Page 186 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

"I want my name on the article when it appears."

"Let's get the story down first, then we'll see."

Pugh was trying to employ the kind of blandishments Jasper had used on Evie. "No, thanks," Jasper said firmly. "If you don't like the story, you don't have to print it, but if you do use it you must put my name on it."

"All right," said Pugh. "When can we meet?"

*

Two days later, at breakfast in Great Peter Street, Jasper read in the Guardian that Martin Luther King was planning a massive demonstration of civil disobedience in Washington in support of a civil rights bill. King was forecasting that there would be one hundred thousand people. "Boy, I'd love to see that," said Jasper.

Evie said: "Me, too."

It was to take place in August, during the university vacation, so Jasper would be free. But he could not afford ninety pounds for the fare to the USA.

Daisy Williams opened an envelope and said: "My goodness! Lloyd, here's a letter from your German cousin Rebecca!"

Dave, the youngest, swallowed a mouthful of Sugar Puffs and said: "Who the heck is Rebecca?"

His father had been leafing through newspapers with the speed of a professional politician. Now he looked up and said: "Not really a cousin. She was adopted by some distant relations of mine after her parents died in the war."

"I'd forgotten we had German relatives," Dave said. "Gott im Himmel!"

Jasper had noticed that Lloyd was suspiciously vague about his relatives. The late Bernie Leckwith had been his stepfather, but no one ever mentioned his real father. Jasper felt sure Lloyd had been illegitimate. It was not quite a tabloid story: bastardy was not as much of a disgrace as formerly. All the same, Lloyd never gave details.

Lloyd went on: "Last time I saw Rebecca was in 1948. She was about seventeen. By then she had been adopted by my relation Carla Franck. They lived in Berlin-Mitte, so now their house must be on the wrong side of the Wall. What's become of her?"

Daisy answered: "She's obviously got out of East Germany, somehow, and moved to Hamburg. Oh . . . her husband was injured escaping, and he's in a wheelchair."

"What prompted her to write to us?"

"She's trying to trace Hannelore Rothmann." Daisy looked at Jasper. "She was your grandmother. Apparently she was kind to Rebecca in the war, the day Rebecca's real parents were killed."

Jasper had never met his mother's family. "We don't know exactly what happened to my German grandparents, but Mother is sure they're dead," he said.

Daisy said: "I'll show this letter to your mother. She should write to Rebecca."

Lloyd opened the Daily Echo and said: "Bloody hell, what's this?"

Jasper had been waiting for this moment. He clasped his hands together in his lap to stop them shaking.

Lloyd spread the newspaper on the table. On page three was a photograph of Evie coming out of a nightclub with Hank Remington, and the headline:

Kords Star Hank & Labour MP's Nudie Daughter, 17

By Barry Pugh and Jasper Murray

"I didn't write that!" Jasper lied. His indignation sounded forced, to him; what he really felt was elation at the sight of his own name over a report in a national newspaper. The others did not seem to notice his mixed emotions.

Lloyd read aloud: "'Pop star Hank Remington's latest flame is the just-seventeen daughter of Lloyd Williams, member of Parliament for Hoxton. Movie starlet Evie Williams is famous for appearing nude onstage at Lambeth Grammar, the posh school for top people's children.'"

Daisy said: "Oh, dear, how embarrassing."

Lloyd read on: "'Evie said: "Hank is the most courageous and dedicated person I have ever known." Both Evie and Hank support the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, despite the disapproval of her father, who is Labour spokesman on military affairs.'" Lloyd looked at Evie severely. "You know a lot of courageous and dedicated people, including your mother, who drove an ambulance during the Blitz, and your great-uncle Billy Williams, who fought at the Somme. Hank must be remarkable, to overshadow them."

"Never mind that," said Daisy. "I thought you weren't supposed to do interviews without asking the studio, Evie."

"Oh, God, this is my fault," Jasper said. They all looked at him. He had known there would be a scene like this, and he was ready for it. He had no difficulty looking distraught: he felt horribly guilty. "I interviewed Evie for the student paper. The Echo must have lifted my story--and rewritten it to make it sensational." He had prepared this fiction in advance.

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