Tolerance Book II

Chapter Twenty: Piecing Together A Puzzle

By the afternoon of the following day it had been learnt that the two sets of twins Mouse had discovered had experienced very different upbringings.  The Harte siblings, Jake and Samson, had been adopted into an affluent New Hampshire family which had built its' fortune in steel.   The twins seemed to have experienced the best of everything from private schools to Universities.  They were clearly not in the running for their suspects as there had been ample photographic evidence to prove there was no resemblance to the man they knew as Wells.

The second set of twins however had set off alarm bells almost immediately. Philip and Lyle King had been born into a broken family.  Their clearly malnourished mother had given birth without disclosing the fathers' identity and had promptly abandoned the innocent siblings as soon as she could walk out of the hospital.  Attempts to locate her had proved unsuccessful and the babies had ultimately been adopted by Damon King and his meek wife Loretta.  Background checks revealed Damon King had a checkered history to say the least and within seven months the boys had been removed from the home on foot of concerns for the boys' welfare.  Several other placements had followed.  In the end however the brothers had spent the tail end of their teens in a Group Home until they aged out of the system at eighteen.  Unlike their contemporaries the Hartes the King siblings had been exposed to hardship very early on and that experience had forged a bond between them that even superceded the natural link shared between twins.  It was noted in the Records that while a number of the homes would willingly have kept Philip there were a string of worrying complaints about Lyle  including suspicion of arson and animal cruelty.  Efforts to separate the two had been unsuccessful with each boy declaring their allegiance to the other and threatening to run away if they were split up, hence the time in the Group Home.

Central Park

The Director of Bridges Group Home at the time the twins resided there, Matthew Coburn, had agreed to meet with Voight in the public setting he had chosen.  Voight had intended to meet the former Director himself but Jay had argued he deserved to be at the forefront of getting answers.  The Sergeant had reluctantly acquiesced on the understanding that the younger man would not over exert himself.  That stipulation had been met with an unhappy acceptance as Jay felt he was being treated with kid gloves for no reason.  Hell he was used to dealing with injuries so his Sergeants' concern frustrated him.  Wisely however he had kept silent.  Now sharing a park bench with the gruff older man he couldn't help but worry as Coburn was already ten minutes late.  Worst case scenarios kept playing in his head, the worst of which was Wells had somehow silenced
Coburn.

"He might be stuck in traffic," Voight tried to ease the younger mans' worry, even as he himself shared it.
"He picked the place for this meeting," the Detective reminded without adding unnecessarily that the man would have made allowances for traffic.
"We'll give him another fifteen minutes."
"You reckon Lyle King is Wells? Jay asked softly as he looked at the darkening spring skies overhead devoid of any hints of blue, they had not found any photographic evidence to confirm his theory.
"Given what we know it seems likely."
"I kinda hope I'm wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Philip and Lyle King were never given a chance from the start.  They didn't grow up with a parents' unconditional love."
"You didn't have it easy either Kid," Voight would never stop admiring his friends' capacity for empathy, it was a trait he himself had never overly developed.
"I had my Mother.  She taught me the importance of telling people you love them.  She used to say telling someone you love them is free yet priceless."
"Your Mom was obviously a wonderful mother."
"Yeah .... yeah she was.  Sometimes I think if it hadn't been for her I would have become a totally different person."
"I told you before I have no doubts about the fact that she would be proud of you.  Many in your position would have chosen to lash out at the world."
"The King twins had no one on their side."
"Doesn't excuse their actions," Voight pointed out adamantly.
"No," Jay acknowledged with a sigh, "but it does explain things."
"Well whatever ......," Voight paused as he eyed the tall, white haired sixty-something man approaching, "he's here."