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.”