Page 125 of The First Gentleman

CHAPTER 121

D uring recess, in the conference room at the back of the courthouse, Cole Wright is pumped.

The young associates are too.

“I just heard from Maddy,” says Cole.

“She thinks it went really well.”

“So do I,” says Tess.

“You were solid on the stand. Likable even.”

Cole smiles.

He feels like he used to feel during a big play, when he’d see an opening in the backfield and blow right through it.

Cole can’t wait to get back into the courtroom, tell the rest of his story, convince the jurors of his innocence.

He looks across the table at Tess.

“So when do I go back in?”

Tess stares back.

“Never,” she says. “You’re benched.”

Cole cocks his head.

“What do you mean? We’re just getting started!”

Tess glances at the other attorneys around the table.

“Give us a minute.”

Cole asks his Secret Service detail for the same.

Tess gets up from her chair and closes the door after everyone files out.

She crosses the room and takes the chair right next to Cole’s.

“Cole, I kept my word. I agreed to put you on the stand, and I did. You did a great job of neutralizing that photograph. So good that Bastinelli didn’t even want to cross-examine you.”

“Exactly. Isn’t that a win? Shouldn’t we capitalize on it?”

“Listen to me. If I put you up there again and get you to testify to what you’ve told me—that the watch was yours and that it was stolen, that the hole was on your property but you didn’t know about it, that Suzanne’s bracelet got broken in an argument but it was an accident—it opens up all those subjects to cross by the prosecution. Bastinelli will keep you up there for days, trying to make you look bad, and he’ll find every little inconsistency in your story.”

Cole is clenching his fists, trying to suppress his anger.

He feels betrayed by the person he’s paying to defend him.

“I’m innocent!” he shouts.

“I want people to know it!”

Hardy stays cool, which makes him even more furious.

“Cole. This was nearly twenty years ago. At some point when you’re on that stand, your memory will slip, and you’ll get caught—maybe not in a lie, but in something that sounds like one. And it will take days for me to rehabilitate you.”

Cole is frustrated, burning with a need to talk, to tell his side.

It all spills out in a torrent.

“I told you what happened! I met Suzanne at the Walmart. We were supposed to go out to dinner, but she didn’t want to. She told me that there was something going on. That she wanted some time away from me to think. I was surprised, but I didn’t push it. Technically, we were breaking team rules by dating in the first place and I didn’t know if someone had come down on her about it. So when she got in her car and drove off, I didn’t follow her. I never saw her again, but I didn’t know that she was missing until I heard from Detective Collins.”

“Cole, I know. You’ve told it all to me many times. You’ve never wavered. And if we had your original statements, it would be easier to corroborate the facts. But we don’t. What the jury does know is that Collins was a major Patriots fan and that you were a Patriots star. That could be enough to make the jury think he let you slide.”

Cole feels his jaw tightening.

“Collins let me go because he knew I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But do you really want to give Bastinelli that opening? To dig into every time you lost your temper or made a careless joke? I’m telling you, as your attorney, that’s a losing strategy. Their case is circumstantial. No witnesses. No fingerprints. No DNA. My job is to make those circumstances seem ambiguous or irrelevant. I think I’ve accomplished that, and I’ll do it again in my closing.

“Cole, this is not a football game.

This is a legal game.

And we need to quit while we’re ahead.

”

Cole looks down at the table.

His instinct is to put himself out there and fight, but he’s savvy enough to understand that would only undercut his own case.

Make things harder for Maddy.

He promised not to lose his temper again.

And he’s trying. He’s really trying.

Hardy reaches over and puts her hand on top of his.

“Cole, I need you to be okay with this. When we go back in there after recess, I’m going to speak only five words: ‘Your Honor, the defense rests.’”