11:55 p.m. —Queer Deeps
Roberts went indifferently to the chair that Jane had been using and sat down. Lieutenant Valcour drew another up beside her. He began with the usual distant skirmishing before launching the main body of his attack.
“I will explain why I wanted to see you,” he said. “It’s concerning Mr. Endicott—concerning his condition.” He noted the sudden reflex from tension on the part of her hands as he summed up concisely the statement made to him by Dr. Worth. “I understand,” he concluded, “that Mrs. Endicott is under the influence of a narcotic and will not be available before tomorrow morning at the earliest. Dr. Worth naturally wants to prevent all risk, and so we’ve turned to you.”
He felt her staring through him, as if by some fourth-dimensional process his being had been erased from her vision.
“ Mr. Endicott has very few friends,” she said.
“You are taking the word at its literal meaning.”
“Oh, quite. His acquaintances are numerous and transient.” She focused him into an entity again. “They are mostly women. I don’t suppose one of them would do?”
Lieutenant Valcour smiled slightly. “Not if their status is so uncertain—their emotional status, I mean.”
“Exactly.” The masked effect of her attitude remained unchanged as she asked with almost perfunctory detachment, “Would a man do?”