Celeste, shy at first, had come in to the hotel the last couple of mornings to have a cup of coffee, at Elle’s insistence. At first she was a bit reticent, but then she started to help with bits and pieces around the place.

‘You don’t need to help out, Celeste,’ Elle told her. ‘You’ve probably got far better things to do with your days.’

The younger girl laughed a little. ‘I don’t actually,’ she said. ‘I’ve mostly been hanging around Rob’s house, bored senseless. Working is good. It helps me not think about . . . things.’

What these ‘things’ were, Celeste didn’t say and Elle didn’t press her for an answer. She had a fear of intimate revelations about Rob. It was one thing to be friendly to his new girlfriend, but quite another to talk about him with her. She was glad that Celeste only ever mentioned him in a passing, oblique way.

And it was also great to have another pair of hands. She couldn’t deny that with Penny and Ned gone, they were much needed.

Throughout the next day or so, various people came to the hotel to help. Hazel was there a lot, her infectious laugh ringing through the house. Wally and Arthur came to poke about in the furniture that Elle didn’t want, and to see if restorations were possible with the pieces she wanted to keep.

Della and Jim came with painting and decoration supplies, and another day Mona came, bringing with her a wrapped package which she left with Elle, and departing with another package.

Colin, of course, had been eager from the start. He liked to be involved in things, and, Elle suspected, particularly liked to be involved in things that made Penny happy. He was an enthusiastic person and he put that same enthusiasm into emitting loud, tortured moans whenever he moved. He wasn’t, he said, much given to physical labour and preferred sitting by the phone making arrangements with album collectors on Penny and Ned’s behalf.

Molly, the cook, was having the time of her life catering for all of the extra people around the place. It was almost like old times, she said. Each morning began with bacon and egg sandwiches, hot coffee and lots of vigorous discussion about the day ahead. Lunch was a selection of breads from the Grain Store, cold meats, cheeses and spread, washed down with some apple cider donated by SunBurst Organics.

Dinner in the evenings was whatever else Elle could get her hands on locally: pork chops, lamb for a stew or shepherd’s pie, all donated by Kevin the butcher. One evening Johnny Chips raised a huge cheer by arriving with a big brown bag full of fresh cod and chips, and tubs of chocolate chip ice-cream for dessert from his brother Luca.

It all added to a general feeling of festivity about the place.