Gone-Girl-by-Gillian-Flynn

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Desi left school shortly after. But he still phoned her, even now, and several times a year sent her thick, padded envelopes that Amy tossed unopened after showing them to me. They were postmarked St. Louis. Forty minutes away. ‘It’s just a horrible, miserable coincidence,’ she’d told me. Desi had the St. Louis family connections on his mother’s side. This much she knew but didn’t care to know more. I’d picked through the trash to retrieve one, read the letter, sticky with alfredo sauce, and it had been utterly banal: talk of tennis and travel and other things preppy. Spaniels. I tried to picture this slender dandy, a fellow in bow ties and tortoiseshell glasses, busting into our house and grabbing Amy with soft, manicured fingers. Tossing her in the trunk of his vintage roadster and taking her … antiquing in Vermont. Desi. Could anyone believe it was Desi? ‘Desi lives not far away, actually,’ I said. ‘St. Louis.’ ‘Now, see?’ Rand said. ‘Why are the cops not all over this?’ ‘Someone needs to be,’ I said. ‘I’ll go. After the search here tomorrow.’ ‘The police definitely seem to think it’s … close to home,’ Marybeth said. She kept her eyes on me one beat too long, then shivered, as if shaking off a thought.
AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE AUGUST 23, 2010 – Diary entry – Summer. Birdies. Sunshine. I spent today shuffling around Prospect Park, my skin tender, my bones brittle. Misery-battling. It is an improvement, since I spent the previous three days in our house in the same crusty pajama set, marking time until five, when I could have a drink. Trying to make myself remember the suffering in Darfur. Put things into perspective. Which, I guess, is just further exploiting the people of Darfur. So much has unraveled the past week. I think that’s what it is, that it’s all happened at once, so I have the emotional bends. Nick lost his job a month ago. The recession is supposed to be winding down, but no one seems to know that. So Nick lost his job. Second round of layoffs, just like he predicted – just a few weeks after the first round. Oops, we didn’t fire nearly enough people. Idiots. At first I think Nick might be okay. He makes a massive list of things he’s always meant to do. Some of it’s tiny stuff: He changes watch batteries and resets clocks, he replaces a pipe beneath our sink and repaints all the rooms we painted before and didn’t like. Basically, he does a lot of things over. It’s nice to take some actual do-overs, when you get so few in life. And then he starts on bigger stuff: He reads War and Peace. He flirts with taking Arabic lessons. He spends a lot of time trying to guess what skills will be marketable over the next few decades. It breaks my heart, but I pretend it doesn’t for his sake. I keep asking him: ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ At first I try it seriously, over coffee, eye contact, my hand on his. Then I try it breezily, lightly, in passing. Then I try it tenderly, in bed, stroking his hair. He has the same answer always: ‘I’m fine. I don’t really want to talk about it.’ I wrote a quiz that was perfect for the times: ‘How Are You Handling Your Layoff?’ a) I sit in my pajamas and eat a lot of ice cream – sulking is therapeutic! b) I write nasty things about my old boss online, everywhere – venting feels
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To Brett: light of my life, senior
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CONTENTS Cover Dedication Title Pag
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Amy Elliott Dunne: Twenty-Six Days
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PART ONE BOY LOSES GIRL
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little Missouri hometown, in her fi
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some buttons for bartering, trying
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Yes, we thought we were being cleve
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Answer: C, totally C Anyway, the pa
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the one who will end up with a pie
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Without asking, she poured me a dra
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‘Treasure hunt,’ I said. My wif
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‘Paper is first year,’ I said.
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‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘It
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‘Amy!’ She wasn’t on the wate
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let me grow up, unencumbered by my
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Andys? No, just kidding, don’t wr
Page 34 and 35: NICK DUNNE THE DAY OF I waited for
Page 36 and 37: I was telling Riordan about the str
Page 38 and 39: need me to translate my English, Co
Page 40 and 41: ‘What anniversary today?’ she a
Page 42 and 43: Delaware, a state of many rich iden
Page 44 and 45: NICK DUNNE THE NIGHT OF Boney and G
Page 46 and 47: was so completely true and I’d ne
Page 48 and 49: some good friends here? We’d like
Page 50 and 51: eing monitored, her photo circulate
Page 52 and 53: glasses, fussy with the table lamp.
