Gone Girl: 37. Nick Dunne, Eight Days Gone (2) Summary & Analysis

Tanner, Nick, and Go search every nook and cranny of Bill’s house, but don’t turn up anything lurid or suspicious. Tanner is slightly frustrated, and tells Nick that he wants to start getting ahead of the many details that threaten whatever shreds of reliability Nick has left. He wants to report the stuff in the woodshed, but both knows that once they do the cops will go after Go, and is worried about whatever Amy has left somewhere in the house—or what could happen if Andie comes forward.

As Tanner goes over the many ways in which the cops could see any admissions about the items in the woodshed, or Andie, as evidence of Nick’s guilt rather than Amy’s plan, he asks Nick to definitively, once and for all, state where he was the morning of Amy’s murder. Nick sheepishly reveals that he was hiding in an abandoned garage in their development, reading back issues of his old magazine alone.

Nick returns home after noon and finds the street outside his and Amy’s house lined with reporters and news vans. Nick dodges their questions and heads inside for a shower. When he gets out, the doorbell rings—he pulls on some clothes and goes downstairs to find Rand and Marybeth standing on the doorstep. Nick invites them in, and once the door is shut, they immediately begin asking him why he would hire Tanner Bolt—a lawyer for guilty people. They are sad, distressed, and clearly strung out. Marybeth demands to know what is going on, and whether Nick did in fact hurt their only daughter.

Nick is furious that Marybeth and Rand are treating him like this—they are the ones who “created [Amy].” Nick attempts to soothe Marybeth, promising he never would have hurt Amy, but she says she’s tired of his words. She senses something “wrong” with him, and promises that even if Amy is returned unharmed, she’ll never forgive him for how “casually” he’s acted throughout the entire investigation. Marybeth runs out to the car sobbing. Rand asks Nick to “say it”—to promise him that he didn’t kill Amy. Nick says he did not kill Amy or harm her in any way, but Rand begins laughing, admitting he doesn’t know what to believe anymore—he feels like he’s in a “movie” he can’t get out of. He leaves, too.

Nick grows intensely nervous, knowing that if the Elliotts have lost faith in him—and say so publicly—the case for his innocence will fall apart even more. Nick knows he needs to find a way to prove that Amy is not who she has been pretending to be, and is inspired to call up Tommy O’Hara—the man who allegedly raped Amy years ago. He rings Tommy and tells him who he is—Tommy says he’ll call back in just a few minutes.

Tommy calls Nick back from a bar, admitting that to have the conversation they’re about to have, he needs a scotch. He tells Nick that Nick is totally screwed—Nick asks Tommy to tell him about the assault charge Amy filed against him. Tommy insists that he never raped Amy, and likens her to the “Old Testament God” whenever she’s unhappy in a relationship. Tommy tells Nick that over seven years ago, he met Amy at a party, and they began dating. He was overwhelmed by her smarts, humor, and beauty at first—but several months into the relationship, Amy began to change.

Tommy tried to get some space away from Amy without breaking up with her, hoping that things could still turn around. When Tommy started casually seeing another girl, Amy found out—she showed up at his apartment with movies and burgers and the two had consensual sex. Afterwards, Amy left—but in the middle of the night, cops came to Tommy’s apartment to arrest him. They told him that Amy had wounds consistent with rape as well as ligature marks on her wrists. When searching Tommy’s apartment, they found two neckties tied to the headboard. Tommy hadn’t seen Amy put them there—but realized she was responsible.

After putting Tommy through weeks of hell, Amy dropped the charges—two weeks later, he received a typed anonymous note in the mail which read only, “Maybe next time you’ll think twice.” Tommy tells Nick that last week, when he saw the news about Amy, he watched the coverage realizing Amy had “graduated to murder.” Tommy tells Nick that he should be very scared.