“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.”

CHAPTER
125

After a ten-minute recess, it’s the defense’s turn.

Having seen how good a defense attorney Tess Hardy is, I imagine she’s saved her best for last.

She takes her time approaching the lectern. She smiles at the jury. Like Bastinelli, she looks each one in the eye.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I first want to thank you for your work on this trial and the close attention you’ve paid to it. I understand that jury duty is an inconvenience and, in your case, an actual hardship. You’ve put your personal and work lives on hold and endured isolation from your friends and families. And for that, we are all grateful. I hope that the hardship will not last much longer. And I don’t think it will. Because the verdict in this case is so simple and clear.”

Hardy walks to the center of the courtroom. “Let’s start with the obvious and sad fact that Suzanne Bonanno was killed. That is a tragedy. A promising life cut short. And there is a feeling—it’s a human reaction—that somebody must pay. And that feeling can be even stronger when the victim is young and innocent and beautiful. I get it, ladies and gentlemen. I feel it too.”

She turns to look directly at Cole. “But you will not find Suzanne’s killer here on trial. There is no direct evidence linking my client to this young woman’s death. No fingerprints, no DNA, no witnesses, no murder weapon.

“Now, we did see a surveillance video of Suzanne Bonanno and Cole Wright together on the night she disappeared. And the prosecution has insinuated that my client was the last person to see her alive. But we don’t know who Suzanne saw last. We can’t even say with certainty exactly how or when she died. All we know is that after she and Cole Wright parted that evening, there is no known record of her further movements or contacts.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution spent a lot of time on those mysterious blue sheets. Where they were made, how they were made, who made them, who sold them, who bought them—as if that formed some chain of evidence. It does not.

“Suzanne’s bones were wrapped in a sheet when they were found in the trunk of a car. That sheet was sold by Walmart. Beyond that, we know nothing for certain. Mr. Bastinelli wants you to draw a direct line from a checkout counter to a grave, but the connection is not there. We don’t know who bought the sheets those bones were wrapped in. Or when.”