007

"He has a woman once a month. Jill told me this when she first took the job. He hypnotizes them. Then he - he paints them gold."

"Christ! Why?" said Bond.

"I don't know. Jill told me he's mad about gold. I suppose he sort of thinks he's - that he's sort of possessing gold. You know - marrying it. He gets some Korean servant to paint them. The man has to leave their backbones unpainted. I found out it's so they wouldn't die. If their bodies were completely covered with gold paint, the pores of the skin wouldn't be able to breathe. Then they'd die. Afterwards, they're washed down by the Korean with resin or something. Goldfinger gives them a thousand dollars and sends them away."

Ian Fleming, Goldfinger, 1959