But it wasn’t a good sign that Marina hadn’t called me back. I told myself that it was maybe because Saskia had forgotten to pass on my message. Or perhaps she had, and Marina had just chosen not to call.

I went over to the house phone to check it was still working and hadn’t been cut off by the balaclavas. It hadn’t. And my mobile was fully charged, with plenty of signal from the new mast installed at the top of the village.

I sighed. ‘Marina’s very busy looking after her father.’

‘Shouldn’t he be in hospital?’

‘They’ve tried. Marina took him to their local one, but the doctors sent him home again.’

Charles shook his head and tut-tutted. ‘Getting old is certainly not for the fainthearted. I just hope I pop off in my sleep when no one expects it. I’d hate to be a burden on anyone. There should be a pill we can all take when we’ve had enough.’ He sniffed his whisky. ‘Not that I’m ready to go yet, mind. Plenty more of this in my cellar to finish first.’ He smiled at me, but it was one more of resignation than amusement.

‘You’ve got plenty of years yet,’ I said.

‘Yes, well, I hope so. But things are beginning to fail, and my old waterworks are a pain. I have to get up so often in the night these days.’ He sighed. ‘Do you know I’ve now been retired from the Navy for almost as long as I served? Where have all the years gone?’

‘Come on, Charles,’ I said. ‘Stop being so morbid. What would you like to do? Shall we watch something on TV? Or maybe a film?’

He turned up his nose at my suggestion. ‘They all speak so fast in films these days, and mostly in regional accents. I find it so difficult to follow what they’re saying.’

My, he must be getting old.

‘How about a game then?’ I said.

So we played Scrabble, and I discovered, to my cost, that he might be old but there was nothing wrong with his brain, and he certainly didn’t lack a competitive edge.

Twenty-five years ago, when I’d first met Charles, at a time when he had been horrified by his daughter’s choice for a husband, I had beaten him easily in our first ever game of chess because he had underestimated my ability. He had assumed that, because I had left school aged only sixteen with no academic qualifications, I was simple-minded and unable to grasp the strategic nuances of the game.

Perhaps, now, I was guilty of doing the same thing with him, due to his advanced years.