Rutledge didn’t stop. He was no longer an Inspector at Scotland Yard. He was a Lieutenant in the British Army.
Cummins would see Dobson’s name in the listings of dead and wounded, and know it was finished. He had searched the lists since Dobson had disappeared the last time, without much hope of ever finding his name there.
He was just stepping into his transport when something made him turn and look back.
Michael Clayton, in the uniform of a medical orderly, was leaning against the side of a shed that had once been used by French customs and was now a staging area for the wounded. At his feet was a jumble of kits waiting to be taken down to the quays and loaded aboard. Not two yards from him was a soldier slumped against the same wall, head to one side in an exhausted sleep. His rifle lay across his knees.
It was a little backwater, no one else around, but it had an excellent view down to where a cluster of men stood, looking at the crumpled body lying at their feet.
How had he known—?
Then Rutledge realized that Clayton must have been among the orderlies who had just helped unload the train of wounded. There would have been a tag around the neck of every man, with his name, his rank, his regiment, and his wound. Easy enough to read. A word, a whispered question, and Clayton would have seen the reaction. Would have known he had the right man.
Scotland Yard had no authority here.
Rutledge got into the lorry, greeted his driver, and they began the long journey to the North and the waiting war.
About the Author
CHARLES TODD is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother and son writing team, they live in Delaware and North Carolina, respectively.
www.charlestodd.com
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Also by Charles Todd
THE IAN RUTLEDGE MYSTERIES
A Test of Wills
Wings of Fire
Search the Dark
Legacy of the Dead
Watchers of Time
A Fearsome Doubt
A Long Shadow
A False Mirror
A Pale Horse
A Matter of Justice
The Red Door
A Lonely Death
The Confession
Proof of Guilt
Hunting Shadows
THE BESS CRAWFORD MYSTERIES
A Duty to the Dead
An Impartial Witness
A Bitter Truth
An Unmarked Grave
A Question of Honor
An Unwilling Accomplice
OTHER FICTION
The Murder Stone
The Walnut Tree
Credits
Cover photograph © by Stephen Mulcahey/Arcangel Images
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A FINE SUMMER’S DAY. Copyright © 2015 by Charles Todd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Map by Nick Springer, copyright © 2014 Springer Cartographics LLC
EPUB Edition January 2015 ISBN 9780062237149
ISBN: 9780062237125
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