diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 9350f4d..ceacc28 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ pub enum Error {
     /// there was a failure in building the Process or Module struct
     #[error("failed to get process/module")]
     ProcessError(String),
+    /// there was a failure in resolving a pointer chain
+    #[error("failed to resolve pointer chain")]
+    ResolvePointerChainError(String),
     /// there was a failure in conversion between integers
     #[error("failed to convert integer")]
     ConvertIntegerError(#[from] std::num::TryFromIntError),
diff --git a/src/process.rs b/src/process.rs
index 1370cc3..5586cf9 100644
--- a/src/process.rs
+++ b/src/process.rs
@@ -101,13 +101,15 @@ impl Process {
 
     /// follow a pointer chain to the end and return an address
     pub fn resolve_pointer_chain(&self, chain: &[usize]) -> Result<usize, Error> {
-        let mut chain = chain.to_vec();
-        let mut address = chain.remove(0);
-        while chain.len() > 1 {
-            address += chain.remove(0);
+        if chain.is_empty() {
+            return Err(Error::ResolvePointerChainError("chain was empty".into()));
+        }
+        let mut address = chain[0];
+        for &offset in &chain[1..(chain.len() - 1)] {
+            address += offset;
             address = self.read_mem(address)?;
         }
-        Ok(address + chain.remove(0))
+        Ok(address + chain.last().expect("chain should have a last element"))
     }
 
     /// read a given `address` of process's memory