‘Not a ghost exactly. That woman who just passed? That was Helena. I sort of realised it before I heard the nurse call her Madame Belrose. She doesn’t look too healthy herself.’

‘What?’ Chloe looked back towards the hospice. ‘It was? Do you want to go and… not sure what, talk to her maybe?’

Belinda shook her head.

‘It’s best left. I wouldn’t know what to say to her, to be honest. Ah, good. Here’s Alain and the twins. Did they behave?’

Alain nodded. ‘Yes. I bribed them with promises of treats. How was Enzo?’ he asked gently.

‘Not good. It was emotional, to say the least,’ Belinda said. ‘Helena arrived too as we were leaving. I dread to think what would have happened if we’d still been in Dad’s room.’ She took a deep breath. ‘You all right, Chloe? I’m sorry it was all a bit of an anticlimax with Granddad being so sleepy with the drugs.’

‘I’m glad we came though,’ Chloe said.

‘Come on then, let’s get the twins in the car and get going,’ Belinda said, feeling a sudden need to be as far away as possible from the hospice.

Alain drove out onto the main road, turned right and before long they were bowling along the dual carriageway in a homeward direction. When twenty kilometres later he indicated and took off along a slip road, Belinda glanced at him.

‘Not going straight back to the campsite?’

‘I promised Charlie and Aimee a surprise and this is the way,’ Alain answered. ‘We don’t ’ave the need to rush back. Marie is in the office, Bernie has BB, Fern is at the café for deliveries. We ’ave some hours free. Une petite diversion.’

Five minutes later as they passed an official destination board on the side of the road, Belinda realised where they were heading. ‘We’re going to Lac de Guerlédan, aren’t we?’

Alain nodded. ‘You like?’

‘It will be interesting to see it again,’ Belinda said quietly. ‘It’s bound to have changed in the last thirty-five years. I remember trekking round it with the school on an environmental trip. Lots of trees and wild flowers.’

‘These days, it’s popular with tourists. This time of year, not so busy,’ Alain explained. ‘Lots of space everywhere.’

The lake was glistening in the midday sunshine as Alain parked in a gravelled area near a restaurant with picnic tables overlooking the lake.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Chloe said, taking her sunglasses out of her bag and slipping them on.

Alain quickly found a table for them, ordered three coffees and a couple of soft drinks for Charlie and Aimee. ‘We ’ave lunch here, oui?’ he said. ‘I promise the twins frites and ’ere they are très bons.’