Didier touches my arm and this time I’m surprised to find I’m grateful for the human contact. ‘Sorry. We should have explained the procedure. We’re going to go and meet the nurse – she has already seen your brother. She will take the swab and perhaps she can tell you about what to expect. Then you can decide if you’d like to see him, or if you’d rather remember him as he was. Does that sound OK?’

I nod and manage to whisper, ‘Thank you.’ I am suddenly feeling faint and slightly tearful. Perhaps I shouldn’t have had all that wine at lunchtime. I stumble and Didier gently guides me by the elbow to a chair.

‘Can I get you something? A glass of water maybe?’

I want nothing more than to lie down and go to sleep, but I accept the water, take a few deep breaths, and the dizziness subsides.

‘Sorry. Thank you. It’s all been a bit emotional today, as you can imagine. I’m OK now. Let’s go and see the nurse.’

The nurse is a matronly woman with a kind face who speaks no English whatsoever. Using Didier as translator, she explains that she’s going to take a swab from inside my mouth, does so, and then puts the thing that looks like a giant cotton bud in a plastic tube.

She then speaks at length to Didier, before he translates for me.

‘So. She says that the DNA result will be back within twenty-four hours because, given the circumstances, they will rush it through. She has read the police and autopsy reports as well as having seen your brother and she wishes to stress that from the state of the – um – well how he is and the clothing that remained, there is very little doubt that it’s your brother. That it’s Will.’

I nod, which makes my head spin. ‘Yes. Yes, I understand that.’

‘She also said that you can see him if you would like, and that many relatives find that a comfort. However, in this case, because he has been out on the mountain so long, his appearance is not so good and you might prefer not to. But she would like to stress it is up to you – it is your decision.’

I nod, more slowly this time. I’m still unsure what’s best.

‘Because the body – Will, I mean, I apologize – had been there so long, it was impossible to finalize a definite cause of death,’ Didier continues. ‘Would you like me to tell you some of what the autopsy report found, or would you rather I didn’t? Or I could let you read it yourself, if you can understand some French?’

‘Tell me what the report said, I’d like to know,’ I’m surprised to hear myself say, as I’m not sure I do want to know. It’s not going to change anything.