Broadway Butterfly: A Thriller by Sara DiVello

Author:Sara DiVello [DiVello, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2023-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

2:00 p.m. Manhattan. New York Daily News.

Julia winced at every detail coming in about Frances Stotesbury Mitchell’s journey home. The curious combination of agonizing heartbreak and compelling voyeurism was the singular life of a reporter on the crime beat. As a newlywed—married seven months tomorrow, and still in the heart-fluttering phase of counting each month—it was unbearable to watch a woman suffer such betrayal, let alone betrayal bandied about on the front page of every newspaper in the country. But as a reporter covering the murder of J. K. Mitchell’s mistress, Julia had a job to do. If the News didn’t cover the nation’s most scandalous story, they wouldn’t sell copies and she would have to answer for it. She also recognized newspaper gold when she saw it.

Next to her, Hellinger grabbed his phone. “Another thrilling day of detailing Harding’s golf and lunch schedule.”

Julia reread the latest telegram. “You know, the one thing I’m stuck on is why Marshall—I mean, Mitchell—went down to Washington to meet his wife.”

Hellinger clicked the lever for the operator, then turned back to Julia as he waited to be connected. “Whaddya mean?”

“Mitchell left their home in Philadelphia to go down to Washington and meet his wife’s train, only to head straight back to Philadelphia. And he’s not even traveling with Frances—he’s on another train with his father-in-law.”

“So?” Hellinger said.

“Well, why didn’t he just wait for them at home? Or if he was looking for neutral territory, her dad’s castle, ‘the Versailles of America’? He could’ve spared them all the drama of a public meeting in Union Station.”

Hellinger rolled his eyes. “You kiddin’ me? The guy was just caught havin’ an affair with a blonde half his age who turns up dead, his toe perversions are publicly revealed, the world is laughing at him and feels bad for his wife. And you think he doesn’t want to show E. T. Stotesbury what a good guy he is? If your father-in-law just so happens to be one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, you go the extra mile—literally. Not exactly a head-scratcher.”

“The extra mile isn’t Washington,” Julia said. “If Mitchell really wanted to make a good-faith showing, he would’ve gone all the way down to Palm Beach.”

“It’s never enough for you dames,” Hellinger said. “A guy goes to Washington for ya, but no, you want him to go to Florida.”

Julia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, all us dames are exactly the same—me, Frances Stotesbury Mitchell, Dot King—three peas in a pod.”

“You ain’t a dame, you’re a newspaperman,” Hellinger said, chomping a toothpick.

Julia wasn’t sure if she was flattered or offended. “I’m telling you, it feels wrong.”

Hellinger, still waiting to be connected, ignored her. “Geez, you’d think I was phonin’ the moon over here.”

Julia decided to make a few calls herself. She grabbed her phone and asked the operator for Frederick Goldsmith’s law office. As she waited to be connected to Guimares’s lawyer, she flipped to a new page and scribbled:

Mitchell: Why DC?

The line clicked and an operator purred, “Mr.

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