Chapter 15 Summary

Thursday, December 4, 2:17 p.m. When Susanne and Leaphorn find George's tracks on the very slope Leaphorn predicted they would, Susanne realizes what a talented tracker he is. Leaphorn considers the possibility that Susanne or George committed the murders, but he can't take the idea seriously. Something startles a jay bird, which makes Leaphorn nervous. They follow George's trail to a deer carcass. Leaphorn is surprised to see that George has begun the job of neatly butchering the deer but has abandoned the carcass without taking any meat from it. Oddly, however, George has taken a slice of fat, the deer's heart, liver and gall bladder. Navajo tradition uses gall bladders to fend off witches. Leaphorn cannot recall if the Zuni have some other ritual use for these organs and the fat. Leaphorn sees a moccasin print in the earth and freezes. Afraid that...