Invisible Girl: A Novel

Detective Currie interviews Owen about Saffyre’s blood on his wall, saying she believes the unifying thread through all the incidents of sexual assault is Owen’s drunkenness. She thinks that Owen does things when he is drunk that he would not normally do sober.

Cate looks up the dates and times of all the sexual assaults in the area and writes them down, along with the details of the attacks. Then, she compares them to her calendar, and she sees that either Roan or Josh could have attacked the women during those times. Cate feels sick to her stomach. She gets coffee with Elona and asks about Tilly. Elona says that Tilly has not wanted to leave the house since she claimed that she was attacked. Cate asks Elona to talk to Tilly because she thinks that she was assaulted but retracted her statement for an unknown reason. Elona says that she will try to figure out why Tilly took back her statement. When Cate gets home, she finds Uncle Aaron standing outside. He shows Cate a piece of paper that he found in Saffyre’s jacket.

Saffyre goes back to school after winter break. One day, she gets out of her sleeping bag in the building plot to find Josh sitting there. He jumps when he sees her, and she tells him that she knows who he is because she used to see his father for psychiatric care. Josh asks her if she is homeless, but she says that she likes to sleep outside. Josh tells her that he hates Roan because he is having an affair. Josh does not know how Roan could cheat on someone as kind as his mother and still pretend he is a good person. Saffyre tells Josh that she has been following Roan and that Alicia is Roan’s girlfriend. Josh tells Saffyre about his mugging the year before and how it made him so angry to feel helpless. Saffyre understands this feeling. She tells Josh that when she was 10, she made friends with Harrison, a boy a year older than her. Saffyre says that Harrison made her feel special. One day, Harrison brought Saffyre to an empty part of the playground. He told her to squat down, and he would show her a magic trick. When she did as he asked, Harrison sexually assaulted her. Saffyre did not know what to do, so she started self-harming. Saffyre says that when she saw Harrison the other day he acted like he owned her by the way he spoke to her. Josh says that what she experienced was terrible and that he will help her get her revenge on Harrison.

Owen realizes that he does not remember going back inside his house on Valentine’s Day night. As he thinks back to all the instances when he has been drunk, he realizes that the memories have gaps in them. Owen sits through another interview with Detective Currie. He asks her if she has found Bryn yet, but she says no. Owen asks her what she thinks he did to Saffyre, but Detective Currie doesn’t answer, returning instead to her questions about the night Saffyre disappeared.

After Uncle Aaron leaves, Cate stares at the piece of paper he left behind. Saffyre wrote Josh’s name on the piece of paper along with the list of dates that the sexual assaults occurred, including the day that Tilly was assaulted. She also wrote down “Roan” and “Alicia.” Cate asks Josh when he gets home if he knew Saffyre because she went to his school, but he says he didn’t talk to her. Roan comes back from work late, wearing the jogger shirt that Cate found in Josh’s bag with the balaclava. Cate does not know what is going on, but she feels certain that something is amiss.

Saffyre shows Josh a picture of Harrison and Josh decides to stalk Harrison with her. Saffyre takes Josh to where Harrison lives, and they wait until he comes outside. A few days later, another sexual assault happens in the neighborhood. Later in the week, Josh calls Saffyre and tells her that he thinks that Harrison attacked Tilly. He asks her if he should tell the police, but Saffyre says to let her handle Harrison.

Barry shows Owen a news story about Bryn coming forward anonymously to tell reporters that Owen told him about his plan to use his Rohypnol to attack women. Bryn names Owen as the leader of an incel community. Owen gets angry that Bryn is placing the blame on Owen and that the police did not find Bryn first. Owen tries to convince Barry that Bryn gave him the drugs, not the other way around, but Barry does not seem convinced. Detective Currie tells Owen that a woman named Alicia came forward to tell them that Owen spoke to Saffyre on Valentine’s Day night. Owen has a momentary flashback and tells Detective Currie that he thinks that he did speak to her, and that she asked him to help her get onto his roof. He realizes that Saffyre must have cut herself and dropped her phone when she got down from the roof. He says that Saffyre ran off after that. Owen tells them that he remembers the woman that Saffyre chased after talking to Roan across the street and fighting with him earlier in the evening. Detective Currie tells Owen that they will send someone to check his roof to see if there is evidence of Saffyre being up there.

Elona calls Cate and tells her that she asked Tilly about the assault again. Even though Tilly refuses to talk about it, Elona thinks that Tilly lied about her assault because she knew her attacker. Cate wishes she could remember if Josh and Roan were inside the house when Tilly was assaulted, but she cannot remember.

Owen despairs that his reputation is ruined forever. Even if he is released, he knows that he will always be connected with Saffyre’s disappearance. Detective Currie tells Owen that they found Saffyre’s fingerprints on his roof, which corroborates his story. Barry tells Owen that they are moving in the right direction to clear him. Barry gives Owen an email from Deanna in which she says she does not want to be in a relationship with someone involved in a police investigation. However, Owen feels hopeful because Deanna does not say that she never wants to see Owen again or that she thinks that he is guilty.