Sarah Koenig

Information and gossip travel swiftly, and you don't want to be the one who goes against the grain or says something that could hurt Adnan or his parents.

No one wants to end up in hot water.

I live in a small town.

I understand that.

But what I hadn't totally understood, I think, is how scared people were when Adnan got arrested.

I got an anonymous text recently that said, quote,

Some people did speak out on tape.

I mean, Rabi and Saad Chowdhury obviously did, and there are others too.

But there's also a significant faction of people, including Ali, who are scared.

Ali said his parents were especially protective, like a 10 on the protective scale, so that after Adnan was arrested, they were frantic about his safety.

His own life changed because of it.

That really happened?

Oh my God.

Really?

A bunch of people I talked to told me they feel guilty towards Adnan, that they let him down, because they let him astray, or didn't protect him, or didn't mentor him, or didn't show up enough at trial, or didn't visit him in jail.

Even ones who were on the fence about his innocence said, please tell Adnan I love him, or please tell him I'm sorry.

And I often say back, you should tell him yourself, you can write to him, you know.

And then sometimes comes a pause.

The reason Ali agreed to go on tape was that he wanted me to know this about Adnan.

Anand was the kind of kid who'd stand up when your parents came into the room, Ali said.