Blacklands

Chapter 31

ARNOLD AVERY WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE DIRECTION HE SHOULD take, but he was wrong about the ticking clock.

Because the governor wanted to keep morale up.

When Avery wasn’t recaptured by 5 P.M., the governor even got into his own two-year-old Mercedes Kompressor and cruised the drizzling moors, convinced that spotting Avery was just a matter of time and motivation.

And he was getting very motivated.

Every hour that Avery remained at large compounded his sin in not having called the police. And every hour that he didn’t call the police increased his desperation to get Avery back in custody without anyone knowing he’d ever been gone.

When Avery wasn’t captured by nightfall, the governor’s discomfort at not having called the police earlier turned to twitchy foreboding and—shortly thereafter—blind panic.

It was in that condition that he staked his entire future on Avery’s being in custody by morning.

Which meant that when he wasn’t, the numb, soon-to-be-jobless governor didn’t call the police until 7:09 A.M.—almost twenty-four hours after Avery went over the wall.