Page 59 of The First Gentleman

CHAPTER 55

Seabrook, New Hampshire

I t’s a one-hour drive from the morgue in Concord to Suzanne Bonanno’s former residence, where her mother, Felicia, still lives.

Detective Sergeant Marie Gagnon could have called officers on local patrol to make the notification, but this is something she wants to do.

In person.

Mother to mother.

The whole way there, she turns the case over and over in her mind.

So many questions. So many loose ends.

So many dead ends.

When she checked the files on Suzanne Bonanno’s disappearance the morning after her remains were found, both in Seabrook and at the FBI office in Bedford, she got the same answer: The files were missing, maybe misplaced.

It happens with cold cases.

But in two different offices?

And why would somebody be moving bones after seventeen years anyway?

If you want to hide the crime, why not just leave the bones buried forever?

She parks her unmarked Chevrolet Impala in front of Felicia’s place and sits there for a few moments, observing and absorbing.

Run-down trailer homes.

Small, scrubby lawns.

Narrow lanes. A far cry from Gillette Stadium.

Gagnon walks up the trailer’s steps, knocks, and raises her badge when a woman opens the door.

“Felicia Bonanno? I’m Detective Sergeant Gagnon, New Hampshire State Police. I need to talk with you about your daughter Suzanne.”

The middle-aged woman gasps, then buckles at the knees.

Gagnon catches her before she can fall.

Felicia looks up, her eyes filled with tears.

“You found Suzanne. You found my daughter.”

“Yes, Mrs. Bonanno. We did.”

“Where have you been?” Felicia wails.

“Where have you been for seventeen years?”