Gately, the wraith, and the figurants — "Then somewhere later in the couple…"
Then somewhere later in the couple of hours before midnight’s parking-switch symphony on Washington St. outside is an unpleasantly detailed dream where the ghostish figure that’s been flickering in and out of sight around the room finally stays in one spot long enough for Gately to really check him out. […] The ghostly figure shrugged its thin shoulders and said But no, it was nothing of the sort, it was just a plain old wraith, one without any sort of grudge or agenda, just a generic garden-variety wraith. Gately sarcastically in the dream thought that Oh well then if it was just a garden-variety wraith, is all, geez what a fucking relief.
Context
The frame of the novel's central dream: the wraith-interface is introduced, and sustained throughout, as "an unpleasantly detailed dream" — the fever periphery's flicker finally holding still. The trim is the full physical inventory (Highwater chinos, black-frame glasses, the playground violin-kids remorse-flash the figure has to disclaim). Per the theme's binding definition, wraith visits qualify only where the text frames them as dreams; this is that framing, stated at the threshold.