the manufactured impression as procurement tool — "He had not sat down and…"
He had not sat down and outright bold-faced lied to her, it had been more of an impression he’d conveyed and nurtured and allowed to gather its own life and force.
Context
Procurement as long-form deception: the prior supplier was cultivated with a researched cover story — recovering IV-speed addict, marijuana as the lesser evil holding the darker drug at bay — so that fetching him dope felt to her like rescue. And the fine moral distinction he preserves, that he never lied but only conveyed and nurtured an impression until it took on its own life, is the addict's characteristic accounting: technically honest, functionally a fabrication built to move product.