The burnished orangey-red sun was setting on the sea as they arrived in the beautiful bay of Santa Margherita, where the atmosphere was reminiscent of a timeless, old-world ritziness. Grace thought she could just imagine Elizabeth Taylor strolling along in a cream sheath dress and oversized shades, surrounded by paparazzi as she made her way back to a yacht moored in the harbour. The promenade was lined with palm trees and green slatted benches to sit on and admire the view. Elderly women clad in black serge dresses meandered along by a row of smart blue and white striped beach huts, with pots of pink and purple bougainvillea hooked onto the sides. Families with young children rambled over the pebbles on the beach and Grace sighed in contentment and appreciation to be in yet another wonderful part of beautiful Italy.

After checking in to the boutique hotel and admiring their adjoining rooms on the fourth floor with balconies, giving a splendid view of the coastline, they decided to take a walk to see if they could find Connie’s powder pink villa right away. Or at least get an idea of where it was so they could make a head start in the morning.

While Ellis had dealt with some work calls, Grace had spoken to an older guy on the desk in the hotel lobby; he had heard of the villa, explaining it was molto grande and set up high on the cliff top with lots of sunroofs and arched verandas, whose shape he had described with his hands, gesticulating animatedly. Grace had thought he was making a rainbow shape at first, only cottoning on when he had pulled out a mobile and shown her a picture of a villa with something similar. Interestingly, he had told her that the powder pink villa was where the artist had lived and that everyone locally knew of him but had rarely seen him. Un recluso, apparently. Until he died over twenty years ago! At which point Grace’s heart had sunk, this news making it harder to continue to harbour any hope of finding him as a living relative. And poor Connie, losing her truelove all over again. He was also able to give Grace a location for the powder pink villa … sort of – that it was beside an orange grove, at the end of a path, with the nearest proper road being called Via Arancia, which translated literally as Orange Road, she later discovered, on relaying the information to Ellis.