Page 97 of The First Gentleman

“But starting from this point on, no more surprises, okay? You are going to be fully open and transparent with me. I do not want to be caught off guard. And I don’t want the president to be caught off guard. You know as well as I do that she’s on trial here as much as I am.”

“All right, Cole—Mr. Wright—fair enough. But I need a promise from you in return.”

“What’s that?”

“If you want to remain a free man, don’t ever,everraise your voice in this courthouse again.”

CHAPTER

92

Islide back into my seat in the courtroom just as the deputy attorney general calls his first witness, a state trooper named Steve Josephs.

Josephs is wearing a pristine uniform—green shirt, tan pants, both neatly pressed. He looks calm and cool on the stand.

Bastinelli leads him through the events of the winter night when Josephs stopped a red Sentra weaving down a New Hampshire highway.

The trooper’s answers are brief and to the point. Bastinelli takes him through his encounter with the inebriated driver, the arrival of the tow truck, and law enforcement’s decision to search the vehicle before it was taken away.

“And when you opened the trunk, what did you see?”

“I saw dirty blue cloth wrapped around a human skull.”

I hear a gasp from the jury box.

“Your Honor, this is State’s exhibit two A.” Bastinelli clicks his controller and the screen fills with an image of the Sentra’s opentrunk. A filthy blue bundle sits next to a spare tire. And where the bundle has come loose, sure enough, a skull is peeking out.

Even though I knew it was coming, I’m not ready for it.

That beautiful girl, reduced to bones.

The courtroom is completely still. I see some of the jury members lowering their eyes. Cole Wright stares down at his legal pad. Bastinelli lets the silence hang for a few seconds before continuing.

“Trooper Josephs, is this the trunk of the Sentra as you remember seeing it on that night?”

“Yes, sir, it is.”

Bastinelli takes Josephs quickly through the rest of his testimony. The trooper describes the arrival of a detective from the Major Crimes Unit.

“And who was that detective?”

“Detective Sergeant Marie Gagnon.”

I sit up straight in my seat.Marie Gagnon.The first time I saw her in a press conference, her name hit me right away. She was the one I spoke to after I reburied Suzanne’s bracelet and called 911.

The bracelet was never mentioned in the news. I’m still waiting to learn if my strategy paid off.

Now Josephs is explaining how the remains were eventually transferred by van to the medical examiner’s office.

Bastinelli walks back to his table. “Thank you, Trooper. No further questions.”

Now it’s Tess Hardy’s turn. She walks to the lectern and introduces herself to Josephs. Seems calm and courteous. And really curious.

“Trooper Josephs, when you made that traffic stop that night, how long had you worked?”

“That shift? About nine hours.”

“So nine hours until the point where you stopped the Sentra?”

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