Enemy Mine

Chapter 65

The drive from Titan's forest home to the city of Buffalo took less than two hours, and we arrived just ahead of the morning rush. Vincent had been mostly quiet during the trip, but he answered my questions without complaint. I knew whatever I learned would help me navigate the confrontation that was about to go down with Joseph Tavares, the gollum who helped bury my mother and the same gollum who kept Marco out of hot water by claiming to be my father.

Vincent and I made guesses about the kind of relationship Joseph had with Marco, but based on the secrets between them, we doubted it was all smiles and family vacays to the beach. Since we were arriving under the radar, Vincent and Joseph arranged to meet in a remote location outside the city. After parking the Bentley at a small nature preserve, Vincent used the directions Joseph gave him to cut a path through the wilderness toward our destination.

"Do you have to use your phone to navigate coordinates?" I asked as I watched Vincent stare at his cellphone screen.

"Who says I'm navigating coordinates."

"Don't tell me you're checking Twitter." I smiled at him and nearly tripped over a root as the route he chose grew more dangerous.

"Keep your eyes on the path. We're nearly there."

"If this is a path, I'm the Queen of Sheeba."

"A path is where you make it."

"Could you make it a little less perilous before I break an ankle."

Vincent shushed me as he pointed through the trees. Just ahead, dressed in an oversized parka with fur-lined hood, a man stood beneath the limb of a gigantic tree. "Your ankles are saved, my queen." He pocketed his phone to hold my hand, guiding me over brambles and the massive root system of the tree. "Joseph, it has been a long time," Vincent said as he stretched out his arm in greeting.

It took Joseph a moment to locate his hand, which was hidden inside his coat sleeve, and he looked nervous as he offered it to Vincent. "Hello, Vincent. I have been waiting for this day to arrive, but I am no less a free gollum. The circle has merely widened." He said this with a sober nod, like a man resigned to a horrible fate, and Vincent responded with a dubious head tilt.

"Joseph, I want you to meet my mate, Reese Kentwell. Reese, this is Joseph Tavares."

"Nice to meet you, Joseph." My greeting prompted a warm smile to grace Joseph's round, pink face as it peeked out from his hood. He looked like a cherub with a fur-lined halo.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I remember when you were just a toddler, but I'm sure you don't remember me. I suppose you're here for the same reason as Vincent? To find out if the story Titan told you is true."

"Yes."

"Well, it is. I didn't see Marco commit the crime himself, but I witnessed the aftermath."

"Just because Titan had the decency to bury Reese's mother doesn't prove his innocence," Vincent said.

"I felt that way too, after I returned home. Marco was already spreading the story about Titan committing both murders and escaping into a hole, and I was apprehensive about revealing my encounter with Titan. As the turmoil died down, I started to question whether my comrade could have done such an unforgiveable thing."

"But you helped Titan bury my mother," I said. "If Titan killed her, why would he go through the pain and trouble to bury her?"

"I don't think Titan killed your mother. I believe Marco was to blame for her death. I knew he had had fallen out of love with her, and he was tired of maintaining the lie, so he encouraged her to flee to Manhattan. Roberto and Wren faced a lot of adversity to accommodate you and your mother, but it was all just a set-up that only Marco was in on. I don't believe he planned to kill Roberto. That probably happened because he was forced to cover his tracks."