeping a house.
But I've brought her to a good teacher.
You've turned yourself into a first-rate cook.
I'll go fat from it.
And with any luck, you'll soon be fat yourself.
Is that so?
I only mean that one day you may give us all good news.
What is it?
I cannot have a child.
Are you sure of this, Maren?
Have you been to a doctor?
I have no need of doctors.
Three years have been proof enough.
To tell the truth, I'm not so surprised.
I have suspected all my life.
Or at least since...
You remember?
You remember, don't you?
Yes... yes, of course I remember.
I have thought the simultaneous onset of my womanhood...
These are not matters of which
a brother and sister should speak.
These are private matters.
I would never do anything to upset you.
Is your marriage a happy one?
We have managed.
No... I mean in the matter of a child.
You mean, does my husband put his seed in me with regularity?
For God's sake, have some dignity.
Evan, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.
Sometimes I think I'll go mad.
Good morning, Maren.
So, I must go bait the trawls.
Forgive me for being so late.
May I have some cheese and sausage
from yesterday's dinner for my breakfast?
Oh... !
Poor Maren.
Why did I leave the broom lying?
I'll get the mop.
I've ruined your floor, didn't I?
I'm just useless sometimes.
Can you forgive me?
I fear I'll never be the kind of wife you are.
Evan speaks so highly of you.
I'll clean it up. Let me do something to help you.
It's no trouble.
Please. Can't I be useful somehow?
Our boarder with sore joints was asking for you
to come to his room and read to him.
You want me to go to read to Louis Wagner?
In his room?
He can't walk, Anethe.
So if he's to be read to it will have to be in his room.
The book's there by the front door.
Ja?
I have come to read to you.
Thank you.
Anethe... ?
Louis...
he...
Anethe... you poor thing.
Anethe?
He...
Louis...
Hush. You don't have to tell me.
I'll tell John he stole provisions.
He'll be off the island in the morning.
If you ever told Evan,
he would murder Louis.
He would be hanged. Do you understand?
You are so good to me.
Shh-hh!
You must rest.
It's not enough to live off my charity,
you steal from me as well?
I never touched a dime of yours, John Hontvedt.
You calling my wife a liar?
As God is my witness, I don't know why she'd say such a thing.
Get out of my sight.
Get out of my sight! Go!
From now on you have to earn an honest living!
"Though they go mad
they shall be sane.
Though they sink through the sea,
they shall rise again.
Though lovers be lost...
Iove shall not,
And death shall have no dominion. "
Dylan Thomas.
We met in a bar
where he was giving a reading.
I didn't know it was "Poets' Night. "
That morning I had my first assignment,
taking pictures of a bloody corpse
the police had fished out of the Charles.
Perfect preparation for meeting me.
I think what Thomas liked about me
was that I'd never heard of him.
Rich, they look fantastic.
Had you really never heard of him?
No, I was more of a visual person, I suppose.
I didn't read poetry.
Anyway, I went on about my work
never asking Thomas a thing,
telling him about this photograph I'd taken once.
It was a father pulling his son from an icy pond.
In the picture, you see the man lying down on the ice,
his hands clasping the boy's,
and both of them have their eyes closed.
And then Thomas said the most remarkable thing.
Do you remember?
No.
Come on.
Look, I don't remember.
He said that my work and his are very much the same...
we're both trying to stop time.
- I never said that. - That's exactly what you said.
- It's pretentious shit. - No it's not. It's lovely.
If I did say that,
I was just trying to get into your pants.
I wonder what moment it was I might have altered.
What movement, left or right, might have changed fate.
Perhaps I could have done it with a word... a thought.
It was good of you to do this for Jean.
She needed the time away.
Maybe everybody would've been happier if I'd stayed home, too.
You serious about her?
You know me, Thomas, I never get serious.
I leave that to the romantic in the family.
I'm a romantic?
I guess you have to be to write the way you do.
Whatever the consequences.
Jean knew what she signed up for
when she got together with me.
She knows better than anybody.
Talent excuses cruelty.
Don't you know that?
Not talent...
genius, maybe.
You're talented, Thomas.
The world is full of talented assholes.
God...
Even a hack can spin something out of a sunset like that, huh?
I don't even carry a pen anymore.
How long have you been interested in Thomas' poetry?
I think I've always read Thomas.
After the prize, I guess everyone does, huh?
Not with such sensitivity, no.
- You're joking with me, right? - No. I'm absolutely serious.
It's obvious he enjoys talking to you about his work.
Not that he actually writes much anymore.
"Blocked" is a cliché you'll never hear him stoop to.
Oh. I wondered about that.
You know he killed a girl?
Thomas killed a girl?
I don't understand.
When the car accident... his scar, you know...
Thomas was driving.
