The Ties That Bind

Eugene and Katrina Meltsner wait nervously outside the juvenile detention center, hardly able to believe what they have agreed to: bringing Buck Oliver, the young con artist from the Green Ring conspiracy, into their home. When Buck finally walks out carrying a single bag, he thanks them both and apologizes to Eugene face to face for everything he did. Eugene tells him he can forgive him because Katrina has shown him how it's done, and asks Buck to drop the "mister" and simply call him Eugene. As they head for home, Katrina tells him, "Welcome to your new life."

At the Meltsner house that evening, Buck gently answers their questions about life in juvenile hall: orange overalls, sneakers with no shoelaces, and a big dorm shared with shoplifters and car thieves. He says Katrina's letters meant a lot to him, and that the other kids were jealous because most of them came from what they called mixed-up and messed-up homes, where visiting days brought only blame and arguments. When Katrina asks whether Mr. Skint ever visited him, Buck quietly says he would rather not talk about him. He learns he starts school the next day, where Eugene will be teaching, and promises to accept whatever comes without complaining and to be no trouble at all. Eugene asks lightly, "What would we have to worry about?"

Meanwhile, at the Comic-Connellsville convention, Wooton Bassett signs autographs while his wife Penny hurries the long line along. One fan tells him the newest comic book characters are supposed to be edgy and miserable, but Wooton insists that most families squabble and still get along. Then a woman named Dee Grant introduces herself from Maximized Comics, the biggest publisher there is, and offers to publish everything Wooton has ever done. She invites him to dinner that evening and tells him to bring his manager, so Penny suddenly becomes his manager on the spot. Afterward, back home with his cousin Hadley, Wooton admits the fancy dinner was wonderful but shouldn't decide the matter, and Penny wonders aloud why Hadley seems so anxious about what Wooton chooses. Hadley claims he is simply excited to watch Wooton go from cult comic figure to the mainstream, then heads to the kitchen to make dessert, where he noisily breaks one dish after another.

Across town, Jason Whittaker visits Wally Haggler's junkyard, trying to solve a mystery for Connie Kendall, while Wally's nephew Jay keeps insisting that Jason must secretly still be a spy. Connie has found a key to a trunk, along with a receipt showing her mother once delivered the trunk to Wally so he could open its stuck lock. Wally remembers the trunk but admits he forgot all about it after June Kendall died, and when they go to look, it is gone. A stranger recently bought up a load of old things, saying he was furnishing a ghost town near a spooky spot in the woods called Hangman's Hollow, and Jay sheepishly confesses he moved the trunk into the pile that was sold. Wally traces the man's rental truck to a company called Family Survivor at an industrial park near Connellsville. When he drives out there, he finds guards and strange secrecy, but a Mr. Hall returns the trunk, still locked, and warns that no one should go near Hangman's Hollow. Asked what would happen if someone did, he replies, "Did I mention that there's a ghost town?"

That same Sunday, Whit feels oddly woozy and tired at dinner with Jason when Detective Polehaus calls: Whit's End has been vandalized, its front pelted with balloons full of black and pink paint. The detective says the colors point to a local activist group called the Vigilantors, and asks whether Whit has annoyed anyone lately. Reluctantly, Whit mentions his recent conversation with Ms. Adelaide, whose festival poster he declined to hang because it celebrated ideas he believes go against God's word. Jason fears this is only the beginning of a campaign against his father. Whit says he has never been afraid to stand up for what he believes, and Jason answers soberly, "But this time, it might cost you."