diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/ir/TableIR.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/ir/TableIR.scala
index ba0e6411787..9066bcb767f 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/ir/TableIR.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/expr/ir/TableIR.scala
@@ -1060,7 +1060,14 @@ case class PartitionZippedIndexedNativeReader(specLeft: AbstractTypedCodecSpec,
 
           cb.ifx(endIndex > startIndex, {
             val leafNode = indexResult.loadField(cb, 2)
-              .get(cb)
+              .handle(cb, {
+                cb._fatal("leaf node missing!",
+                  "\n  context: ", cb.strValue(ctxStruct),
+                  "\n  query result: ", cb.strValue(indexResult),
+                  "\n  first leaf: ", index.queryIndex(cb, outerRegion, 0L),
+                  "\n  last leaf: ", index.queryLastIndex(cb, outerRegion)
+                )
+              })
               .asBaseStruct
 
             val leftSeekAddr = leftOffsetFieldIndex match {
diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/index/StagedIndexReader.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/index/StagedIndexReader.scala
index f2d81b062ba..20a45e1076c 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/index/StagedIndexReader.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/io/index/StagedIndexReader.scala
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ class StagedIndexReader(emb: EmitMethodBuilder[_], spec: AbstractIndexSpec) {
     }, region, partitionBoundLeftEndpoint, leansRight)
   }
 
-  private def queryIndex(cb: EmitCodeBuilder, region: Value[Region], absIndex: Value[Long]): SBaseStructValue = {
+  def queryLastIndex(cb: EmitCodeBuilder, region: Value[Region]): SBaseStructValue = {queryIndex(cb, region, cb.memoize(cb.memoize(metadata.invoke[Long]("nKeys"))-1))}
+  def queryIndex(cb: EmitCodeBuilder, region: Value[Region], absIndex: Value[Long]): SBaseStructValue = {
     cb.invokeSCode(
       cb.emb.ecb.getOrGenEmitMethod("queryIndex",
         ("queryIndex", this),