se-alum;1485949 wrote:I think Walt fakes his death and leaves all family behind, which is why the neighbor was so shook up to see him.
Plausible, I'm not sure it really fits how important family has been to his character - he doesn't want his children to remember him that way. It would make sense if he did it sooner rather than later, and then perhaps Hank would choose to spare his children. But given that he didn't react at all to "Heisenberg" graffitied in his house, the secret clearly gets out.
With several million, he could run for basically forever. Heck, maybe he even "disappeared" to seek some sort of experimental treatment for his cancer.
Maybe the bigger question is who does he need the ricin for (and why couldn't he just cook up a new batch?). Maybe Jesse is locked-up and getting ready to testify, and the ricin would be a good/easy way to get to him in prison with the cigarettes. Skylar doesn't smoke? But I think Hank smokes at least cigars. The woman that took over the operation also smokes.
Without witnesses, they don't really have anything to convict him on (aside from tax evasion, which again without Skylar might be tough).