I peered at the screen. ‘William Jackson. There are loads of them. Where did Pete find this?’

‘On one of the war memorial sites, I think. He found a few men with that name – different ages, different addresses.’

‘How would we know any of them were the Billy that Saranya Ji talked of?’

‘I don’t know, but it’s a start. Pete said he’s happy to keep looking up information for you, but if you ever want to have a look yourself, most of the sites offer a free trial.’

I shook my head. ‘I’ve too much else going on at the moment, but do thank him.’

*

When I got home, I went to my laptop and opened the email that Marcia had sent. Despite myself, I was intrigued. I clicked on the link that took me to the site showing the war records. It looked easy enough to use. A page came up asking me to put in a name and the period I wanted to see. I put in the name Jackson, then I clicked on Second World War. Five pages came up but, before I could go any further, I was asked to subscribe, so I closed the site and went to get a glass of wine. When the going gets tough, the tough turn to vino had been one of my and Heather’s mottos when we lived together.

I went back to the laptop and found an ancestry site. Once again, I put in the name Jackson, added the date 1940, and clicked on military. On this site, lots of Jacksons who had fought in the war came up. ‘Hah, see Pete, I can do research too,’ I said out loud.

I scrolled down the list: Kenneth, Gordon, Peter, David. I clicked on the second page. Horace, Richard, ah … a William! I clicked on the name and the details showed he had lived in Glasgow.

I continued my search and found more Jacksons. It was then I noticed that there were two hundred pages. What am I doing? I asked myself as I shut down the site.

Five minutes later, I went back to the laptop and continued clicking through. It didn’t take too long to scroll through a page then another and another. Mark, Frank, Albert, more Williams. On page twenty-five, I found another William Jackson. I clicked for more details. Place of birth, Lancashire, resident of London. Died 25 May 1940. Could he be the one? I clicked on and on, scrolling through until I’d found five William Jacksons, all of whom had lived in London, with the dates of their deaths. Some were with the Royal Artillery regiment, one with the 30th Motor Brigade. Surely I could find a death certificate if I kept looking?