“Phillip was kind of aimless at first,” she said with a faraway smile. “All he knew was that he wanted to get away from his parents. He told me all the time that he loved them, but he just couldn’t be in a place where everybody looked alike and thought alike. That’s why he loved it here so much. He liked to sneak into poetry slams and listen to the rhythm of the words. He liked to sit in the back of that church across the street and listen to the choir sing. He liked Philly—the pace of it, the feel of it, he even liked that funky smell that hits you when you walk into the subway. He liked it because it was real. I guess that’s why he liked me, too.”

Mann watched her hand roll into a fist as she squeezed the tissue she was holding in an effort to avoid the tears.

“He used to tell me I was the best thing about this place. I never believed him, but I liked the way he sounded when he said it. He just seemed so honest about himself and about life. He knew he wasn’t cool. He knew he wasn’t tough. He just knew he wanted to be happy, and he treated me like I was the one thing he needed to be happy. Well, me and his music.”

“Music?”

“Phillip messed around with guitar. Nothing serious, but he liked it.”

“How long were the two of you seeing each other?”

“It would’ve been a year next Friday,” she said, her voice wavering as she spoke. “We started out as friends, having lunch every now and then and taking walks downtown after school. After the first three months, it grew, and it seemed like it was going to be something special.”

“Nobody gave you a hard time about dating a white boy?”

“Nobody cared,” she said.

“The guys around here never paid much attention to me. The girls called me stuck up because I never dressed like them or talked like them or slept with every guy in the neighborhood. By the time Phillip came around, I was isolated. My grandmother wasn’t around anymore, and Phillip didn’t have his parents, so we hung on to each other. It happened so naturally that it didn’t feel like we were dating. It just felt…right. His friend changed all that, though.”

“The same friend who helped him come here?” Mann asked.