Arvin Russell's fugitive status

Arvin Russell's fugitive status is shaped by a conflict between escape and return: after shooting Preston Teagardin, he knows the law may pursue him, yet cannot leave Ohio without revisiting the Russell homestead and the prayer log tied to his father. His flight ends not in safety but in another departure, north toward Paint Creek and an uncertain chance of reaching Route 50.

Flight After Coal Creek

After leaving Coal Creek, Arvin spends a day pacing a motel room, recognizing that his sudden departure made him conspicuous. He expects the law to connect him to the shooting of Preston Teagardin and believes the consequences will follow him for the rest of his life. Although he understands that he should leave Ohio immediately, he cannot bring himself to go before seeing the old house and prayer log again. He sees setting right what still troubles him about his father as necessary to feeling free.

His anxiety follows him through the night. With only a radio for company, he tries to sleep, but a cough from the next room recalls a woman he had seen choking on her blood. The scene establishes that flight has not separated him from the violence he has witnessed or committed; even in hiding, his thoughts return to it.

Return Toward Knockemstiff

The next morning, Arvin buys a newspaper outside a doughnut shop and learns that Lee Bodecker's sister and her husband have been murdered. The report names no suspect, but Bodecker's photograph identifies him as the sheriff who was on duty the night Arvin's father died. Arvin hurriedly packs, then returns to his room to take down the Calvary picture, wrapping it in the newspaper and putting it in his bag.

Rather than continue directly out of the area, Arvin travels west along Main Street. A logging truck carries him toward Bainbridge; he continues on foot, crosses Paint Creek at Schott's Bridge, and reaches Knockemstiff. The familiar landscape—changed only by a couple of houses in a former cornfield—draws him back toward the old community. His return makes his flight more complicated: he is moving through recognizable places while carrying both the evidence of his past and the intention to confront it.

The Search and Its Pressure

Lee Bodecker's investigation adds a practical threat to Arvin's already acute fear of pursuit. After a night of heavy drinking, Bodecker wakes on the floor and recalls a dream of walking in the woods with the Russell boy among decayed animals. When Howser suggests checking motels and the bus station, Bodecker agrees to send Taylor and Caldwell, while warning that Arvin might shoot them. He does not want to handle the problem himself too openly, so the search proceeds through deputies rather than a direct approach.

The newspaper account of the Henderson murders and Bodecker's covert dispatch of deputies place Arvin's movements within a widening law-enforcement search. The evidence does not show him being arrested or brought to trial; instead, his status remains one of anticipated capture and continued evasion.

Departure After the Confrontation

After Bodecker dies, Arvin buries the Luger in the hole he had dug for Jack's remains, covers the grave, and leaves the photograph of Sandy and two rolls of film in Bodecker's shirt pocket. He takes the picture of the Savior with him, thinking that perhaps he will someday have a place to hang it and that his father would have liked that.

Arvin then looks once more at the moss-covered log and rotting crosses. He expects never to see the place again and doubts he will see Emma or Earskell either. Leaving by the deer path, he heads north toward Paint Creek, intending to reach Route 50 and hoping someone will give him a ride. The ending preserves the uncertainty of his fugitive life: he has left the immediate scene, but the narrative offers no settled refuge or return to ordinary life.