Sprawled on a ledge under the peak of ShipRock mountain for eleven years lies anunknown body, now only bones. At Canyonde Chelly, three hundred miles across theNavajo reservation, a sniper shoots an oldcanyon guide who had always walked thatpollen path in peace. At his home inWindow Rock, Joe Leaphorn, newly retiredfrom the Navajo Tribal Police, connectsskeleton and sniper, and remembers an oldpuzzle he could never solve. At his office inShiprock, Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee is too busy to take much interest in the case-until it hits too close to home.