Part 36 (2/2)

Jimmy flinched. 'Don't tell him my name, Miranda. Please, don't. It's not necessary.'

I looked at him. 'All right. I won't. But if he chooses to pursue me through the civil courts-which remains a possibility-then I will have to say, under oath, that it was you, so you should be aware of that.'

Jimmy suddenly looked as lost and lonely as a small boy. 'I've dreaded this,' he said quietly. 'I've dreaded it for years.'

'I'm sure you have. But thanks for telling me the truth, at last.'

Suddenly the door opened, and Jimmy's secretary appeared with a paper carrier.

'I've got you egg-is that okay? Is that okay?' she repeated. 'Egg?'

He nodded absently as she handed him the bag. 'Yes,' he whispered. 'That's...fine.'

'Well, thank you very much for your time,' I said as I stood up. 'It really was a very helpful meeting. Don't worry-James-I'll see myself out.'

As I walked back down the corridor, I felt euphoric. I knew the truth at last. I'd be able to tell David, and though it might not bring him back, he would perhaps, at least, understand.

By now it was eleven forty, and by the time I got back to Daisy's it was almost half past twelve, so we were able to have a quick lunch in her office. She closed her door and, as we ate our sandwiches, I played her bits of the tape. Not only had it worked-it had come out very clearly.

'So it was student revenge then,' she said, as she pa.s.sed me a bottle of water. I glanced at her files with their odd labels-'Camel Hire', 'Wedding Helicopters', 'Alpine Wonderland' and 'Moulin Rouge'.

'Student revenge-but for what?'

'For failing microbiology obviously.'

'But that's what I don't understand. Jimmy didn't fail.'

'What do you mean?' She wiped her hands on her napkin.

'He got a first.'

'Did he?'

'Yes. In Biochemistry-so why would he go for David's father like that?' Daisy was staring at me, as confused, quite clearly, as I was-then she suddenly smiled.

'I know why,' she said.

'Why?'

'Because it isn't actually true.'

I looked at her. That thought hadn't even occurred to me. 'But I'm pretty sure it is. It's on his website. He'd hardly make such a claim if it were a lie.'

'Wouldn't he? I'm not sure. Lots of politicians lie.'

'But saying you got a first when you didn't would be an enormous risk, surely.'

Daisy shrugged. 'Politicians take risks all the time. Think of what Jeffrey Archer had to hide. And in any case, no-one ever checks what degree you got, do they, so no doubt he thought he'd get away with it.'

'Maybe you're right,' I said. 'Yes... And maybe that's what Jimmy was about to say. He said that if it hadn't been for Professor White he would have got a...something. Then he stopped. He would have got a first. I think, maybe, that's what he was going to say, but he stopped himself just in time. Christ,' I laughed. 'You're right. What a turn-up! Now it all makes sense.'

'I wonder what degree he did get?' Daisy mused.

'I don't know.'

'What did he say when you knew him?'

'I can't remember him saying anything at all. All I knew was that he'd graduated the summer before and was staying on for a bit in Brighton while he looked for a job.'

'What did he want to do in those days?'

'He applied for all sorts of things-management consultancy, the BBC trainees.h.i.+p scheme. I remember he sat the foreign office exams too.'

'So top-notch career ambitions then?'

'Yes, although half the time he didn't even get interviewed.'

'Perhaps it was because of his animal rights campaigning.'

'I doubt it, as he was above-board. He was always giving local newspaper interviews saying that violence wasn't the way. He was the acceptable face of the movement, articulate and attractive, not grungy and aggressive.'

'Then it must have been because his degree was too low.'

'Quite possibly. Yes. And so, feeling increasingly thwarted and resentful, he blames the professor and...boom! Derek White gets it. Or rather, David does.'

'So what did Jimmy do for a job?'

'The profiles on the Net say he became a local radio journalist in York. He seems to have done that for at least five years.'

'So he wasn't planning to go into politics then?'

'No. If he'd been actively planning a political career, he would never have done what he did-far too risky-however much he loathed Derek White. The political career seems to have happened by chance when he interviewed Jack Straw and got offered a job as his parliamentary researcher, and then things took off from there.'

'So he went into politics knowing that he had this awful skeleton in his closet. G.o.d.' she breathed. 'He must have been terrified of it ever coming to light.'

'Yes. He admitted that just now.'

'And he must have prayed never to see you again.'

'He probably hoped I was dead.' I took the ca.s.sette out of the tiny tape recorder, labelled it, and tucked it carefully into my bag.

'Don't lose it,' said Daisy.

'I won't.'

'And are you going to play it to David?'

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