Invisible Girl: A Novel

Saffyre receives a text from Josh that Alicia sent a Valentine’s Day’s card to his house. Later, Josh texts Saffyre again to say that Alicia came to their house, and he asks her to come over. When Saffyre arrives, Josh texts her that he thinks that Alicia went home, but Saffyre decides to hang around the house to make sure. Alicia comes back and Saffyre asks Alicia not to talk to Cate. Saffyre ducks out of sight as Roan comes outside. Saffyre sees Owen standing outside of his house and she runs over to him and asks him to help her get onto his roof. Owen is drunk so he does not question Saffyre but helps her up to the roof where she has a view of Alicia and Roan arguing. Saffyre sees Alicia yelling and Roan slapping her hard. Alicia walks away and Saffyre jumps down from the roof, drops her phone, and chases after her. She ducks into the shadows as she sees a figure approach Alicia.

In his jail cell, Owen thinks about his childhood. He remembers how his parents’ marriage fell apart. He once saw his mother try to seduce his father, but his father got aggressive with her before claiming that she asked for it. Owen’s parents divorced, and a few months later, his mother died. When he asks the guard if he can call his father, the guard tells him that he is being released, although the guard doesn’t know why.

Cate takes Josh into the police station to speak with Detective Currie. In the interview room, Josh tells Detective Currie what he told Cate that morning. He explains how he knew Saffyre and that Saffyre was following Roan because he was having an affair with Alicia. Cate feels stupid for believing Roan because she thinks he must have been having affairs throughout their married life. Josh tells Detective Currie that Saffyre told him about something that happened to her as a child and that he promised that he would help her find closure.

Owen arrives at his father’s house. Ricky lets him in, and Owen tells him that he wants to talk to him about why he thinks he is different. Owen tells Ricky that when he sent him to live with Aunt Tessie, it made Owen feel abandoned. He tells Ricky about how he saw him get aggressive with his mother. Ricky says that he acted that way because he doesn’t like “desperate women.” Rick says that his girlfriend Gina wanted him to leave his family so that they could start their own, and that he did as she asked even though he hated how it hurt Owen. Later, Ricky tells Gina that the police dropped the charges against Owen. Gina says that she still feels uncomfortable because Owen had Rohypnol in his room. Owen tells Gina that she has every right to feel uncomfortable, but that he is going to work on himself to change his behavior. Gina accepts this, then asks Owen what happened to Saffyre if he did not kidnap her.

Josh tells Detective Currie about the Valentine’s Day card for Roan that Georgia opened. Josh says that he snuck back into the kitchen and read the card, which was from Alicia. Josh was so angry about the card that he confronted Roan about it that night. However, Roan told him that he had broken it off with Alicia because he did not want to leave Cate. Josh hugged Roan, and Roan said that he would swap Alicia’s card out with a different one so that Cate would not know about Alicia. Later, when Roan and Cate were out together, Alicia showed up at their house. Josh told her to leave them alone, and he texted Saffyre to come over. Alicia left, and Roan and Cate came home. Josh heard shouting later and saw that Alicia had returned and Roan was telling her to leave. As Alicia ran away, Josh saw Saffyre chase after Alicia. Josh says that Saffyre called him later that night and told him that she did something horrible and that she would have to lay low for a while. Then, she turned off her phone and Josh has not heard from her since. Josh tells the police about his and Saffyre’s suspicions about Harrison being the person attacking women. He tells the police that Saffyre asked him to follow Harrison to catch him in the act so that he would be held accountable for his crimes. Yet, the last time Josh followed Harrison, Harrison threatened to kill him if he saw him again.

Saffyre sees Harrison approach Alicia to attack her, but Saffyre attacks Harrison from behind and pins him to the ground, breaking the fingers that hurt her when she was ten. Harrison passes out from the pain and Alicia and Saffyre get into an Uber. As they rush away, Saffyre hears Harrison yell that he will kill her when he sees her again.

Saffyre stays at Alicia’s house for two weeks, too afraid to leave because of Harrison. She feels bad for not texting her Uncle Aaron, but wants to protect him. A few weeks later, Alicia tells Saffyre that the police arrested Harrison for the sexual assaults in the area after a girl named Tilly came forward to identify him. Tilly says that Harrison threatened to kill her and her mother if she told anyone about the assault. Saffyre realizes that Josh must have tipped the police off about Harrison and she feels relieved that she can finally come out of hiding.

Uncle Aaron picks Saffyre up from Alicia’s apartment and hugs her close. Saffyre apologizes for lying to him, and he forgives her. He tells her that he is her family no matter what and that he will never leave her.

A month later, Owen leaves the Sexual Conduct Training and Rehabilitation course. Owen thinks about how the police found Bryn, whose real name is Jonathan. Jonathan’s apartment was filled with incel literature and date-rape drugs. His prints matched the drugs found in Owen’s dresser, and the police placed Jonathan on a watch list. Owen gets his job back at the college. After the police released him from jail, he wrote letters to the girls who came forward, apologizing for his behavior, explaining his blackouts, and commending them for coming forward about their experiences. Owen feels grateful for everything he learned in the training course. He texts his girlfriend Deanna who tells him that she will meet him at the restaurant to celebrate his birthday.

Cate, Georgia, and Josh arrive at the remodeled house. Cate feels glad to finally be in her own home and be free of Roan, who moved in with his parents after Cate broke up with him. He keeps promising that he will change, but Cate knows he’s lying, and she wants to get on with her life. Cate knows that things will not be perfect, but she feels encouraged to start this new chapter with her children.

Saffyre feels safe enough to sleep in her own bed. Josh tells her that his parents split up, which makes her feel glad for Cate. Alicia checks in on her from time to time. Saffyre hears that Harrison is on remand for the sexual assaults and remembers the look on Roan’s face when he hit Alicia on Valentine’s Day. When she showed the phone footage to Alicia at her apartment, Alicia told her that Roan masks his violence. She explained that one time she found Roan masturbating in his office to a rape fantasy from one of his patients. Alicia warns Saffyre that some men in the world might seem trustworthy, but underneath the veneer they are predators. Saffyre thinks about how Harrison has not been found guilty of every sexual assault, so she worries that he will be released soon. Saffyre remembers when Josh first started helping her look for Harrison. She told him that he needed to work on being invisible. He ran up to her in black jogging clothes and a balaclava on his face, and Saffyre did not recognize him until he pulled down his mask. Josh told her that he found the items in his father’s dresser.