Judas Kiss

Taylor stood, stretching to her nearly six-foot height, only an inch shorter than Cori

“Mr. Harris. I suggest you take a step back.”

“Daddy!” Michelle was on his arm, yanking at him, pulling him toward a chair. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, this isn’t like him. Daddy, what is wrong with you?”

Taylor had a brief, flickering image of her own father’s incredulous face, staring at her through the thick Plexiglas of a patrol car, but shook her head to disrupt the thought.

Matthew Harris sat heavily at the kitchen table, lowered his head onto his folded arms, and began to cry. Taylor caught Fitz’s eye and he came in from the deck, the younger Harris boy following on his heels. 60

J.T. Ellison

“Dad, are you okay?” The boy sat down, his hand on his father’s heaving back.

Taylor jerked her head to the right, signaling to Fitz to follow her. They left the grieving Harrises at the kitchen table and stepped outside, closing the French doors behind them. Taylor pulled her sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on.

Fitz had a furrow between his eyebrows. “Anything new?”

“No. Michelle Harris told me the same story twice, with nearly identical details each time. From what I’m hearing, nothing is rehearsed. We have a timeline at least—the lights were on all weekend, and the neighbor saw Cori

“That’s understandable.”

“Of course it is. The mother refused to be sedated. I’d like to take a shot at her before she changes her mind. I’m anxious to meet the husband.”

“The brother pointed me in the husband’s direction.”

“Really? That sounds promising. I’d like to hear what he has to say. The father just intimated that he felt Wolff was responsible, too. He’s pretty upset, I didn’t get the feeling he thought Wolff committed the murder. Just that he wasn’t around to protect his wife.”

“Well, the kid seems to think that Wolff is entirely capable of doing the deed. Says they fought all the time, that Cori

Taylor looked over the hedge into the Wolffs’

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backyard. Nice, open view for Mrs. Manchini. “Fu

“Mrs. Harris, could you tell me a bit about your daughter?”

Taylor was back at the table in the chintz kitchen, a fragrant cup of tea steaming at her elbow. Cori

She sniffled into a tissue. “What do you want to know?”

“Did she have any enemies? Was she fighting with her husband? What was she like? I need to get to know Cori

“She was a wonderful child. Gifted.”

“Gifted how?”

“She was an athlete. Te

“What changed for her?”

Julia

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J.T. Ellison

The tone of her voice made Taylor think the loss might have been hard for Mrs. Harris, too.

“So where did Cori

“She got tremendous grades, went on to Vanderbilt. She continued to play, just without the same fervor that she had as a girl. She met Todd, they graduated, and she worked for a time before she got pregnant with Hayden. They were so happy, oh, you should have seen the look on her face when she told me. It was a very easy pregnancy for her. This one wasn’t as simple, but she was doing so well.”

“How would you characterize her relationship with Todd?”

Mrs. Harris fiddled with her stringy tissue. That was interesting. Taylor could tell the woman was trying to think carefully about what to say. Protecting the husband? Or protecting her daughter? The Harrises weren’t unbiased in all of this. They had a granddaughter to think of as well. Mrs. Harris sighed deeply. “Oh, Lieutenant, what can I say? They were just like any other new family. They had their issues, but they seemed to be superficial. Todd would do something to upset Cori

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talk about your unborn child, but nowadays they don’t think that way.” The tears started again, and Taylor decided she’d had enough for the moment.

“It’s a nice name, Mrs. Harris. I’m so sorry for your loss. Thank you for your candor. I appreciate it. I’ll let you get back to your family now.”

Taylor left Father Ross to it. He was going to be much more of a comfort now than she ever could. Taylor took Derek Harris outside to chat. They got seated in the chairs on the deck, Fitz and Taylor facing Derek. He was happy to talk badly about his brotherin-law.

“They’d been having problems for a while. Cori

“Tell us what happened.”

“Cori

“But he came home the next day. I went over there after class to check on her, and he was sitting in the living room, drinking a beer. She had this chirpy look on her face, seemed happy that he was home. Do you think he killed her?”

Taylor dodged the question. “What’s Todd do, Derek?”

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“He’s a contractor. Builds housing developments. The Trace, Harpeth on the Walk, those really upscale communities. He has some out-of-state projects too, that’s why he travels so much. He’s usually gone on the weekends to his off-site developments.”

“Wolff Construction? That’s him?” Fitz asked.

“Yeah. You know it?”

“I looked at one of the show homes in Harpeth on the Walk. It was very nice.”

“Todd’s great at what he does. He’s driven, always looking for a new deal. He’s a decent enough guy. Until Cori

Must be nice. Of course, Taylor’s family didn’t fight, they were just icily polite to one another. Lacking passion, one could say.