The Essex Marshes, Summer 1915
The body rolled in the current gently, as if still alive. It was facedown, only the back and hips visible. It had been floating that way for some time. men in the ancient skiff had watched it for a quarter of an hour, as if half expecting it to rise up and walk away before their eyes.
"He's dead, right enough," one said. "One of ours, do you think?"
"This far up the Hawking? It's a German spy,: the second man said, nodding, as if that explained everything. "Bound to be. I say, leave him to the fish."
"We won't know who he is until we pull him out, will we?" the third said and leaned out to touch the corpse with the boat hook.
"Here!" the first man cried out, as if this were sacrilege.
The body bobbed a little under the weight of the hook.
Title: The Confession: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd
Published Jan. 3, 2012; William Morrow
Source: complimentary copy from the publisher
Goodreads description: In the latest of Charles Todd's "New York Times"-bestselling series, Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge wrestles with a startling and dangerous case that reaches far into the past when a false confession from a man leads to a brutal murder.
