“I’m sorry you have to go through this. I know you’d rather not be here,” says Bastinelli. “I’ll do my best to finish this as quickly as possible.”

“Thank you,” Felicia says. “And you’re right, I’d rather not be here.”

“Understood, ma’am.” Bastinelli walks over to a side table and picks up a plastic evidence bag. I can see what’s in it. He holds it in front of Felicia.

“Mrs. Bonanno, can you confirm for the jury what this item is?”

Felicia nods. “It’s a tennis bracelet. It belongs… it belonged to my daughter Suzanne.”

“Mrs. Bonanno, I can imagine that your daughter had a lot of jewelry. I know my daughters do. Why do you remember this piece in particular?”

“I remember it because I got it repaired for her.”

“Can you explain that to the jury, please?”

“The clasp got broken,” says Felicia. “A couple weeks before Suzanne…” Her lips are trembling now.

“Take your time,” says Bastinelli.

Judge Dow leans over. “Mrs. Bonanno, I need you to speak up a little.”

Felicia straightens in the chair and clears her throat. “A couple weeks before Suzanne disappeared, she asked me to take the bracelet to a jewelry store because the clasp was broken and she didn’t have time to get it fixed. She was too busy getting ready for her move.”

“And did you get the clasp fixed for her?”

“Yes, I did. I brought it to Manfred Jewelers.”

Bastinelli introduces an exhibit and projects an image of a receipt from the jewelry store in Seabrook, New Hampshire. Digitally circled are the date and notation of a charge for replacing a clasp on a tennis bracelet with red stones.

“Mrs. Bonanno, is that your signature on the receipt?”

“Yes, it is.”

“When Suzanne asked you to get the bracelet repaired, did she tell you how it got broken?”

Here it comes…

“Yes. She told me she got in a fight with her boyfriend and he tore it off her wrist.”

“And who was her boyfriend at the time?” asks Bastinelli.

Felicia looks directly at the defendant before she answers in a confident voice, “It was Cole Wright!”

No problem hearing her now.

CHAPTER
102

Judge Dow calls a five-minute recess. He asks Felicia if she wants to step down, but she says all she needs is water. A bailiff brings her a bottle.

At one point, she looks in my direction. I give her a little smile and a nod.

She doesn’t nod back. I think she’s afraid to. I can sense how alone she feels.

I wish I could run up and hug her.

Tess Hardy whispers to Cole Wright during the whole recess. When Dow raps his gavel again, she gets up from her chair and walks slowly over to the lectern. I can see that she’s keeping a respectful distance from Felicia. Giving her some space.