generation. He offered up many prayers before presenting her to Decency's board as a potential ambassador, but they were unanimous in their decision to take her on.
'She made me rethink the whole issue,' Turnbull said. 'Before I met Eva, my focus had been on the damage done to consumers by this material, how it engendered brutal feelings towards women and led to a spiral of dishonesty and guilt. But I always struggled against well-intentioned, liberal-minded people, both men and women, who said the effect was the opposite; that tolerating pornography was a necessary part of a free and honest society. Eva's argument was simple: no one can be set free by watching men and women debase themselves. To obtain pleasure from that is to be corrupted. That is how corruption works - by preying on our greatest vulnerabilities.'
Eva's media appearances, Turnbull said, took the Decency campaign from a fringe group treated as an object of derision by the popular press to the heart of the mainstream. Here was living, breathing proof of the damage the so-called 'adult entertainment' business wrought. Without Eva Donaldson, he conceded, he would not, in only a few days' time, be faced with the realistic possibility of taking the first steps to passing a stringent anti-pornography law. Her contribution had been nothing short of miraculous.
'This was a multi-billion-pound business you and she were attacking,' Jenny said. 'You must have collected enemies.'
'There was a steady stream of abusive correspondence, certainly.'
'Were you aware of Eva receiving threats to her personal safety?'
'Quite the contrary. Eva was deluged with messages of support. Much of it from men addicted to pornography. They wanted to be set free.'
'But what about the vested interests, the companies such as the one Eva used to work for?'
'They're very sophisticated. Like the tobacco business, they hire lobbyists and seek to persuade politicians with the economic arguments. And no doubt they've prepared amendments to our bill designed to allow material which has passed certain ethical standards. If they play the politics right they could still be the big winners. Instead of a ban they would get regulation in exchange for legitimacy.'
'So you're saying they had no motive for silencing Miss Donaldson?'
'I'm sure they would have loved her to support their compromise position, but I don't think for a moment they thought she ever would.'
'Do you think they might have tried to win her over?'
'I can guess what you're driving at,' Turnbull said. 'But I can assure you Eva was as committed as it was possible to be. No amount of money would have bought her. Ask anyone - once Eva was set on a course there was no persuading her from it. She had a will of iron.'
Jenny saw Kenneth Donaldson nodding in agreement.
She moved on, touching briefly on Eva's financial problems, but Turnbull was dismissive, saying that if she had needed more money there were any number of PR companies who would have paid her many times the salary she earned from Decency. She was acting out a vocation; money wasn't her focus.
She broached the issue of the tattoo, but Turnbull denied all knowledge and refused to speculate on her state of mind. He was her employer, not her confidant, he insisted.
'Are you honestly saying you have no thoughts on what might have motivated her to have that tattoo?' Jenny asked.
'Yes.'
'No insight into her state of mind at the time?'
'As far as her work was concerned, she remained determined and focused. That's all I can tell you.'
'You didn't notice her showing signs of strain?'
'She seemed to be coping well. But you have to understand: ours was a professional, not a personal, relationship.'
Resigned to the fact that Turnbull wouldn't deviate from a well-rehearsed corporate line, Jenny moved on to the night of Eva's death. Turnbull explained that he and his wife had been in London the previous day. Christine had caught the train home to Bristol on the Sunday morning. He had meetings to attend and had followed later in the afternoon. His driver delivered him straight to the Mission Church, where they met at approximately six-thirty. There were more than four thousand in the congregation that evening and the service lasted for several hours. It was after ten when he and his wife finally got to leave.
'I understand Eva stayed at home that evening,' Jenny said.
'Yes. We'd hoped she'd say a few words about the campaign, but I got a message from the office to say she was feeling too tired after a weekend on the