To Gilly’s surprise, Edie had changed. She was no longer wearing the jeans and striped sweater of earlier in the day. Now the artist was in a long black silk shirt dress, cinched at the waist with a wide belt. She’d pulled back her silver-white hair in a way Gilly had never seen before, too, lifting her shoulder-length bob into a chignon secured with invisible pins.

‘Wow,’ Gilly said. ‘You look beautiful.’

‘You needn’t think this is for you, Ezra Jones,’ Edie said sharply, though Ezra had not said a thing. ‘I thought this young lady deserved to have an added challenge given what she’s putting me through this evening.’ The artist glared at Gilly with a defiant look on her face. ‘Let’s see how well you manage to render an up-do and the fall of a silk via the medium of lino, my girl.’

‘Ah, Edie,’ Gilly said. ‘You’re all heart.’

‘Maybe we can get on with it?’ Ezra said, his voice a little gruff. ‘I left my dinner in the oven.’

It took Gilly an age to get her models to settle. They were like children, fidgeting and distracted.

‘Look,’ she said eventually. ‘I’ve got all evening, so it’s up to you. All I’m asking for is one shot that requires you to look at each other for longer than a split second, all right? You do that, I get a photo of you looking like normal people instead of psychopaths, and Ezra gets to go home. Sorted.’

Edie shifted yet again, twisting away from their visitor. Then Ezra surprised Gilly and Edie both by reaching out and taking one of the artist’s hands. Edie jerked her head around, meeting his eye in shock. They froze like that for a moment, and Gilly silently began taking photographs.

‘Look,’ Ezra said quietly. ‘Let’s get this over with, shall we? Neither of us wants to be here, but we’re doing this for the girl, right?’

Edie was still for another moment, and then she nodded. Ezra let go of her hand and they both sat unnaturally still, looking at each other. Gilly carried on taking photographs as cover, but she already had the one she wanted. She’d had it from the minute Edie had turned her head to look at Ezra, her hand held in his.

‘You must have enough now,’ Edie said, a minute or so later. ‘You’re not developing a daguerreotype, for Pete’s sake!’

‘Yeah,’ Gilly said, snapping one last image for show and then putting down the phone. ‘That’s some great reference, thank you.’

Edie sprang out of her chair and reached up to pull the clip out of her hair, letting her bob drop back into its usual sleek shape around her ears. Ezra stood too. He didn’t say anything as he made for the front door.

‘Ezra?’ Gilly said. ‘Don’t you want to see what the photos look like?’

He paused with the door already halfway open and looked back at her without a smile. ‘It’s fine,’ Ezra said. ‘I’ll wait until you can show me the artwork you make out of it.’