Harry smiled as his mother left the room, but once the door was closed he pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d have to speak to Dominic again. He was over the shock of the news and decided in that moment he wasn’t going to sit back and let the disease take hold of Pru. If there was something that could be done, he’d make sure it was done, and if that meant staying indefinitely to see it through, then so be it.

Harry went out to the housekeeping office in search of Heidi. He tapped on the open door and popped his head round. It sounded as if she was just finishing a phone call and she waved him in. Once she had hung up, she slumped back in her chair.

‘Do you want the bad news or the bad news?’ she said.

‘Like that, is it?’ Harry sat in the seat opposite her.

‘Jerome has definitely left. I went up to see if I could speak to him first thing but he’d already packed his stuff and left. Must have gone late last night.’

‘And the other bad news?’

‘Molly, one of the cleaning crew, has gone too. Apparently, they were best friends and where one goes, the other follows.’

‘Ah, so we’re now two down on housekeeping,’ said Harry.

‘I’m afraid so and I won’t be able to get anyone in at short notice for the weekend. I could try an agency and see if they’ve got anyone, or I’ll have to advertise, and it’s going to take a couple of weeks to sift through the applications, interview and appoint.’

‘I know Dominic prefers not to have agency staff,’ said Harry. ‘It costs us a lot of money long-term to have temping staff in.’

‘I can get an ad on the website first thing Monday morning,’ said Heidi. ‘And I can go through the list of applicants we had when we advertised last month. See if any are suitable and if they are still looking for a job.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Harry. ‘It’s a shame it couldn’t have been next week when we haven’t got all these reporters here, analysing our every move.’

‘Exactly.’ Heidi flicked through a file. ‘I’ll give a couple of the girls a call who weren’t rostered to work this weekend. Hopefully one of them can come in.’

‘OK. Thanks. I’ll check in with you later and see how you’ve got on.’

Harry spent the next hour and a half checking his watch and milling about the main house making sure everything was running smoothly and all the guests had everything they needed. It was the personal touch which he hoped they would appreciate, although really it should be Owen or Dominic making themselves more accessible – they were, after all, the ones who were going to be running the show.