IV 15 p 257

[Joseph Tracy]

Doc and Denis go to the beach to smoke some weed but we know Doc's  
still shaken when he lights the wrong end of a Kool.
When Denis lets Doc know Shasta is back , Doc asks who is she with  
and when she is alone at Flips vacated place asks "How's her spirits?"
Denis's answer of "Why ask me?" tells us she is not a close friend or  
confidant, but Doc's question is more basic , like is she scared ,  
secretive, paranoid?
This feels like Pynchon using Doc's concern  to clue us that there is  
something odd about her being the high profile center of news  
headlines and Police and FBI concern and yet  as Denis says
"She don't seem too worried."
And where are the cops or reporters?  The point seems to be that  
there is coordination at the highest levels to leave Shasta alone.  
Doc wonders if she has cut a deal and I wonder if "they"want the  
focus on Mickey the happily married rich man safely returned to a  
life of godly avarice and God old American success.
Denis is never too worried and is staying near the tube till the town  
is back to normal, more interested in Norma Zimmer on Lawrence Welk  
than this intense kidnapping story. Even Doc can't believe Denis is  
ready to watch Lawrence Welk, not bein your typical LA stoner  
activity. Not really an ad for the consciousness raising effects of  
the useful substance.