Rosemary Herbert - Front Page Teaser

“Inside the car, police found paperwork indicating the car had been rented by Ellen Johansson yesterday, eight days after she went missing from her home. The woman’s husband, Erik Johansson—who had been released from Newton police custody after he was questioned about assaulting Boston World news reporter Mick Lichen—was taken in to Boston police headquarters again this evening, where he identified the fountain pen, wedding ring, and bracelet found in the car as belonging to his wife. Under questioning, he admitted all the jewelry found in the car had been gifts to his wife from him. Lichen remains in the Newton-Wellesley Hospital with a broken leg sustained in the altercation. Boston police are holding Erik Johansson in custody overnight.”

When the report was finished, Liz set down her apple, rinsed her hands, and phoned the newsroom. “We’re onto it,” Jared informed her. “Dick’s at the car rental place now.”

“Is that Higgins?” she heard Dermott McCann inquire. “Hand me the phone. Listen, Liz, are you sure that drawing is of Daddy’s tie? It’s looking like something was rotten in that household.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. About the drawing, at least. When you print the piece, don’t cut Veronica’s quote about the kite-flying outing when the tie flew up and slapped Erik in the face. We really need that quote now.”

“Gotcha. Hey Garamond,” he called out to the copy editor. “Can you stet that kid quote I cut in 28DRAW1? By the way,” he said to Liz, “forget about that day off tomorrow. I’ll need you to follow up on the Social Security information for that guy Hasan. I had to pull Manning off that and put him onto the car rental place. I’ll have Dick message his contacts to you.”

Liz decided not to tell McCann about Nadia’s letter. Knowing the realities of the newsroom operation when news broke mid-evening, she knew something would get short shrift if a story on the letter was added—and a good candidate was the article about the drawing. Even if Erik had given Ellen reason to leave him, there was no sense in tarring him with the child abuse label unfairly. And an incomplete report on the drawing would make Erik look very suspicious indeed.

But in the hands of the World ’s Mick Lichen, that is exactly what happened, as Liz learned when Tom knocked on her door in the early hours of December 28.

“Sorry to wake you, but I thought you’d want to see this. You not only scooped the World but got the front page, too. Take a look.” Wiping his feet on the mat, he handed her two newspapers. Then he set down a bakery box and two Styrofoam cups of coffee on Liz’s coffee table.

In uncharacteristic uppercase type the World ’s front page announced, “ABUSE QUESTION RAISED IN MISSING MOTHER CASE.” In the article, Mick Lichen made much of his observations through Veronica’s window:

A child’s portrait of her father raises the question of sexual abuse in the Newton household that has been home to tragedy since Ellen Johansson, 34, went missing from it December 18. Ever since they stripped the wallpaper in the bedroom of Veronica Johansson, age 8, last week, police have been mum about the clue they found written on the wall. Now, based on exclusive observation of Veronica’s bedroom, we can report the writing on the wall spells trouble for Erik Johansson, 37, husband of Ellen and father of Veronica.

The drawing depicts a large protuberance extending outward from the chest or midriff area of a figure labeled “DADDY.” According to Dr. Lesley Choate, professor of child psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, “The huge ball-and-rod–shaped protuberance appears to be a classic depiction of the male member as seen by an abused child. The drawing is particularly disturbing in that it depicts a symbol of rape in a scene of innocent play or father-and-daughter companionship.”

Lichen went on to suggest that child abuse accounted for all the problems in the household, including serving as the spur for Ellen’s leaving it. However, because she didn’t see Veronica’s drawing as an indicator of abuse, Liz knew that notion was false. In addition, she still could not visualize Ellen leaving her daughter in danger. There must be another reason she departed.

The World also ran an article by Nancy Knight about developments with the rental car. Like Manning in the Banner , Knight read the cast-off jewelry, particularly the wedding ring, as a sign there was marital trouble, but she followed in Lichen’s footsteps and based the spousal discord on the premise of child abuse. The large front page of the World also held room for a piece by Lichen, headlined “Blood of a Stranger,” in which Lichen let on the World had no idea who’d been injured in the kitchen with Ellen.

In contrast, the Banner ’s front page screamed, “POINSETTIA POINTER: Was Hackney Hacked in Mystery Kitchen?” Liz’s lead article was accompanied by a file photo of the Johansson kitchen showing the poinsettia there and by a cameo shot of Cormac Kinnaird scrutinizing a poinsettia petal with a magnifying glass. Manning’s article about the rental car, headed “WEDDING BAND BLUES,” speculated on marital discord and showed the car rental clerk as gaga about getting her name in the paper and incapable of spitting out a sentence without several “likes” and a “whatevah.” A photo of the clerk captured her in the act of chewing gum while screwing a cap on a jar of nail polish. Finally, a front-page teaser zooming in on Veronica’s drawing of the wind-blown tie, was emblazoned with the words, “DADDY DEAREST: Veronica’s Drawing Tells All.”

“I’m sorry you had to realize the truth about Erik,” Tom said. “I know you liked him. I heard on the radio, as I was driving over, that the Department of Social Services is stepping in to take temporary custody of Veronica, based on newspaper reports.”

“Not mine!”

“But it says here, ‘DADDY DEAREST.’ Doesn’t that mean you wrote about the abuse? That teaser makes me think of the movie Mommie Dearest , about Joan Crawford’s abuse of her kid.”

“No! For once the Banner headline writers’ words can be taken literally. Sure, they tried to pique readers’ interest by making it look like a parallel to that case. But that’s just to get readers to turn to Page Three.”

“Well, it fooled me. Especially since there’s that penis drawing right there. It makes me think Erik Johansson is guilty as sin. Not everybody is going to read any further, Liz. If your story says Erik is a good guy, it’s not clear from this front-page teaser.”

“He is all right, at least in this regard. I talked with Veronica myself yesterday and she told me her drawing depicted a windy day when Erik’s tie blew into his face while he flew a kite with her. That drawing is not evidence of sexual abuse.”

“Well, I sure hope the Department of Social Services reads past Page One of the Banner then, because the World won’t help them here. Maybe you should call them and inform them of what you know.”

Before Liz could cross the room to it, her telephone rang.

“Liz. This is Olga. I have to thank you for your piece about Veronica’s drawing. When I called it to the attention of the Department of Social Services, they said they’d release Erik later this morning, as soon as they can complete their paperwork on this. I have to question, though, the box on your front page. If you didn’t know better, you would think the paper was reporting on a child molester rather than a misunderstood child’s drawing. The way they enlarged that picture of the tie is utterly irresponsible.”

“I see that, Olga, and I’m sorry for it, but remember, even without that drawing, the World got the story completely wrong. At least we printed the truth.”