Snow Falling on Cedars Chapter 3

Nels Gudmundsson, the defense attorney for Kabuo Miyamoto, is old and frail. He is in court, interviewing Art Moran. Art indicates that the night of Carl's death was foggy, After careful questioning from Nels, Art explains that Carl Heine's boat took D-8 batteries, but that his spare was dead and that in the battery compartment were two batteries--one a D-8 and the other a D-6, both working perfectly, despite having been used all night to light the boat. Nels reveals that Miyamoto uses D-6 batteries in his boat, and that his spare was not found on his boat. Nels appears to be suggesting that Miyamoto's spare is the D-6 battery on Carl Heine's boat. He then questions Art as to whether he and Abel might have banged Carl's head when they pulled him in, causing the wound on his head. Art says it's unlikely, but he isn't sure.