CHAPTER 3

Summary

Nels Gudmundsson, KabuoÂ’s appointed attorney, cross- examines Sheriff Art Moran. At 79, Gudmundsson physically no longer resembles the attorney he was in his youth. A limp, blindness in his left eye, and trembling hands characterize his outward appearance.

In his cross examination, attorney Gudmundsson focuses on the fact that, at 9:30 am, Sheriff Moran, found all the lights on the Susan Marie on. There had been a thick fog the night Carl died. Yet, even with all the lights on, the boatÂ’s engine started immediately. Sheriff Moran admits that he now finds this odd because those lights draw a lot of power.

Attorney Gudmundsson next turns his attention to the sheriff’s inventory of Carl and Kabuo’s boats. On Carl’s boat, the sheriff found a spare D-8 battery and two batteries in the well, a D-6 and D-8. The well on the Susan Marie was made to hold two D-8 batteries. The well had been “banged out” to make room for the larger D-6 battery. The spare D-8 battery was dead. The inventory on Kabuo’s boat showed two D-6 batteries in the well, but no spare. The D-6s on Kabuo’s boat were the same size and make as the D-6 on Carl’s boat.

Lastly, attorney Gudmundsson has Sheriff Moran describe the difficulties he and Deputy Martinson had in removing CarlÂ’s body from the net. Despite the fact that CarlÂ’s body was heavy and the net complicated retrieving the body from the water, Sheriff Moran finds it unlikely that they hit the body, particularly CarlÂ’s head, on any portion of the boat, though it is possible. He would have remembered if they had.

Notes

In this chapter, Guterson gives only an inkling into the defense of Kabuo. The reader infers from the inventory of the boats that there may have been some contact that night between Kabuo and Carl involving an exchange of batteries. We also learn that the sheriff does not believe he and his deputy created the injury to CarlÂ’s head.

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