Hillerman alternates between Chee and Leaphorn to demonstrate the different ways in which they are pulled into a case, the similar ways in which they use friendships and law enforcement associates to get insider knowledge of events and people, and the skill with which they can read trails and understand events signaled only by a tire mark on the road, a drop of oil, marks left by a rifle butt, and so on. However, eventually their approaches dovetail when Leaphorn discovers his first body in the case and Chee hears about the death while at the hospital.

The two team up in the old way, with Leaphorn reasoning out the patterns that Chee's investigations confirm. However, in this novel, Leaphorn openly admits where his reasoning goes awry and praises Chee's intuitive understanding of motive, means, and misdirection.

For Leaphorn a case is like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces...