“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Shit. At least I do for once. What a goddamn fool I was.”

“You loved him?”

“Yes, I loved him.”

“That makes all the difference,” I said. I gathered up his things and pushed him out in the air. “Now, come on, Jesse. Let’s go home.”

We took a taxi uptown to my place. I made Jesse take a shower and sleep. I did my exercises alone again. The next morning we were back at the precinct. Detective Stone greeted us eagerly, as if arresting those guys was the easiest thing they had to do, showing how prompt and professional the officers were. I didn’t like his smile. It hesitated at the corners of his mouth then wrinkled out.

“Well, we got them. All of them,” he said proudly. He showed us mug shots of four boys who couldn’t have been more than sixteen years old. Truth is, only two were that young. The others looked older than Jesse or me.

“We found the first guy crazy out of his head. He’s the one who confessed.”

“And the others?” Jesse asked.

“They came later. You’ve seen these guys before? Somewhere in the neighborhood?”

“Yes. They stopped me once. It wasn’t a mugging or anything like that, just name-calling. Harassment. If you could have someone arrested for calling you a nigger or a faggot, the jails would be too full. I should have tried to fight back. But it was four of them, maybe five. I was new to the neighborhood. This guy wasn’t one of them though.” Jesse pointed to the guy who appeared the youngest.

“You’re probably right,” said the detective. “He’s the strangest one. We found him lying naked in the chalk outline of the body. He must have been waiting for us before the neighbors called the police. He acted like he wanted us to take him away and make everything all right.”

“Will I have to testify?” asked Jesse.

“You may have to answer a few questions about your friend. But you won’t be actually testifying against them. They’ll contact you about the trial date. I don’t know when it is.”

Just then I felt funny, like what could I do? “Are they out on bail?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want to run into any of them.” I looked at Jesse, but he was studying the photographs again and watching the detective.

“You have nothing to worry about, Miss,” said the detective.

“Thank you, Detective Stone,” said Jesse.

Then I said thank you and followed Jesse out of the office and the precinct building without saying anything more. It was chilly outside and the trees had few leaves. We walked to the subway. Jesse seemed relieved, his feet light. This time he actually smiled. “Let’s get a warm drink,” he said. “We deserve one.”

We went to the Peacock Café. I took a window seat and pretended we were in Europe somewhere. I had a large cappuccino. Jesse had Mexican hot chocolate with whipped cream. With his waistline, he could afford it. Not me.