“Rudeness to my betters? I’m sure you’ll try. Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a problem that has been on my mind since Theo Hartle’s murder. He recognized a passerby while he was in Hastings, the day of his death. He couldn’t place the face he’d seen, but it disturbed him enough that he could well have gone in search of that person when he should have been returning to Eastfield. And that could very easily have cost him his life. Who did he see? Was it Daniel Pierce?”

He stood, and walked to the door. “I don’t know why you feel I’m your enemy, Mrs. Farrell-Smith. Why you should feel more comfortable with Inspector Norman conducting this inquiry. I have no wish to probe into your personal life or your secrets. But I have four dead men to whom I owe a duty. And six living men I’m here to protect. If you can put your antipathy aside long enough to help me do what I came to do, we might save Daniel Pierce’s life. It could well be that his name is on this murderer’s list. Like his brother, he served in the war, and like his brother, he went to school here as a boy. If someone believed he had a good reason to kill Anthony Pierce, then it’s likely that he also has a good reason to kill Daniel Pierce. Please consider that.”

He walked out the door without waiting for an answer or looking back to see how Mrs. Farrell-Smith had taken his suggestion.

He was halfway down the passage when he heard her call his name.

But he kept going, and she didn’t call a second time.

From the school he went to collect his motorcar, and drove to Hastings.

There was a telephone available in the offices of the Pierce Brothers Brewery, but the favor Rutledge expected to ask of Sergeant Gibson was not something he wanted to be overheard by anyone in Eastfield.

Chapter 11

11

Hamish was vocal as Rutledge drove to Hastings. “Ye’ve got nowhere,” he reminded Rutledge. “And ye’ve annoyed yon brewer and the woman. They’ll have ye recalled. It wasna’ the chief superintendant who sent you here. Ye ken, he willna’ stand by ye.”

“I understand,” Rutledge answered him aloud, the wind whipping his words away as he descended into Hastings. “But either Daniel is the danger—or he’s in danger. Either way, I’ve got to find him.”

“He’s one man. There’re six ithers at risk. Six ithers closer to hand.”