Page 128 of The First Gentleman

CHAPTER 124

Rockingham County Courthouse, New Hampshire

D ozens of TV cameras track the deputy attorney general, Hugh Bastinelli, as he walks to the lectern for his closing argument.

He consults his notes, then flips the binder closed.

He doesn’t look nervous, but he must be, I think.

No pressure. Just the whole country watching.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I told you at the beginning that this would be a circumstantial case, and I think you now have a better idea of what that means.

“The evidence tying Cole Wright to the killing of Suzanne Bonanno did not come tied up in a neat bow.

It required you to listen.

And I know you have.

Now it requires you to think —to weave together the strands of evidence for yourselves.

When you do, you will reach a conclusion so strong that even Cole Wright’s power and fame cannot overcome it.

“We know Cole Wright was in a tense relationship with Suzanne Bonanno at the time of her death. Suzanne’s mother, Felicia, confirmed it on the stand. And we have that from stadium worker Stacey Millett as well. We also know that the relationship was forbidden—that fraternization between players and cheerleaders was against the rules.

“We know that Cole was with Suzanne on June seventh, the night she disappeared.

We all saw the two of them together on the Walmart surveillance video, the last known image of Suzanne alive.

And what did she buy that night?

Bedsheets. The bedsheets that ended up wrapping her dead body.

“We know that Cole Wright threatened Suzanne, spoke roughly to her. We know Suzanne told her mother that he once tore a bracelet off her wrist. That same bracelet was later found near where Suzanne’s remains were buried. As was a watch we know belonged to Cole Wright.”

As Bastinelli speaks, I see Cole scribbling on a legal pad.

Hardy has her hands folded under her chin.

She’s looking past the deputy AG at the jurors, reading their faces to see when Bastinelli’s points are hitting home and when he’s off the mark.

Bastinelli talks about the hole near the Reverend Weare memorial rock.

He shows a map marking its distance from Suzanne’s house and from the Walmart where she and Cole were last seen.

He clicks back to photographs he showed during Gagnon’s testimony, showing the foliage surrounding the hole and how dark the area was at night.

He even quotes from a weather report stating that there was no moon the night Suzanne disappeared.

He paints a picture of a dark sky, a shovel in the dirt, a dead woman’s body hastily wrapped and buried.

Like something out of a horror movie.

Bastinelli is clear and deliberate.

When it comes to physical evidence of the crime, he doesn’t have much to work with, but he does what he can.

“We’ve talked about the way things happen on TV, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve all seen how proficient CSI techs are at measuring wounds and detecting poison. But we don’t have any of that here. As Dr. Alice Woods testified, Suzanne Bonanno was killed in the most primitive and personal way—by strangulation. Done by somebody strong enough to snap a supple hyoid bone.” Bastinelli points to the defense table.

“That person was Cole Wright.

“We don’t know what might have set him off that night.

Only two people were there, and only one is alive.

The judge will tell you in his instructions that second-degree murder does not require planning or intent.

Cole Wright might not have intended to kill Suzanne.

It might have been a spontaneous act of passion or anger.

We just don’t know.”

Bastinelli speaks at length.

Finally, he concludes: “Ladies and gentlemen, Cole Wright was a famous football player. Today, he is married to the president of the United States. In this country, sometimes we equate fame and celebrity with goodness and positivity. But don’t be fooled. There is darkness there. Suzanne Bonanno saw it. In fact, it was the very last thing she saw.

“So whatever your thoughts are about Cole Wright in his public roles, you must put them aside.

Based on your judgment of the evidence presented here, circumstantial though it may be, you must find him guilty of murder in the second degree.

”

To that, I quietly whisper, “Amen.”