She fell asleep with these thoughts in mind, and when she woke, the dream she interrupted had something to do with Mark Ballard. She made no effort to bring it back to explore the details.

Leah got up, walked to the station early, and went to work reading all the information she could find on the six men who were still at large. She hated to think that they were all still out in the world somewhere, alive and free, because they had wasted the lives of nearly a hundred people who had lived within a short walk from where she sat.

27

On Wednesday evening at six-thirty Leah got up from her desk in the Public Safety Building and walked to Steele’s Stand near the Tivoli Theater. When she was a teenager, the only foods the place sold were hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, and onion rings. The drinks were soft drinks and milkshakes, the kind that were thin enough to sip through a straw.

Steele’s was still called Steele’s, but the last Steele, Shirley, had been killed on July 19. The menu now included burritos, tacos, kimchi, three salads, ramen, and breakfast meals that were served from 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. A person like Leah, who had spent a beautiful summer day in an office or a school, could still sit at one of the outdoor tables under shade trees, and that was where Leah chose to be.

She savored her unhealthy food and then walked back toward her office to pick up the files she wanted to bring to the council meeting at city hall.

Joe Lambert was driving the lead car when the six convicts reached Weldonville. The afternoon sun was sinking behind a slight rise in the land now, but the sky was still bright above it to the west. He said, “I don’t think coming in this early is a good idea. Even if we don’t come across somebody who saw us two years ago, somebody who sees us now will remember us later.”

Tim McKinney said, “I thought that was what we wanted, what we drove all this way for. We want them all to remember us for the rest of their lives.”

“Yeah, well, I’d like to be able to drive away from here tomorrow and forget them for the rest of mine.”

Jim Holliman laughed. “If you feel that way, do your best to put the fear in them tonight.”

“It’s just that coming back here before dark is pressing our luck.”

There was a buzz, and McKinney answered his phone. “Yeah?”

It was Lee Wolf. “Hi, Timothy. Ask your friend Joseph to pull around the park and go past the police station and city hall, will you?”

McKinney said, “Pull around that park and go by the police station and city hall.”

Lambert said, “Could we be any more overconfident?”