They had arrived late the previous night after a drive that had included numerous stops for the dogs and at least three completely unnecessary excursions, thanks to Josh’s appalling map-reading skills. Due to his fraught exchange of words with Jackie and the subsequent speedy departure from London, it had completely slipped Dan’s mind to telephone Patrick and Katie to say that he was on the way north, so they were amazed at his quick response to their cry for assistance, and even more so when they saw his extraordinary entourage. It was decided over a beef sandwich and a couple of restoring glasses of Glendurnich malt whisky that Dan and Josh should stay the night in the small downstairs spare bedroom, but Katie had told Dan out of earshot of Patrick that the room had to be kept free for him, as there were times when he couldn’t make it up the stairs to their own bedroom. It was at that point that the Trenchards’ former home, about which Dan had already read Katie’s gruelling account of damp discomfort, was mentioned.

“We had a holiday let in July,” Katie said, as she ducked under the sparsely leaved vine and put an enormous key in the door lock, “but that was the last time it was used, so please don’t expect too much.” She shouldered open the door and Dan and Josh followed her in.

There was a distinctly musty smell about the place, and dust, highlighted by the sun that glanced through smeared windows, showed up on every surface. The front door led straight into a kitchen-cum-sitting room, this being made apparent by the presence of a cream-coloured stove, with scoured chrome tops and hardened dribbles of brown grease below its oven door, at one end of the room, and a moth-eaten three-piece suite in a nice shade of dung at the other end. Other than that, the room was sparsely furnished, save for a small fridge next to the stove, an old sideboard with a glass-fronted cabinet above it, both painted in gaudy green to make them look as if they were one unit, and four plastic-seated chairs pushed in around a small table that was covered by a faded oilcloth, and upon which sat two bottles that flowed with candlewax.

“For heaven’s sakes!” Katie exclaimed, holding a hand to her mouth. “You know, I think I must have forgotten to come in to clear up the place after they’d gone.” She let out a sigh and shook her head. “That’s what happens when you have other things on your mind.”

Dan shrugged. “It doesn’t seem too bad.” He turned to Josh. “What do you think?”