There was a girl in the car with him,
and Thomas went off the road,
caught his rear wheel in a ditch and flipped over.
She died. They were 17.
Was he drunk?
Yes.
So the poems were about her... "The Magdalene Poems"?
An examination...
of a 17-year-old girl
in the last four seconds of her life.
"To separate from life,
From tantalizing mysteries and salt spray...
from grave gypsy eyes
and the sacred poignant flesh of long-limbed dancers.
A cross...
A cross, my shield on the altar of her neck. "
But her name wasn't Magdalene. It was Linda.
Hmm, Linda.
And he loved her?
Very much.
I don't think he's ever gotten over it.
In a way, all the poems are about the accident
even when they don't seem to be.
But he married you.
Well, Linda was dead, you see?
And I hadn't the faintest idea who Thomas was.
Why did you tell me this?
Don't you want to know?
What's up?
Not much.
God, I can't have done all this.
Don't touch the dishes, all right?
I'll be back to do them in a moment.
Thomas?
- Thomas? - What?
You're trembling.
Take my coat.
Thank you.
John...
don't you dare sail off to Portsmouth without my list.
Calm yourself. We're just doing our chores.
We'll be back to eat before we go out.
What makes you think you can beat this wind?
And for God's sake, don't forget to take
Karen back to the Appledore.
She's not comfortable sleeping in the kitchen.
It's wonderful... having company.
It's ludicrous to sit in your bonnet doing nothing.
The men aren't taking you for hours.
Please, don't quarrel.
Not on this day.
What day?
Oh, sisters,
you must swear yourselves to secrecy.
I have not even told my husband.
Congratulations, my dear.
- Is it too soon to be decent? - How can you be sure?
I am two months late. January and February.
Perhaps it is the cold.
It is the cold that makes us seek each other's warmth.
I'm so happy for you.
Hello!
I knew it. They couldn't beat that wind.
They've gone straight into Portsmouth.
What am I to do all day dressed in these clothes?
It's a good question. So, that is that.
The men will not be back tonight.
This kind of wind dies in the evening.
Unless they are at the harbor, sails will not fill.
I cannot bear to spend the night alone.
You won't be alone.
You're with Karen and me.
I now encounter my most difficult task of all...
which is that of confronting the events
of the 5th of March, 1873.
It is not that I do not remember details of events,
for I do... too vividly.
The colors sharp and garish;
sounds heightened and abrasive, as in a terrible dream
that one has over and over and cannot escape.
The longer they stay away, the fewer chores we have to do.
I'm hungry.
Should have eaten your supper.
I've just cleaned up the kitchen.
Maren?
Can I spend the night in your bed?
I am cold and afraid.
Don't be silly.
Perfectly safe and warm in your room.
Please?
I know it's childish, but please?
Come.
Just let the fire burn down.
Oh, Maren,
you are so watchful over us.
Like a mother hen.
Your face feels so warm.
Do you have a headache?
Anethe...
Is that better?
Yes.
Do you not miss John?
The attentions?
Sometimes it's hard to sit in a kitchen
till it is time for bed.
Do you do it every night?
Yes.
Us too.
Turn over.
Take off your nightgown.
My nightgown?
I want to rub your back.
Anethe...
There.
Is that good?
Yes.
I love you, Maren.
Did I hurt you?
No.
I love you too, Anethe.
I have discovered in my life
that it is not always for us to know the nature of God,
or why he may bring in one night
pleasure and death and rage and tenderness,
all intermingled,
so that one can barely distinguish one from the other.
And it is all that one can do to hang on to sanity.
- Sorry. I didn't mean to... - Oh, Jesus Christ!
I can't believe you swam all the way out here.
I had to. Somebody stole the Zodiac.
Here. God, you must be freezing. There you go.
You're crying.
- No, no I'm not. - What are you up to here?
My God... !
I just needed to take a few more pictures.
In the dark?
The murders happened in the dark.
What's this?
It's Maren Hontvedt's statement to the prosecutor.
Looks like the original.
I sort of "borrowed" it without permission.
It's not like you.
What am I like, Rich?
Go back to bed.
You all right?
- Yeah. - Where you been?
I went to the island to get a few more shots.
I came back the moment it started to rain.
The other boats left 15 minutes ago.
I don't know what's going on.
Where's Adaline?
Still sleeping.
Here, would you take this line?
How'd you sleep?
- What's going on? - What's going on with you?
Is it really bad?
... indicated by Doppler radar.
Category IV conditions, including heavy rain,
tidal flooding and winds above 75 miles an hour
are being reported along the coast...
We've got a front coming in faster than I thought.
Okay.
- You all right? - Yeah.
Listen... the wind alone could put us on the rocks.
So I'm gonna motor in, same as the other boats did.