Page 54 and 55: The police finished with their ques
Page 56 and 57: AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE APRIL 21, 2009 -
Page 58 and 59: of his own taxi, and he stands in t
Page 60 and 61: ‘Man, my wife, she’s been hyste
Page 62 and 63: technicality he never saw himself a
Page 64 and 65: It was silly but incredibly sweet,
Page 66 and 67: longtime response, the need to remi
Page 68 and 69: crook of the V of the Robert Indian
Page 70 and 71: your money.’ ‘Not according to
Page 72 and 73: I stay where I am for a few minutes
Page 74 and 75: hit, washed away the Riverway store
Page 76 and 77: I’m an adjunct professor there. H
Page 78 and 79: the clue say?’ I let him read ove
Page 80 and 81: have, more than once.) The quizzes
Page 82 and 83: touch me again. ‘Oh, okay. Good,
Page 86 and 87: great! c) Until a new job comes alo
Page 88 and 89: grooves beneath his eyes. My mother
Page 90 and 91: NICK DUNNE TWO DAYS GONE I woke up
Page 92 and 93: ‘Oh, come on—’ ‘You’d be
Page 94 and 95: ‘Hear the police are botching thi
Page 96 and 97: missing person notice for Amy, my w
Page 98 and 99: mantra of all attractive women. ‘
Page 100 and 101: four, and it’s spread to the live
Page 102 and 103: shuffling, like my bones hurt, a fe
Page 104 and 105: NICK DUNNE THREE DAYS GONE The poli
Page 106 and 107: around, as if he worried they’d o
Page 108 and 109: played Huck, we were out to dinner,
Page 110 and 111: celebrate us, not a test about whet
Page 112 and 113: hopped in the back, planted himself
Page 114 and 115: was what we had in mind. When we re
Page 116 and 117: signs that read Jewelry and Beauty
Page 118 and 119: I pulled out her photo. The Hillsam
Page 120 and 121: your housewarming? Have you thought
Page 122 and 123: Go grim-faced, her hair in barrette
Page 124 and 125: off and starts moving toward me aga
Page 126 and 127: ‘No, he just said she was afraid,
Page 128 and 129: in town. There are plenty of other
Page 130 and 131: up. I entered the headquarters a fe
Page 132 and 133: ‘Okay.’ She lingered, so I bega
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I should add, in Amy’s defense, t
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moment. I punished you for being a
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genuinely annoying and then swung b
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know he loves me.’ I admire Mo’
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NICK DUNNE FOUR DAYS GONE She was s
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her hair? Also: What were Amy’s f
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who left the bar early if a woman w
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sweater. Don’t be that guy, I tho
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the miserable situation, assuming t
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shoulder. ‘Maybe—’ I could fe
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE JULY 21, 2011 I a
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Instead, we wait. It takes two hour
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NICK DUNNE FIVE DAYS GONE I leaned
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‘Nick, this is a little drastic.
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I phoned Go and she said, ‘Well,
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‘You had a very intense relations
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didn’t know - you’d think they
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‘It was interesting to meet you,
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me full on the lips, and he touched
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NICK DUNNE FIVE DAYS GONE I sat in
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‘It’s kind of a woodwork situat
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‘I don’t know what you want me
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‘Not Wednesday night?’ Boney as
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south. Amy’s parents had to borro
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wife in those photos?’ They gave
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE OCTOBER 21, 2011
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from a night out drinking, and I’
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NICK DUNNE SIX DAYS GONE The first
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wasn’t sure if it was Andie or Am
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town, this town that Amy loved, tha
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We both gasped. He held his fist in
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NICK DUNNE SIX DAYS GONE Go pushed
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‘It’s a lot different. But you
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‘You walked all the way here?’
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letters, a beautiful antique wooden
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NICK DUNNE SEVEN DAYS GONE It was t
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‘She was definitely pregnant.’
