Will Dormer was a Los Angeles police detective who was sent to Nightmute to solve the murder of Kay Connell.
He had previously been involved in a case of a child murderer, and knew the suspect he had to be guilty. In order to secure a conviction, he planted a blood sample on the suspect's clothes as evidence. His partner Hap Eckhart knew of his transgression, and they were being investigated by John Warfield.
Eckhart and Dormer arrived in Nightmute, Alaska and met Ellie Burr who working on the murder case. He met the other officers in the town: Charlie Nyback, Rich, Farrell Brooks, Francis and Fred Duggar. He questioned the victim's mother, and also her boyfriend Randy Stetz. A bag of Kay's was found, but Dormer had them replace it and say on the news they were still looking for it. They lay in wait by a cabin and saw the murderer return, and they gave chase. They lost him in the fog, and Dormer ended up accidentally shooting his partner Hap.
Dormer claimed that the murderer had shot Hap, and began taking steps to cover his tracks. The permanent sunlight of Alaska caused him to be unable to sleep, and as he lay awake at night he received phone calls from the murderer. Dormer worked out that Kay had been reading novels by Walter Finch, and become close to him. He went to Finch's house but failed to catch him, ending up falling in the river.
Finch and Dormer then met on a boat, and Finch threatened to tell the police about his shooting of Hap if he got arrested. Ellie Burr worked out the identity of Finch by herself, and ended up being captured by him - Dormer then came to her rescue, killing Finch but being shot himself. As Dormer lay dying, Burr offered to destroy the evidence that he had shot Hap, but Dormer refused, telling her never to take a short cut or compromise.
Background information and notes[]
- Dormer's surname is the French verb "to sleep".