‘I got another,’ said Leni with a wide smile. ‘Fantastic!’ She pointed a thin arm at Marcus leaning against the horse’s rump. ‘There.’

Gus Bender turned slowly on his heel. ‘Him?’

‘Not me,’ said Marcus.

‘Fantastic,’ said Leni.

‘Hey! How about that, boss?’ said Nig with a deep laugh. ‘That’s an idea!’

Gus Bender was looking at Marcus through cupped hands, screening him from the clutter of the studio. ‘It’s an idea. Same height. Blond. Ever modelled?’

‘No,’ said Marcus. ‘And I’m not about to try.’

‘For forty quid? Three sessions at forty quid. Hundred and twenty. Cash?’

‘Fifty,’ said the pale girl.

‘Fifty? Christ, I paid Dieter eighty and he was the fucking Star.’

‘So this boy you pay fifty. He is new. Also you need him.’

‘What is this! Leni? You his bloody agent?’

‘Yes. Now I am. He is my idea, so it is forty for him, and ten for me, and that is fantastic’ She reached for the Gauloises packet and took another cigarette.

‘If you think I’m going to lie around stark naked on a stuffed horse you’ve got another thought coming.’

Gus Bender raised a worried hand. ‘Not naked! No! This is not a pornographic studio, I’ll have you know, it’s all very tasteful and above board. Aesthetic. I don’t hold with that filth. Good God! I’d be locked up in a week if I did that sort of thing.’

‘Could you give me some fire?’ The pale girl put her blunt fingers on Marcus’s arm. ‘Why don’t you try? Forty pounds, you see?’

‘Wouldn’t know what the hell to do; come on now …’

‘The boss is very clever, he will help. And Nig will help you also, he arranges the lights and things. Everyone will help. And it is only in the night, when the Studio is closed up … so you can do your daily job and then this one and have some pleasant time …’ Her voice was rough and low, as if she was speaking through a tube of sandpaper, her eyes half closed. ‘And forty pounds cash.’

‘You are all bloody mad,’ said Marcus.

‘Tell you what,’ said Gus Bender suddenly. ‘Why don’t you pop up here this evening, have a shot at a couple of poses? If it’s no go, then no go: you’ll get twenty quid from me, and the hire of the horse and things and you can do what you like about Joseph Goebbels here, that’s up to you. But I don’t see what you stand to lose. It’s all good clean fun, and you would make a useful bit of money. What about it?’

Before Marcus could reply the pale girl pressed his arm. ‘If I come back with you now to your place, where you work, then I can tell you all about it, many things. That would be wise? I have nothing to do. I have nowhere to go … I have plenty of time …’