Chapter 8, Part 3 Summary

The warden finally delivers Yakov's indictment. It reads as a fantastical tale. Even the details of the crime are different from reality. The arrangement and number of the stab wounds has changed to represent mystical and magical number groupings. There is a long section about Marfa, and how she was arrested and interrogated before being released and found innocent. Yakov reads the tale eagerly, though he can hardly believe the detailed lists of reasons he had been suspected, details of the crime, and lists of evidence.

Yakov is confused at the omission of the ritual murder information. He suspects the prosecuting attorney could not prove such ridiculous fantasies and turned instead to create tales of molestation and other crimes now included in the indictment. Yakov decides he has been imprisoned this long, because they could not find anything to prove against...