CHAPTER NINE

The Murder

That night I couldn't sleep. At about four in the morning I heard a taxi drive up to Gatsby's house. I immediately jumped out of bed and put on my clothes. I felt that I needed to talk to him before morning, that I had something to warn him about before it was too late.

I walked up to his house; his front door was still open. I found him sitting in the dining room.

"Nothing happened," he said. "I waited half the night. Finally she came to the window and stood there for a minute looking out. Then she turned off the light."

"You should leave," I said. "The police will find your car soon."

"Leave now?"

Gatsby explained that he couldn't possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do. Gatsby still hoped that Daisy would leave Tom and marry him, and I didn't want to tell him that there was no hope.

Gatsby then told me the story of his young life with Dan Cody on the sailing ship. He told me the story because he felt that "Jay Gatsby" was dead. Tom's hard strength had broken the idea of "Gatsby" like a piece of glass. The act of Jay Gatsby was over.

He told me about his young life with Daisy. She was the first rich girl he had ever met. He thought that she was exciting and beautiful. He went over to her house, and it shocked him. He had never been inside such a big and beautiful house before. And because Daisy lived in the house, it felt magic inside.

But Gatsby had lied to Daisy. She did not know the real man. He had told her that he was very rich and powerful. He told her that he was able to take care of her. He even lied and said that he came from a wealthy family. The truth was that he was a poor young man without a good family or a past. When wearing his soldier's uniform nobody could know if he was rich or poor, but when the war was over, he would again become a poor nobody. So he decided to take everything that he could get—and in the end he took Daisy, one quiet October night.

He had planned to have fun for a while and then leave, but then he fell in love with Daisy. He could not leave her.

"I was surprised to find out that I loved her, young fellow. I hoped that she would leave me for a while, but she didn't, because she truly loved me." The day before he left for the war, he sat in Daisy's house with her in his arms. They sat for a long time together. They didn't talk, only sat and felt close to each other. They became calm and prepared to separate for a long time. They had only been in love for a month, but they felt that they would be in love forever.

Gatsby did very well in the war and even became a little famous. He first became a captain and later increased to higher positions. After the war he wanted to go home and see Daisy, but the army sent him to Oxford instead. He became more and more worried by Daisy's letters. She wanted him to come home and didn't understand why he couldn't. She wanted him to be close to her; she wanted to know that he would take care of her and that he would be safe.

Daisy was young and she was feeling the pressure to get married. All of her friends were going out every night with men, but she stayed home waiting. Finally, in the spring, she began to go out again. Suddenly she was going out to meet a different man every night. She wanted to make a decision; she wanted her life to become safe and quiet immediately.

Then, in the middle of spring, Tom Buchanan met Daisy. He was strong, rich and had a good family, and he said that he would take care of Daisy. She felt relaxed letting him take care of her and she happily agreed to marry him. Gatsby received the letter announcing her marriage while he was still at Oxford.

"I don't think that Daisy ever loved. Tom." Gatsby said. But when he sat down, his face didn't show any hope.

When Gatsby came back from France, Tom and Daisy were still on their wedding trip. He traveled to Louisville using the last of his money. For a whole week he went to the places that they had gone together and remembered the time that they spent together. He stayed until he had no more money, then he left on a bus.

We had talked for a long time, it was already nine o'clock and I had to leave soon to go to work. The gardener came outside and said, "Mr Gatsby, I'm going to empty the pool today. The leaves will start falling soon, and they'll make the water dirty."

"Don't empty it today," Gatsby said. "I've still never used that pool. I think I will go in today."

I looked at my watch and stood up.

"I have to go to work." I said.

I didn't want to go to work that day, but, more than that, I didn't want to leave Gatsby. I talked with him for another hour, before I finally went to work.

"I'll call you during lunch," I said as I left.

"Please do, young fellow."

He walked with me down the stairs.

"I guess Daisy will call too." He looked at me nervously.

