Atdtda37: Nothing personal, it only happened a lot, 1051-1054 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

The scenes with Merle/Roswell in the preceding sections have been a
distraction from the case last mentioned at the end of 69.3 (top of 1045),
in particular Emilio's role in providing the detective with the information
he needs (1044-1045). Here, Lew must read the details of 'the address that
Emilio had given him' (1051); and then, fresh from deconstructing the still
image, he finds himself reading 'the malevolent glamour of the face'
presented to him. His judgement of her appearance is highlighted ('Shady
side of forty .' etc) and, a few lines down, we find that any impression he
has of her is distorted: 'The door screen cast over her face .' etc.
Moreover, that he is aroused ('proceeding to get an erection') is
inseparable from the reference to his subsequent revision of what is
happening, 'thinking about it later'.

Looking for a working woman Lew finds one at home and defined by her
relationship to her husband: 'Mrs Deuce Kindred'. So named, she is her
husband's property; so naming herself, she places her husband between her
and Lew pretty much as the screen door which distorts her appearance. For
the reader, of course, the question of her identity is raised; one might
infer at this point that she is Lake (considering her 'haunted' look a broad
hint), but this will not be confirmed until after she has had sex with Lew -
and after the first mention of Jardine, the two women thus linked by the
narrative (1052). Moreover, once Lake has been identified, Lew is linked to
Deuce and Sloat, and the threesome on 268-269, a scene that featured the
daughter's betrayal of her family/father with his killers.

Perhaps Lew has been a far more sympathetic character to this point, but the
way he takes Lake (1052) is at odds with the passive role he has thus far
had in proceedings (adding to the impression that sex here has been a
fantasy). However, bottom of 1051, the narrative notes that he is now
accustomed to this kind of behaviour: 'At first he had thought it must be
him .' etc. Cf the earlier reference to his arrival and integration in the
region and its culture: 'But all it took was a couple of years in L.A. to
turn him into one more old goat of the region with a deep suntan .' etc
(1041).

In the conversation following sex that might or might not have taken place,
Lake taunts him ('You've probably heard about these wild parties', 1052)
while, at the same time, confessing that she is also an outsider: 'Deuce
brought me once or twice .' etc. His response here - apparently
mispronouncing 'sex orgies' - might or might not be deliberate, a
provocation. If, in this section, the emphasis has been on his reading of
her, Lew himself remains inscrutable. 

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