‘Yes,’ she replies and turns to watch Nico as he walks towards us. ‘Before I get to see all the wonderful changes, I have a little present for you, Nico. It’s in the back of the motorhome, if you’d be so good as to help me to retrieve it.’ She pulls a bunch of keys out of her pocket and hands them to him, as he stands there looking puzzled. ‘A little something to thank you for the wonderful experience I had here at a time in my life when what I needed was the company of some kind people. And, of course, I met Stefan.’

Oh, my goodness, my instincts were right – Patricia’s husband, Fred, must have passed away.

Nico flashes a concerned look in my direction, but as Patricia pulls away from me, I give him a quick shake of my head, indicating he should say nothing.

Unlocking the side door to the motorhome, Nico swings it open and steps back. Patricia indicates for him to go inside.

‘It’s the parcel strapped to the table,’ she calls out. ‘It’s rather heavy as Stefan did a wonderful job of making sure it would survive the journey. Maybe we could take it into the château?’

Nico returns with his arms around the enormous package and as we follow him, I glance at Patricia, but she’s giving nothing away. We unlink arms as I swing back the heavy oak door for Nico to pass through, and we walk down the passageway, then on into the studio.

Very carefully, Nico stands the box against the wall and prises open the end. Reaching inside, he begins to lever it out and polystyrene strips fall to the floor. His face freezes. I return my gaze to Patricia, puzzled.

‘The last painting.’ Nico’s voice is uneven. ‘The collection is complete.’

I can see how overcome he is; the colour has totally drained from his face.

‘You guessed that Nico had taken me into his confidence, but how did you know about the painting, Patricia?’ I ask.

I throw my arms around her, drawing her close as she begins speaking. This is a truly incredible moment, but I wonder if she understands quite how wonderful.

‘My husband, Fred, bought this for me many years ago from a little gallery in Covent Garden. We were on holiday and he saw how taken I was with it. He said a work of art is an investment, not an impulse purchase. Well, that’s how he convinced me we should buy our first piece. After that we bought a number of paintings and just a couple of years ago we purchased one by Nico Gallegos. We were on a month-long holiday, driving down through Spain.’