"Yes, I suppose she will." I had to lie to him.

"Goodbye Nick, thanks for coming over."

We shook hands and I left. Just before I got into my car I remembered something and turned around toward Gatsby.

"They're no good, any of them!" I yelled across the yard, and I meant Tom, Daisy, and all of the famous and fancy people who came to Gatsby's parties. "You are better than all of them added together!"

Gatsby heard me and smiled his wonderful smile. I'm very happy that I said that to him. It was the only praise I ever said to Gatsby. In my heart I didn't agree with him or his life or his ideas.

In the office, I tried to work, but I fell asleep in my chair. The phone woke me. It was Jordan; she often called me at the office to see if I wanted to have lunch with her. Her voice usually sounded calm, but today it was sharp and angry.

"You weren't so nice to me last night." She said.

I became angry. "Last night, nothing was important."

She was silent for a minute. "I still want to see you."

"I want to see you, too."

"I could meet you in the city for lunch."

"Sorry, I have too much work this afternoon."

We talked in angry voices for a while, and then suddenly we weren't talking. I don't know who hung up and I didn't care. I was too angry to talk to her.

I called Gatsby, but there was no answer. I decided that I would leave work early, in about three hours.

I should go back now and tell a little about what happened at the garage after we left. The owner of the coffee shop, Michaelis, told this story later to the police.

Michaelis had waited with Wilson all night. Sometime after midnight the people in the garage left and Michaelis stayed there alone with Wilson. Wilson was still crying. Finally at about two in the morning he stopped crying, and he began to tell Michaelis stories about his wife.

First he told him that a couple of months before his wife had come home with her nose broken and bleeding.

"At that time I began to worry that something strange was happening. Then yesterday afternoon I discovered this piece of jewelry in her drawer." He then showed Michaelis what he found.

"She told me that her sister had given it to her, but I knew that she was lying—I realized then that she must have some young fellow in love with her." Wilson walked over to the window and looked outside. "I told her 'I don't know what you have been doing, but God knows. You can't hide from God's eyes—He sees everything!'"

"And then he murdered her," said Wilson.

"Who murdered her?"

"Her lover did! The man driving the big, yellow car! She ran outside to speak to him, but he wouldn't stop. He drove over her and murdered her! I'm going to find out who owns that yellow car."

By five o'clock in the morning Wilson had become quiet. Michaelis was very tired and went home to sleep. He told Wilson that he would come back to see him in the morning, but when he came back to the garage four hours later, Wilson was already gone.

Later the police learned where Wilson's had gone. First he walked to Gad's Hill. Many people saw him walking down the road and they said he looked a little bit crazy. At about twelve o'clock he reached Gad's Hill, and went in a restaurant to eat. For the next two hours he walked from garage to garage, looking for a big, yellow car. By two o'clock he arrived in West Egg; he asked someone on the street where Gatsby's house was. By that time he must have learned Gatsby's name.

According to one of his servants, Gatsby went out to the swimming pool at about two o'clock. He told his helper to tell him if the phone rang. He then went to the garage and told the driver not to use the car for any reason. The driver thought that this was strange, because the car was damaged in the front and it needed to be repaired.

Nobody called Gatsby that afternoon, not Daisy or anyone else. The helper waited near the phone until four o'clock. Sadly, this was long after there was anyone to receive a phone call. I don't think that Gatsby really believed that Daisy would call.

At about three o'clock his driver heard the sound of two gunshots, but he didn't know where they came from. No one had seen Gatsby for a few hours. It was not until I arrived home from work that we found Gatsby. I was worried that something was wrong and I ran over to his house and asked where he was. When I learned that he was in the pool, his driver, helper, gardener and I all ran down.

The pool water was red with blood and Gatsby's body was slowly moving down the pool.

As we carried Gatsby's dead body towards the house the gardener saw Mr Wilson's body dead in the grass. He had shot himself in the head.

(end of section)