Sarah Koenig

But likely there are a great many things I don't know about Adnan.

And some of the things I was hearing were giving me pause.

So I checked them out as best I could.

Not every single one.

Some of them were so small that I initially was confused by the telling, waiting for the punchline that had already slid by.

Such as, he took a piece of my clothing, a piece of designer sportswear, and then over-explained, claiming it wasn't mine or that he didn't know it was mine, and then apologized profusely.

I, Sarah Koenig, am going to confess something right now.

I have done exactly the same thing.

More than one side wager.

On the other end of the scale was a story so incriminating that we thought, well, if this one is true, then we're done.

Our story is over.

We can all go home.

This was the biggie, and I worked every angle I could to suss it out.

I heard it secondhand that someone said something about Adnan at a party 15 years back.

I spent weeks trying to learn first the name, then the location of that someone, then trying to contact that someone, and then finally driving several hours to question that someone in person.

I nervously knock at the door.

Nice guy comes out.

We chat.

He tells me what I've spent all these weeks and hours waiting for.

"'Oh yeah,' he says.