opened her notebook to a page in which she'd jotted some questions. 'This isn't a formal evidence-gathering session,' she emphasized, 'just a chance for me to find out what was going on in Eva's life.'
Prince couldn't help himself. 'Are you seriously entertaining the possibility that it wasn't Craven who murdered her?'
Calmly Jenny said, 'A coroner must entertain whatever possibility the evidence supports.'
Prince gave a dismissive grunt.
Ignoring him, Jenny continued, 'I understand Miss Donaldson had been working for Decency for a little over a year.'
'That's right,' Michael Turnbull replied. 'Though it seemed like a lot longer.'
His wife nodded in agreement.
'What would you say was her chief motivation?'
'She didn't want other women to suffer what she had,' Christine Turnbull answered. 'She wrote at length about it in her two books. There was the simple humanitarian side, the desire to prevent cruelty and exploitation; and there was the spiritual side. She genuinely believed that pornography is an addictive drug, something that destroys moral integrity.'
Jenny said, 'I've no doubt she was committed to the cause, but she was in trouble financially. Were you aware of that?'
Michael Turnbull cut in ahead of his wife. 'I'll be straight with you. This has only come to light since she died. Decency paid her a very reasonable salary, but obviously, if she'd told us how bad things were, we might have tried to offer more help.'
'She wrote to you last November asking for a rise.'
'That's right. Her request was put to the board and it was felt that increasing salaries wasn't the best use of funds. I talked to her about it afterwards: she perfectly understood.'
Michael and Christine Turnbull exchanged a glance, as if there was something they weren't sure should be said.
'Yes - ?' Jenny prompted.
'Of course, we knew the campaign wouldn't go on for ever,' Michael said. 'I'd talked with Eva about what she was planning to do afterwards, and to be honest she was struggling to decide between some quite profound alternatives.'
'Such as?'
'She had become a very committed Christian, but she was also a natural performer,' he said with a fond smile. 'I know she and Lennox, our chief pastor here, talked a lot about her maybe entering the ministry, but she was also attracted to a career as a serious actress. I couldn't tell you if she had made up her mind, but I know what I would have wanted for her.'
'She was a very powerful preacher,' Christine Turnbull added. 'Personally, I think she'd made a decision to minister.'
'And live on what?'
'A very modest wage,' Michael Turnbull said. 'Money can't buy a vocation. Even a well-endowed church like this one has to live by the obvious principles.'
Jenny made a note that Eva was on the horns of a dilemma. Maybe it began to explain the bizarre tattoo? Perhaps 'Daddy's Girl' referred to her relationship with God? It didn't seem the obvious way to express it, but what could she know about the mind of an ex-porn actress?
'How would you describe her state of mind in the weeks before her death?' Jenny asked.
Michael Turnbull gazed at the ceiling for a moment, a trace of sadness, or was it regret, in his expression? 'Like the rest of us she was apprehensive, anxious to succeed. But having become the face of the campaign she probably felt personally responsible in a way the rest of us didn't quite appreciate.'
'You mean she was showing signs of strain?'
'No more than any of us,' Christine Turnbull said. 'I suppose it just bothers all of us that she was at home that Sunday evening, too tired to be here as she usually was. She had been to Manchester and Birmingham and made several radio appearances that weekend.'
Yes, it was regret. Jenny saw it Michael Turnbull's face.
'If there's one thing I should have insisted on,' he said, 'it was that she have full-time security. I offered on several occasions but she always refused. I suppose we all had faith that we'd be looked after. But sometimes one has to stop and remind oneself that we live in a fallen world.'
'Did she receive much negative attention?' Jenny asked.
'Quite the opposite,' Christine Turnbull said. 'We had piles of letters and emails for her every day, from well- wishers all over the world.'
'No threats? She can't have had many admirers in the pornography business.'
'There were a few,' Michael Turnbull said, 'but nothing particularly sinister as far as I'm aware.'
'What about close friends? Was she seeing anyone?'