ATDTDA (10): Where her own would have to be, 272

[Paul Nightingale]

Finally, Sloat leaves: ". it was all getting too complicated to last" might
refer to both the threesome and the fall-out from the murder. This is a
scene in which the character, rather than emerging from indistinctness,
gradually disappears into it: ". the dust he raised behind him refusing to
settle, only growing thicker, until it seemed he had transmogrified into a
creature of dust miles long".

This section stays with Deuce, "watching the dusty departure for the better
part of an hour"; Lake's presence is implied (Deuce is "silent for days
after"; ". just the two of them now") but she doesn't feature here in
person. Hence "the luminous face suspended above where her own would have to
be". Not where she is; but where he assumes she must be. Sloat has
disappeared into a blur; and now he is replaced by a vision of something, "a
spectre" that appears. Earlier, it was Webb that Deuce saw in Lake's
features, a reminder of her place in the patriarchal order (262); now he can
deny it is Lake he is looking at.

Deuce's sleep pattern is irregular; he wakes up at odd times. Consequently
he must struggle to make sense of his surroundings. A lot of the writing in
this chapter has failed to locate the action; we are given information about
characters and their interactions, what they say etc; but little indication
of the setting. Hence, "where her own [face] would have to be"; and "where
the ground was supposed to be". Perhaps his impression of waking is itself a
dream.