How It All Goes Down
Nick Dunne—The Day Of
- Nick calls the cops. They're really young cops and are obviously more used to investigating petty crimes than potential kidnappings; once they realize the seriousness of the situation, they discover it's way above their pay grade and call some actual detectives in.
- The phone rings, and it's a care worker for Comfort Hill, the assisted living facility Nick and Go's dad is in. Nick hangs up on them and wonders whether he or Go forgot to send in the check for the month.
- The detectives, Officers Rhonda Boney and Jim Gilpin, arrive—Boney is an unattractive, condescending woman with squinty eyes and Nick takes an instant dislike to her.
- They tour the house. Nick points out the suspicious signs of a struggle, plus an iron in the bedroom that was left on, while Boney asks him questions about how long they've lived in the house and Nick makes small talk about his old writing career and being a co-owner of The Bar.
- In the bedroom, Boney finds Amy's present to Nick gift-wrapped and lying on the floor. Both she and Gilpin seem disturbed when Nick explains that today is their anniversary.
- Back downstairs, Nick catches Boney staring disconcertedly at the wedding picture of Nick and Amy hanging on the wall in the living room. This causes Nick to reminisce about marrying her on her parents' beachfront property on Nantucket Sound; Boney tells him Amy is beautiful, and he agrees.
- Understandably, Nick's kind of nervous and irritated that the detectives are sitting around gazing at their wedding picture instead of trying to find Amy. He's even more irritated when Gilpin asks if they have dinner reservations at Houston's, the only nice restaurant in town. Nick obliges him by saying yes, and then reveals to us that it's the fifth lie he's told since they set foot in the house. Something's a little fishy here…