Andy interviews Sarah Groehl

Andy interviews Sarah Groehl at a Starbucks in Newton Centre as part of his effort to find out what happened to Ben Rifkin and to challenge the accusation against Jacob Barber. The conversation yields a limited but consequential account of what students had been saying: rumors that Jacob had a knife, a fight between Jacob and Ben, and a history of Ben teasing Jacob. Sarah does not claim to know who killed Ben; instead, she points Andy toward Derek Yoo, making the interview a passage from uncertain hearsay to a more promising lead.

The Meeting in Newton Centre

Sarah is at the Starbucks using a MacBook when Andy arrives. She removes her earphones and looks up from what the narration describes as a web trance. They move to a green-slatted bench across the street, where Sarah sits upright while Andy turns an abandoned paper cup in his hands. The ordinary setting and unhurried conversation contrast with the grave purpose of the meeting: Andy wants information that might help clear his son of murder.

Andy tells Sarah that he is trying to find the person who really killed Ben and that Jacob is not responsible. Sarah questions the premise of his appeal, asking what he means by the person who really did it. Her response establishes the limits of the conversation from the start: she is not offering a confident alternative account or presenting herself as a witness to the killing. Andy is asking her to help him investigate, while she is wary of being drawn into the case.

What Students Had Heard

Sarah explains that she had wanted the adults in charge to know what students were saying. In her view, the adults seemed unaware while the students knew about the rumors: Jacob had a knife, and Jacob and Ben had fought. She is careful to distinguish passing this information along from accusing Jacob of murder. The rumors may matter to Andy’s investigation, but Sarah does not treat them as proof of what happened.

When Andy asks about Ben’s treatment of Jacob, Sarah first resists the word bullying. She says that everyone gets teased and objects to the way adults turn bullying into a major category, recalling school training about the subject. Once Andy asks what the teasing was about, she names its content: Jacob was called gay, a geek, and a loser. Her account thus supplies a specific social context for the boys’ conflict while preserving an important distinction between cruelty at school and responsibility for a killing. Sarah provides Andy with a reason to look more closely at the relationship, not a conclusion about the crime.

Reluctance and the Lead to Derek Yoo

Sarah says she does not want to be involved and repeatedly minimizes what she knows. She tells Andy that she does not know enough about the case, then directs him to Derek Yoo, who, she says, knows more. She describes Derek and Jacob as having been close since they were little children and says Derek is Jacob’s best friend. That description makes Derek a potentially valuable source not because Sarah can verify what he knows, but because of the longstanding intimacy she attributes to the two boys.

Andy asks why Sarah does not want to help Jacob. Her answer is hesitant rather than hostile: she says that she does want to help, but does not know enough, and again insists that Derek knows more. The exchange leaves her position unresolved. She is willing to speak, but draws a boundary around her participation and transfers the investigative burden to someone she believes has a closer view of Jacob.

Affection, Courage, and the Limits of Testimony

Before they part, Andy thanks Sarah and calls it brave to talk to him when Jacob is unpopular. Sarah rejects that description: she says she is not brave and explains instead that she likes Jacob, or used to like him. She recalls him as a good kid, then speaks of her uncertainty about the case. Her support is personal, not evidentiary; she offers no claim that she knows who committed the murder.

Andy corrects her shift into the past, insisting that Jacob is a good kid in the present. That small correction exposes the emotional stakes beneath the interview. Sarah’s affection for Jacob survives, but her wording registers the distance created by the accusation; Andy answers by refusing to let that distance settle into a judgment about his son. The scene ends not with proof or certainty but with two imperfect forms of help: Sarah gives Andy what she has heard and names a more informed friend, while her qualified defense of Jacob offers a reminder that the case has altered how others speak about him.