As we walked, Oliver told us about recent breakthroughs his team had made. Before now I had only thought of Oliver in conjunction with what he could do for Adam, but listening I realized that the research they were doing here could change many lives.

Change the world.

‘It’s hard to imagine the day progressive neurological diseases are eradicated.’ Nell was fully engaged. ‘Dementia and Parkinson’s seem so commonplace now. We’ve almost accepted them as a normal part of ageing.’

‘I’m confident we’ll see big changes.’ Oliver opened a door. ‘Perhaps not all in my lifetime but it’s revolutionary, the progress that’s being made. Not just by us but worldwide.’ He gestured. ‘This is where you and Adam would stay.’

I stepped inside the room. It resembled a hotel. Oil paintings of beach scenes on duck-egg walls. A coffee table and two comfortable armchairs beside open sash windows. From here, we could see the sea. Smell it. Hear it. Feel the breeze. There were four doors leading off from this one. Beyond the first one was a huge bed. Machines I recognized from the hospital.

‘This is where Adam would sleep.’

The next room was also a bedroom housing a double bed and a wardrobe. ‘This would be your room,’ Oliver told me. The other door led to a large bathroom with a freestanding shower and a bath. ‘It’s important that you’re comfortable, Anna. It’s a difficult time, the waiting.’

‘We read about Clem,’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’

‘It’s partly why… The work I’ve done with consciousness is… it was inspired by my uncle who had Parkinson’s dementia but now… it’s even more important than I realized because of… because of…’

He didn’t go on. ‘Your wife,’ I finished for him, understanding Oliver’s determination to see if something exists beyond the realms of what we already know.

‘Yes. Her passing has… Research had always been my passion but after she’d… gone I had so much time and enormous amounts of money if I’m honest. I wanted to set up my own institute. This is my… my pet project. It feels so personal. Until recently it felt so unachievable. But I’ve had a breakthrough.’

‘Tell us more about your study,’ I interrupted. I could tell Oliver was one for convoluted replies.

‘Of course.’ He led us through the final door. This room was colder, more clinical. I shuddered as I stared at the machine in the centre of it. I knew it was some sort of scanner, I’d seen them on Casualty, but never one this big. There was a flat surface for someone to lie on, which would then disappear into a large circular tube.

‘That looks like a Polo mint,’ Nell said.

She had a point – if a Polo mint was hundreds of times larger than usual and stood vertically.