Judas Kiss. J.T. Ellison
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for a second.”
Taylor looked up and saw that several of the neighbors had come back to attention, grouping across the street, and the newsies had their cameras trained on the grieving husband. Damn.
She looked around for a moment. They needed privacy, and she didn’t want to parade him into his house until the crime scene people were through.
“Actually, let’s go next door and talk, okay?”
“To Mrs. Manchini’s? She doesn’t like me.” But he tucked his head and changed direction, heading straight to his neighbor’s house without additional complaint. Taylor followed after a quick glance over her shoulder at Fitz, who was standing next to Wolff’s truck, casually looking through the open driver’s side door at the interior. He shook his head and Taylor continued toward the Manchini house. He hadn’t seen anything out of place. Yet.
The Harris family had been excused from the scene at three-thirty. They had left directions to the Harrises’ house in Sylvan Park, phone numbers and cell numbers where they could be reached. They’d taken Hayden Wolff with them. Taylor saw no reason to make a fuss over that, it wasn’t as if they were going to steal the child, after all.
Wolff stopped short at the edge of his lawn, head swiveling, breath suddenly coming in little pants. “Where’s Hayden? Where’s my daughter?” He started back toward his house. Taylor grabbed his arm again.
“Whoa there, Mr. Wolff. Your daughter is still with your in-laws. Her grandparents. She’s just fine, was a little tired and hungry, but she’s safe. You don’t need to worry about her.”
“I want to see her. I want to see her right now. I want to see my daughter!” His voice rose in pitch until the last word came out in a wail. Taylor heard shutters clicking as Wolff dropped to his knees in the grass between the two houses, sobbing. The video cameras rolled, gathering the scene. It was heartbreaking, and would make for a very exciting five o’clock news hour.
Taylor stepped to his side, squatting down to get face-to-face with him. Damn it, she didn’t want to be on the news doing this.
“Mr. Wolff,” she said as kindly as she could muster. “You need to get up and come with me now, sir. Let me get you situated next door and we can chat. The sooner we can do that, the sooner I can get you reunited with Hayden.”
“My son,” the man screamed. “My son is dead and you’re holding my daughter. This isn’t right. This isn’t fair!”
Fitz appeared at her side. She caught his eye, gestured with her head. Histronics weren’t going to help. They both took hold of an arm and raised Wolff to his feet. He was crying hard, tears and snot mingling into channels running down his chin, but he stopped yelling. A step in the right direction. Without further incident, they were able to get him all the way to the Manchini front door and slip him inside.
Taylor’s phone rang, and she pulled away, letting Fitz guide the distraught man to the now familiar chintz couch. Carla Manchini stood in the middle of the great room, watery eyes shining behind her glasses. This was more excitement than the woman had seen in years.
Seeing an unfamiliar number, Taylor decided to let it go to voice mail and joined Fitz, Mrs. Manchini and Todd Wolff in the great room. Probably a reporter anyway.
“Mrs. Manchini, do you think it would be possible if we could have the room to ourselves for a few minutes so we could speak to Todd alone?”
Disappointment clouded the older woman’s eyes, but she nodded like a little bird. “It’s nearly time for me to leave for my book club, it’s going to take me at least thirty minutes to get to Davis Kidd. There’s a fresh pot of tea in the kitchen. Can I trust you to lock up for me, Lieutenant? Normally I don’t worry about it, but now…”
“Of course, ma’am. We truly appreciate all your help today. You’ve been a huge asset.”
Tickled, the woman gathered her purse, a well-thumbed copy of Tasha Alexander’s A Fatal Waltz and left. Her book group would be hearing some exciting tales this evening.
Todd Wolff was collapsed on the sofa. He’d stopped actively crying but was sniveling, wiping his nose with the back of his wrist.
Taylor took a seat in the chintz armchair next to him. She waited for him to gather himself, handed him a tissue from the crochet-covered box sitting on the end table next to her. He wiped his eyes and cleared his throat.
“Mr. Wolff, can I ask where you’ve been?”
When he didn’t answer immediately, Taylor sized him up. He was a handsome, well-made man, with a thick shock of black hair, flashing black eyes, and deep stubble along his cleft chin. Looking at him, Taylor thought about the fair Hayden and wondered, just for a minute. Two dark-haired, dark-eyed parents, and their offspring a blonde with clear blue eyes. Interesting, genetics.
With a huge sniff, Wolff finally began to speak. “I have a property getting ready to open in Savannah, Georgia. I was down there overseeing the last bits and pieces. There’s a million things to be done, and I’m the one who has to get the checks written.”
“You build houses? Wolff Construction?”
“Yes.”
“When did you leave for Georgia?”
“Friday, around noon. I’ve been going every two weeks now that we’re getting close to wrapping the project.”
“You normally drive?”
“Yeah. I’m a successful developer, but I’m not made of money. It’s cheaper that way.”
“Seems like a long trip,” Fitz observed.
“I like the drive. It clears my head.”
“Did you usually spend the weekend when you made the drive?” Taylor asked.
“Yes. I come back on Monday afternoon.”
“When’s the last time you spoke to your wife?”
Wolff was quiet for a moment. “Saturday morning.”
“That was the last time?”
“Yes.”
“Did you try to call her again after you spoke on Saturday?”
“Yes. I wanted to read Hayden a story Saturday night. It was our tradition.”
“She didn’t answer?”
“No.” Wolff’s voice wavered, but fresh tears stayed in check.
“Weren’t you concerned that you couldn’t reach Corinne?”
Todd flinched at the mention of his wife’s name. “I wasn’t really paying attention, God help me. I was so caught up in the problems we were having on-site that when I didn’t reach her, I just left a message. I figured she was out with her sisters anyway. When I went out of town, she usually did a girls’ night with friends, or hung out with Michelle and Nicole and watched movies. She’d get a babysitter for Hayden sometimes, take advantage of some private time. I tried to call her again at around ten, but when the answering machine kicked on, I hung up. Tried her cell once, then went to bed myself. She didn’t like me checking up on her.”
“And you tried on Sunday?”
“I called Sunday around noon, and she didn’t pick up. But again, it didn’t worry me. She’s very independent, doesn’t need me around to keep her entertained. Since I have to go out of town so often, she’s used to it. How did she, how was she…”
He started crying again. “Who did this, Lieutenant? I love my wife. We got along, had a beautiful little girl, a son on the way. We were happy. This isn’t the kind of thing that happens to happy people.”
Oh, if it were only that easy, Taylor thought. The good and happy people get to lead normal lives, bad things only happen to bad people. Yeah, right. “Unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you right