Elle wasn’t sure she had heard correctly. Was he toying with her? ‘You’re going to give us the loan?’

‘I just said that, didn’t I?’ he muttered. ‘If it were up to me, I wouldn’t dream of it. But those investors were well and truly put off by the decrepit state of the place and who can blame them. If I didn’t know better I would accuse you lot of knocking that tree down on purpose.’

‘I’m so grateful to you, Mr Grant,’ Elle gushed. ‘I can’t tell you how much this means to me and my family.’

‘I don’t need your gratitude, Ms Harte. I simply need you to make regular payments. You’ll have to get the place smartened up quickly, reopened and get paying guests in. You can’t be holding huge parties and asking for charity every time you have a bill to pay.’ He pushed some papers across to her. ‘You’ll need to sign these. And then, if you would excuse me, I need to get some work done. I’ve spent the last two days reading ridiculous letters.’

Chapter 39

Penny could hardly believe her ears. Could it really be true? That her father’s entire collection – his true collection, the first edition Beatles albums that had actually belonged to him – were simply sitting in Ryan’s Antiques? That Arthur Ryan had been the ‘dealer’ who had facilitated her parents’ cash infusion all those years ago when they were struggling with a new hotel, a young toddler and another baby on the way?

Colin told her that when he had seen the ownership stickers placed on the back cover of the albums with the initials ‘NH’ he had started to put things together. Realising too that not many people could possibly have those same initials, and feeling that the chances were just too slim that someone else in the town, or indeed the county, had sold an entire first edition Beatles catalogue to Arthur Ryan, was just too much of a coincidence for Colin. He knew at once that these records had to be Ned’s.

Racing through the house to try and find her father, Penny felt elated that she would not only be responsible for restoring what he had lost, but also restoring the albums that had actually been his.

She simply could not wait to tell him.

She found him in the dining room, supposedly tidying up, but instead he seemed to be staring into space. He looked up when she walked in, and Penny felt breathless with anticipation.

‘I need to ask you something. Back when you had your record collection, did you do anything to make it yours, per se? Was there anything on those to indicate that you were the owner? Like your name or anything?’