‘It suits the room perfectly.’ I smiled, imagining her as a defiant unrepentant child smeared with rouge and bedecked in rows of pearls.

‘Bathroom,’ she said, opening a second door. ‘Or rather, shower room. You’ll have to manage without a bath, I’m afraid.’

‘No problem,’ I said, staring in wonder at the little room, all gleaming chrome, sparkling floor-to-ceiling tiles and a shower cubicle that looked brand new. ‘I always like the idea of a bath far more than the reality.’

Betsy’s lips twitched. ‘Completely agree. All that time spent filling the thing and as soon as I’m in I’m too hot and bored and wonder how soon I can get out without feeling like I’ve wasted all that water.’

She left the room and I bounced my bottom on the bed to test it. It was deliciously soft, the duvet cover was a little faded but all the softer for it and it took all my will-power not to lie down but instead to follow Betsy back out.

I found her about to switch on the vacuum cleaner.

‘I can’t actually see if I’m sucking anything up,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m not taking any chances. The cottage has been empty since January; an entire army of spiders might have taken up residence in the place, for all I know.’

‘Let me do it,’ I said. ‘I might as well start working straight away.’

‘You are starting straight away,’ she corrected me sternly. ‘Pippa will be here in a few minutes; I’ve arranged for her to take you on a tour. Nice girl. Painfully shy but she was a big help to Ted in the early days.’

‘Did Ted pass away recently?’ I asked gently, glad of the chance to ask.

She sighed and sat down with a plop on the sofa. Starsky immediately pressed himself against her, his chin resting on her knee.

‘A month ago,’ she said, gesturing to the other end of the sofa for me to sit. ‘From cancer. But he’d been ill for months before that. He kept it hidden from me at first – not wanting to worry me, he admitted at the end. My damn eyesight,’ she said with a sudden burst of anger, smacking the arm of the sofa. Starsky made a whimpering noise. ‘If only I could have seen properly, I’d have noticed, but my eyes are useless.’

I ignored her directions and sat next to her instead. ‘I’m sorry.’

She smiled. ‘Thank you for not trotting out the same old platitudes. You’ve no idea how much I want to punch idiots who say things like: “he’s at peace now”, or “you mustn’t blame yourself”, or my personal bête noire, “these things happen for a reason”.’