The Overnight Guest

Wylie is embarrassed by her emotions and tries to calm herself while grappling with the enormity of her discovery. Wylie and the girl go to the living room, where they hear Becky crying in the closet. Wylie gets a missing persons flyer from her files and climbs into the closet with Becky. Wylie tells Becky that she is Josie, giving her the flyer and telling her details from their childhood. Finally, Becky recognizes Wylie, and the women tearfully share that they thought the other was dead. Becky claims that her captor told her that everyone had died and no one was looking for her, though Wylie assures her this is not the case. Wylie then shares that she has locked her captor, who Wylie assumes to be Jackson, in the barn, so he cannot hurt her anymore.

The girl climbs into the closet with Wylie and Becky. She listens to the women exchange stories from their youth. Wylie shares that she felt she didn’t deserve to have a good life after what happened that summer, then tells Becky that her mother is still alive. The two provide each other with wordless comfort as they reflect on the tragedy they have shared.

Someone knocks on the door, and Becky begs Wylie not to answer it. Wylie assures Becky that she is safe and peeks out the window, seeing Randy Cutter. Becky identifies Randy as the man who kidnapped her. Wylie struggles to reconcile this knowledge with her belief that Jackson is the guilty man. Randy calls through the door that he is worried about the house’s inhabitants, having spotted a man walking around the property. Wylie gives Becky a knife and instructs Becky’s daughter to run to the barn if violence occurs; she then douses the fire to cast the house into darkness. Becky and her daughter go upstairs to hide.

Randy breaks into the house as Wylie hides behind the sofa. Randy calls for Becky and Josie, shouting, “You belong to me” (297). He points a shotgun over the back of the couch and pulls the trigger, but the gun is jammed. Wylie strikes him with a hatchet, knocking the gun out of his hands. She loses her grip on the hatchet, and they both scramble for weapons until Becky appears and grabs the shotgun off the floor, her daughter by her side. Wylie carries Becky’s daughter to safety and ushers the girl outside, instructing her to hide. Wylie and Randy both try to coax the shotgun from Becky’s hands, causing Becky to become so overwhelmed she fires shots at the ceiling until there are no more bullets.

The girl tries to break back into the house but cannot find a way inside. When the gunshots go off, she runs to the barn and climbs into the hayloft.

Becky drops the shotgun. Randy grabs the gun while Wylie picks up the hatchet. She asks him why he murdered her family, but he refuses to answer. They attack each other. Randy gets the upper hand and ultimately slams Becky into the wall, then slams Wylie’s head against the floor until she loses consciousness. When Wylie comes to, she can hear Randy moving nearby; she remains motionless as he drags her outside and continues to feign unconsciousness as he poses her body to make it look as if she fell and injured herself. When Wylie hears him walk away toward the barn, she follows him, fighting off nausea. She notices that the storm has died down and that sunrise is approaching.

Wylie sneaks into the barn and watches Randy approach the hayloft. Worried that the girl is hiding there, Wylie grabs a hoe off the wall of tools and follows him up the ladder. He calls to his daughter, trying to coax her from hiding by promising her a puppy. He kicks at piles of hay until he kicks his daughter, causing her to gasp. The girl emerges from the hay and tries to crawl away, spotting Wylie behind Randy. Randy, sensing Wylie’s presence, tells her that she “is not making this easy. I have to give you credit for that. You always were a survivor” (307).

Wylie directs the girl back into the house, promising to be close behind. She then attacks Randy with the hoe, demanding answers about his crimes. He tells her that coincidence implicated Jackson in the murders and Becky’s disappearance, and his renovations on the Richter farm made it easy to prepare a bunker for a hostage. Randy then tells her he plans to kill her and once again frame Jackson, intending to kill Jackson and hide his body as well.

Wylie strikes Randy with the sharp end of the hoe, but he yanks the tool out of her grip, and she flees down the ladder. She makes it to her car while Randy descends. Wylie crashes her car into him as he approaches the bottom of the ladder, sending him flying over the hood; unable to brake in time, she drives on through the back of the barn into a snowdrift.

