Missoula by Jon Krakauer Page B

said.
    “Did you ever, while she was sleeping, pull her pants down?”
    “No.”
    “Okay. During the time when you were messing around earlier, did she touch you at all? Kind of rubbing on you too?”
    “Yes.”
    “How long do you think you guys were back on the bed before she got up and left?”
    After a six-second pause, Adams answered, “I’m not exactly sure.”
    “Did she ever fall asleep while she was at your house?” Detective Merifield asked.
    Adams remained silent for a full ten seconds before replying to this question. “I will say it this way,” he finally declared. “At no point did I think that while I touched her, had any contact with her whatsoever, she was asleep.” He continued to deny Barrett’s allegations for a few more minutes, and then reflected, “I really don’t think that girl is a liar….I just don’t know that exactly everything she said to you was a fact. And I’m not trying to say that she is some kind of bad person or anything like that. I just think she might be a little mistaken.”
    Merifield wholeheartedly agreed. “I think it truly was a misunderstanding,” she said. “I really don’t think that there was any intent on your part to get this girl home so you could have sex with her whether she wanted to or not.”
    “Certainly not,” Adams confirmed. “Absolutely none.”
    “Clearly,” Merifield expounded, “there is a size difference between the two of you, so if you wanted to do that, you could have….People have had sex they didn’t want to have. It doesn’t mean it was rape.”
    Sobbing, Adams said, “I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of harming that girl or violating her or making her feel uncomfortable.If she feels that way, I feel bad that it happened. I’m a good moral person….I told you absolute facts that I am confident in. I came here because I have a true belief in essentially my innocence. That I didn’t break the law.”
    “I totally understand,” Detective Merifield said.
    Despite having suggested to Kerry Barrett that the point of asking Adams to come to the police station was to “scare the shit out of him,” throughout the interview Merifield went out of her way to comfort Adams. She never challenged his statements aggressively, or probed for details that might reveal whether or not he pulled down Barrett’s jeans while she was sleeping. Instead, again and again Merifield let him know that she was certain he was innocent.
    “You are kind of an open book right now,” Merifield told Adams, “and you have been since I talked to you on [the phone four days earlier]….It says a lot for your character that you came in and sat and talked to me this morning….I can guarantee you I am not recommending this case for charges….I can’t show criminal intent. I really don’t believe you had any intent to hurt anybody….You seem like you are a really good person with a really good future ahead of you.”
    Merifield said, “We have a lot of cases where girls come in and report stuff they are not sure about, and then it becomes rape. And it’s not fair. It’s not fair to you….You guys both went into this together….She came home willingly with you. The fact that she changed her mind and went home on her own,…that’s not your fault.
    “But I have to interview you,” Merifield explained a moment later, apologetically. “I have to talk to her because she came in and reported it. If I had just flushed the case, she’s going to say the police don’t do anything….That’s not the message we want to send to people: ‘Well, we’re only going to half-ass your case because we don’t really believe this happened.’ ”
    Merifield stated to Adams, “I don’t think you did anything wrong. I think that it’s torturing you that you are accused of this. And that bothers me….The case, in my opinion, is closed….This case is going to be listed as unfounded. I think this is just a misunderstanding. I don’t think it’s a