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pregnant.’ ‘Is pregnant.’ Tan
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Tanner tightened his tie, twisted a
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‘We’ll prep you for the convers
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PART TWO BOY MEETS GIRL
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no blood has dripped where it shoul
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persona because they’re too lazy
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else - than I ever have been before
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a word to the woodshed. ‘Look,’
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The beginning of a wonderful new st
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Amy put in where she’s hidden som
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE THE DAY OF You kn
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I’ve always thought I could commi
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event? It was fun, mostly. I’d wa
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NICK DUNNE SEVEN DAYS GONE I had to
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near the door. ‘You are such a sp
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‘Let me go, Nick, or I swear.’
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picked up my story. She has to, I c
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fish. A couple of times now, he bri
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know that. Not for sure. For now it
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cop line, but it’s the truth.’
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flipped Amy off - she wouldn’t le
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ead it, but it’s also another pla
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE SEVEN DAYS GONE I
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machine, showing a toddler asleep o
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Needs Me’ is basically a lilting
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watch TV.’ I bring a fresh tomato
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She is looking right at me, and I w
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NICK DUNNE EIGHT DAYS GONE We searc
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‘Lets see if we can reach out to
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‘Hives. Stress.’ I turned away
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smiling. A tear dribbled on his chi
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‘Well.’ Tommy called again for
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anonymous, typed, says: Maybe next
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‘You’re up,’ Greta says to me
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nuances, the structure. Just good o
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finding the angle, exploiting the w
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fish-smuggling ring? ‘I’ am gam
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NICK DUNNE EIGHT DAYS GONE As soon
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as an idea and not really for who s
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oardwalk psychic. ‘No. I have no
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‘Because I realized I’d be stuc
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presence known, and then she was ba
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‘I’ll give it context,’ she s
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just happens to be the coolest girl
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gives me pause. My husband has fini
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goodbye.’ He steps toward me, and
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He pats me on the arm as they leave
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The doorbell rang, and I opened the
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I’m not fucking around here: This
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alternate theory. She has a good re
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She turned the camera on, sat down
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ejuvenative picture?’ Betsy asked
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NICK DUNNE TEN DAYS GONE We spent t
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE TEN DAYS GONE I h
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my eyes bigger, my cheeks flushed.
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singers.’ He says the word dubiou
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house. If you feel cramped by me, i
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privacy to heal during this very pa
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make any excuses for it. I let myse
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said. ‘Not gonna bite you.’ The
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She looked startled and held up a f
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE TEN DAYS GONE We
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year. ‘My goodness, Desi,’ I sa
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handwriting. ‘You know what else
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‘Is she crazy, Nick?’ Boney sai
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‘The visor hat, that’s an old i
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the bag. He doesn’t like the smel
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to be Amy’s hero, and when I lost
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NICK DUNNE FOURTEEN DAYS GONE I wok
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that—’ ‘Yeah, that would be g
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senses. Those fucking bitches. I’
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE TWENTY-SIX DAYS G
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I look at Desi with outright disgus
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE FORTY DAYS GONE I
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‘Oh, darling, not silly at all. I
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NICK DUNNE FORTY DAYS GONE Out on b
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I wanted to kill her. Had we been a
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a good man. But … I guess it does
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with creases from being folded too
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B: So he stabbed you? The angle is
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like I was nosing around in somethi
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NICK DUNNE THE NIGHT OF THE RETURN
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to have Amy back? How wonderful do
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hated her. I was afraid of her. ‘
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‘Ha! Never thought I’d hear you
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I paused. ‘That was my original p
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the words she suctioned to me: aver
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possible way. You don’t really lo
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‘Shut up, Amy. I mean it.’ ‘J
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Amy was exactly right. So maybe the
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know, would love to arrest me. But
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NICK DUNNE THIRTY DAYS AFTER THE RE
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more of her lies …’ ‘We shoul
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me, like, actually sleep. It will b
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NICK DUNNE NINE WEEKS AFTER THE RET
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AMY ELLIOTT DUNNE TEN WEEKS AFTER T
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I felt a giant bubble of joy - I co
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Yes, I am finally a match for Amy.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’ve got to start
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laugh till I fall down. The guy who
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ALSO BY GILLIAN FLYNN SHARP OBJECTS
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Copyright A Weidenfeld & Nicolson e
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