The next day, Lennie is in the barn with a dead puppy. While Lennie thinks about how he can explain the dead puppy to George, Curley's wife enters. They talk about how they enjoy touching soft things. She tells him he can touch her hair, but when Lennie strokes it too hard and messes it up, she gets angry. She tries to jerk her head away, and, in fear, Lennie hangs on to her hair. Curley's wife begins to scream. To keep her from screaming, Lennie holds her so tightly he breaks her neck. Knowing he has done something bad, he goes to the hiding place by the stream.
Candy finds the body of Curley's wife and goes for George; both men immediately know what has happened. Candy knows that Curley will organize a lynching party, and George says he is not going to let them hurt Lennie. George asks Candy to wait a few minutes before he calls the others; then he slips into the bunkhouse and steals Carlson's Luger. When Curley comes and sees his murdered wife, he vows to kill Lennie slowly and painfully. George joins the men searching for Lennie.
As they spread out, George alone goes straight for the riverside where he finds Lennie. Lennie knows he has done "a bad thing" and expects George to scold and lecture him. George, however, is so overcome with remorse that he cannot scold Lennie but must save him from Curley's cruelty. He tells Lennie to look across the river and imagine their little farm. George describes it, as he has done many times before, and while Lennie is smiling with pleasure and envisioning the rabbits he will tend, George shoots Lennie at the back of his neck. The others arrive, and George leads them to believe Lennie had Carlson's gun which George wrestled away from him and shot in self-defense. Only Slim comprehends the truth, and he takes George off up the footpath for a drink.