The girl flees into the house, where she finds her mother, Becky, and tells her about Wylie and Randy’s fight. Becky tells her daughter that Wylie’s true name is Josie before instructing her to hide. Instead, the girl goes to the back of the house to watch the barn in time to see Wylie crash through its back wall. The girl runs into the living room and retrieves an object from under the couch.

Wylie gets out of her car and surveys the damage to the barn. She climbs through the debris to search the barn for Randy, grabbing a hammer from the tool wall. She finds him crawling across the floor on his stomach, one of his legs badly broken. Wylie is torn between killing him and leaving him for the elements to take care of. She asks Randy what the little girl’s name is; Randy mocks her, telling her “[i]t was supposed to be you all along” (315). Wylie rages against him, telling him about all the parts of the case the police solved. He dismisses her words, citing the fact that he was never caught as proof of his capabilities. He then notes that he watched her after the crime and considered kidnapping her after the fact, but her grandparents moved her away.

Wylie decides to go back to the house and call the police. As she turns, Randy grabs her ankle and drags her to the ground. He overpowers her despite his injuries, pinning her arms over her head and stuffing straw into her mouth before choking her. Although she tries to fight, she begins to see images of her loved ones as she suffocates.

The girl resolves to get the handgun to Wylie, believing that it will give Wylie the power to send her father away. She gets a flashlight and goes to the barn, where she sees Randy choking Wylie. She rushes toward them, raising the gun and demanding that her father release Wylie; he slaps her, sending the gun and flashlight flying. This distraction gives Wylie the chance to hit him with her hammer, but he remains conscious and resumes choking her. He seizes the hammer and prepares to strike Wylie. The girl retrieves the gun and sneaks up behind him. She puts the barrel to his head and pulls the trigger.

Wylie takes the girl back to the house, where they find Becky holding the empty shotgun. Wylie soothes Becky, promising that she is safe. They prepare to leave for the hospital. Wylie checks on the little girl, who is going into shock. Wylie cleans the blood off her face as she assures the girl that she did the right thing. Wylie dresses Becky and the girl and helps them out to Randy’s truck. As they get inside, the girl shares that her name is Josie.

Wylie prepares to read an excerpt from her book, The Overnight Guest, to an audience at the Spirit Lake Public Library. Tomorrow, she will travel to Burden and do a similar reading. The year prior, Wylie made sure that Becky and Josie were safe before traveling to her home in Oregon and reconciling with her son. Now, Seth is in the crowd with the other attendees, having agreed to accompany her on her tour.

Wylie introduces herself and her background to the crowd before her reading. The text that she reads matches part of the first chapter of the novel, revealing that the August 2000 chapters are excerpts from her book. She looks up and sees Margo, Becky, and Josie stepping into the library. Wylie is intimidated by Margo’s presence, believing that the older woman blames her for Becky’s kidnapping; Becky smiles encouragingly, and Wylie continues her reading.

Afterward, the audience asks questions. One woman asks how Becky feels about the book. Wylie reflects that before publication, she had offered to send Becky a copy for her approval; Becky approved of the book without reading it, trusting Wylie to tell the story right. Wylie tells the crowd that she published the book with Becky’s blessing and never would have gone forward if she thought it would harm Becky.

After the event, Wylie and Seth meet Becky, Josie, and Margo on the street. Wylie introduces her son; Becky and Seth talk while Margo pulls Wylie aside, apologizing for her behavior. Wylie forgives her, and the group walks to a nearby bar and grill for dinner. Wylie and Becky walk side by side and discuss their plans for the future. Wylie invites Becky to move to Oregon with her, but Becky decides to stay in Burden, claiming that having her family around helps her cope with her trauma. As Becky speaks, Wylie realizes that while she may not have a place she considers home anymore, she sees Seth as her place of safety. Becky also tells Wylie that she must forgive herself for what happened in the past; Becky promises that she never blamed Wylie, and Wylie must stop blaming herself. The two women reiterate their love for each other as they move toward a more hopeful future.