The Dead Girl in the Bathtub by Lisa DePaulo

Author:Lisa DePaulo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Philadelphia Magazine
Published: 2013-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Julia, wearing the black sarong bought for her by M.B., and Rich DeSipio in Miami on April 19, 2013. (Courtesy of Rich DeSipio)

WHEN THE TRIO RETURNED from Miami, Julia spilled the beans about her new romance to Aisha. Before long, everyone knew. Well, everyone except Mark, from whom it was carefully and intentionally hidden.

Julia and Chuck did the things new lovers do: He gave her a key to his apartment and she gave him hers, though he says he never once set foot in her place, because she was embarrassed by the tiny rented walkup at 20th and Walnut. They went to cute restaurants on the Square. He took her to parties. One glorious weekend, he drove her to New Hope in one of his many, many cars, a ’65 Cadillac convertible. They drove with the top down, blasting classic rock, then spent the day holding hands, exploring the quirky shops and cafes. Chuck says it was in New Hope that he told her she reminded him of the Woodstock era and started fondly calling her his “hippy girl.” Julia would later email at least two friends, along with Chuck, that it was “the best day of my life.”

Yet the following weekend, she agreed to meet Mark in Fitler Square. Mark wanted to talk to her about reconciling. They had split up, he says, because both of them had some issues to work out, but he missed her, he loved her. So they talked. “I think she was a little surprised, because I hadn’t responded to some of her wanting to get back together in the beginning,” Mark says.

To Team Chuck, it seemed Mark was putting a full-court press on Julia, perhaps after having gotten a whiff that there might be someone new in her life. Mark says he was in the dark that there was anyone else, let alone their boss. He says he just missed her, wanted to try again. He was encouraged by her telling him that she hadn’t met anyone else—and that she still loved him.

And this is where the life of Julia Law started to get very messy, where she veers from carefree romantic spirit, a Philadelphia Carrie Bradshaw, into an in-over-her-head, very confused young woman. In the last two weeks of her life, she was juggling Chuck, Mark and M.B. On May 9th, she texted M.B.: “Why would I be with chuck. Yea I’d have a comfortable ass life but … I’m so fucked up and sick over this mess I created.” M.B. replied: “u are trying to be nice and do the right thing by both—but ur happiness is more important!!!!” Later in the conversation, she asks M.B.: “Will u always want to be with me no matter what man I turn out with?” He texts that he will. “Really want you to tell me to not be with chuck. I can’t believe you’re not,” she replies.

Right up until the very end of her life, Julia Law was not only in constant contact with M.

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