Even if we get caught out there
we'll be better than in here.
- Thomas? - Yeah?
I need you to put sail ties on the main, all right?
Tightly.
- Jean? - Yeah?
You and Adaline lock down anything that can move...
binoculars, camera, drawers... anything that can shift.
There are extra bungee cords in here if you need them.
Anything you don't want to get wet,
put inside a plastic bag and seal it.
- Jean? - Yeah?
If this bilge pump stops running, come get me, okay?
Here, put these on right now.
I'm going up.
You two gonna be all right?
Yeah.
I've never been in a storm before.
We'll be all right.
Did Rich help you last night with your photographs?
You were gone a while.
I needed to get a few more shots. He just swam out.
I guess he got worried and came to check on me.
I wanted to meet you, Jean.
That's why I came.
Thomas has told me a lot about you.
Thank God.
I thought a husband might cure you of perversion,
but I see you have only grown more depraved.
You don't understand. I was cold.
So you take off your nightgown?
- Please. - Do you think me a fool?
- What is it? - Oh, poor thing.
I had hoped to spare you this for your own sweet sake.
Karen!
But now that Maren has corrupted you as well...
- Stop it. - She lay with your husband.
- Stop it, Karen. - Her only brother!
Her sins could only be stopped by sending her to America.
- It's not true, is it? - I loved him as you do.
It was sickness, not love!
When your husband knows, he'll...
Maren! Oh, my God!
You don't think to scare me... ?
Rich!
Rich! Rich!
Rich, there's water on the floor.
- What's wrong? - We've lost power.
- I'll tell Rich! - What's happened to your face?
- It's rough out there! - Thomas, I wanna talk to you!
Where's Adaline?
She's seasick. She went to lie down.
Rich, there's water over the teak.
- What? - There's water over the teak!
Check the bilge pump!
Get out of the way.
We've lost the engine.
Jean, can you come take the wheel for a moment?
Come up and I'll show you what to do.
- Thomas? - The sooner the better.
Thomas... ?
For God's sake, Jean, take the wheel!
Thomas, I love you.
Take the wheel! Go!
Keep the seas behind you like they are now.
Whatever you do, don't let the waves get to the side.
You'll be fine. Take the wheel.
Okay.
Here, put these on.
Damn it, hold tighter. - I'm holding as tight as I can.
- How bad is this? - If we get water in that line,
we're fucked... do you understand me?
Adaline!
You need a vest!
Adaline!
Anethe?
- Maren, please... ! - I never wanted you to know.
Please... ?
Oh, please!
I'm so sorry.
Maren...
No one can say with any certainty,
unless he has lived through such an experience,
how he will react when rage overtakes the body and mind...
"... the anguish so swift and so piercing,
an attack of all the senses,
like a sudden bite on the hand. "
Jean! Get off the bow!
Adaline! Adeline! Adaline!
Get off the bow! What?
Give me your hand!
Oh... oh...
There he is!
Thomas!
And is that man among us today?
Silence! Silence!
Silence! Silence in court!
Hang him! Hang him!
Silence!
Jean, Jean, Jean...
Louis Wagner...
you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree.
You are to be taken to the state prison at Thomaston,
there to be hanged by the neck until death ensues.
Thomas, Thomas...
This is my idea. My brother-in-law has a boat.
I thought he could take us to Smuttynose Island
where the murders happened.
We left our daughter with her grandmother.
I thought it would be sort of a vacation.
It's one of those lies we all believe...
that you can mix business with pleasure.
The prosecutor will see you now.
Mrs. Hontvedt. It's been quite some time.
I've come to make a statement about the murders.
"The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil,
for Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me... "
God is good. He cannot let an innocent man suffer.
Louis Wagner is innocent.
God forgive me for letting you hang him.
"... Amen. "
Woman are naturally unstable, of course.
- Not always to be believed. Quite true, sir.
We must respect the jury's decision.
Is that understood?
There are times in your life when you sense
that something is about to happen.
And at the same time you realize it already has.
They say it's also true of dying.
You can see your life in an instant,
beginning with birth and ending with total knowledge.
"Though they sink through the sea,
they shall rise again.
Though lovers be lost...
Iove shall not. "
I believe that in the darkest hour,
God may restore faith and offer salvation.
Toward dawn, in that cave,
I began to pray for the first time
since Evan had spoken harshly to me.
These were prayers that sprang from tears
shed in the blackest moments of my wretchedness.
I prayed for the souls of Karen and Anethe,
and for Evan,
who would walk up the path to the cottage in a few hours
and wonder why his bride did not greet him at the cove.
And again for Evan, who would stagger away from that cottage
and that island, and never return again.
And I also prayed for myself,
who did not understand the visions God had given me.