Rutledge laughed. “Carl Hopkins is your war connection. But you haven’t found the garrote and you haven’t found where or how he managed to create those identity discs. It shouldn’t have been hard to do, mind you, but he’d need the same type of fiberboard and the same type of rope, as well as the names of men in other units. Show me those, and I’ll go back to London.”

Inspector Norman’s mouth twisted sourly. “Early days,” he said as Rutledge took his leave.

He went back to The White Swans to look for Daniel Pierce, but he still hadn’t returned.

Using the telephone, Rutledge put in a call to London.

Sergeant Gibson was wary, and Rutledge could almost hear the man trying to work out whether the inspector was back in good odor or not.

Rutledge told him what he wanted.

“It’s a needle in a haystack,” Gibson complained.

“His father went north to work when he was nine or ten years of age. Start with the War Office. If he was in uniform, they should know where he lived in 1914. And unless he has married, Somerset House won’t help us.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Gibson told him and asked how to reach him.

“Leave a message at Reception here in The White Swans.”

But he was not destined to be there when it came through. As he was driving to The Stade, a police constable spotted him and hailed him.

Rutledge drew to the verge. “Constable?”

“Inspector Rutledge? Inspector Norman asked us to be on the lookout for you. Someone telephoned Hastings Police from the Pierce Brothers Brewery office. They’ve found another body.”

Rutledge swore. “All right, thank you, Constable. I’m on my way.”

He drove out of Hastings and made good time to Eastfield. Constable Walker, his face marked by sleeplessness and strain, was waiting for him at the police station.

“It’s Hector Marshall,” he said as Rutledge walked through the door. “He was garroted, like the others, and a disc was found in his mouth. We’ve taken the body to Dr. Gooding’s surgery. He says there’s no doubt. The wounds are much the same. Very little struggle. Left where he was killed, as far as we can tell.”

“Where was he found?”