Page 126 of The First Gentleman

CHAPTER 122

Kingston, New Hampshire

S tunned!

Gobsmacked!” That’s how the talking head on CNN starts off his evening commentary.

I’m sitting on my hotel bed doing another Domino’s carb load, listening to the pundits’ interpretation of Cole Wright’s testimony.

“Tess Hardy took a big swing with her strategy today,” says the commentator, a gray-haired man in a pin-striped suit.

“And I think it just might work. By resting her case early, she basically said to the prosecution, ‘We don’t think your evidence is even worth discussing. The burden of proof is on you and you haven’t proven a single thing.’”

The camera cuts to a legal analyst, a woman with a blond bob and thick-framed glasses.

“I disagree. She had to put him up there to undercut the power of that disgusting photograph. But she should have left him up there to declare that he didn’t kill his girlfriend. The jury wanted to hear that.”

The camera cuts back to the first commentator.

“If Tess Hardy had opened that door, Hugh Bastinelli would have kept Cole Wright on the stand for the next two weeks explaining every detail of that relationship. You could see that he was ready to pounce.”

The blonde again.

“You don’t think the world wanted to hear Cole Wright declare his innocence? Shout it from the mountaintops?”

“Tess Hardy will argue that he didn’t need to,” says the commentator.

“She put him on the stand just long enough for the jurors to see that he’s a nice guy, a charming guy. To remind them of his days as a football star. She’s betting that she’ll be able to handle the rest in her closing argument and plant enough reasonable doubt to get an acquittal.”

The camera switches to the clean-cut anchor, a fill-in for Anderson Cooper.

He looks right into the camera.

“And we need to leave it there for now. When we come back, more news on the flash floods in California.”

I click off the TV.

I admit it. I, too, wanted more fireworks in court.

So it all comes down to tomorrow.

Two closing arguments, back-to-back.

I hope Cole Wright gets what he deserves.