“You’re so embarrassing and weird,” Waylon decides.
“Since you’re here today, Micah, you’re going to help me,” Leland says.
Micah looks at his wrist where there is no watch then taps it twice. “I would absolutely love to, but look at the time; I have to leave.”
Ignoring him, Leland declares, “Waylon, Micah’s going to help me train you.”
Micah seems interested now that he knows this isn’t anything horrible… or at least assumes it’s not going to be.
“Cassel said that Micah is really good at getting out of binds. So he’s going to show you how to escape if someone has tied you up,” Leland says as he grabs a rope.
“Can I finish my coffee first?” Micah asks, since the coffee maker finally spit out the last of its coffee into his cup.
The way Leland knees him in the back of his legs and uses his brief moment of unbalance to grab his arms tells me that the answer to that is no, no he may not have his cup of coffee. Leland swiftly ties Micah’s wrists, wrapping the rope around them with precision before beaming at his masterpiece.
“You… I’m sorry, you think I’m going to escape out of that?” Waylon asks, giving up before he’s even tried. “Is there a play dead option like with the bears?”
“You really should learn this stuff. I was taught how to untie myself when I was two years old,” Micah says as he grabs his coffee.
Waylon gapes at him… and I have to admit, I do too.
“How the hell did you get untied already?” Waylon asks.
“Language,” I remind him, although I’m not even sure why at this point. It’s a losing battle.
Leland lets out a noise that tells me that he didn’t exactly expect Micah to get free, and the moment Micah sets the coffee cup down, Leland is back to winding the rope this way and that around his wrists.
“You really need to try harder than this,” Micah says.
By the time Cassel and Jeremy arrive twenty minutes later, it’s become clear that this is no longer about teaching Waylon how to untie himself; it’s now a battle between Leland and Micah to see if Leland can tie him in a way that Micah can’t get free from.
“Hey, Jackson?” Waylon asks.
“Yeah?”
“Do we have to sit here all day and watch this? I mean… it was really cool like the first seven times, but I’m getting a bit bored.”
“What are we bored of? Leland’s face? I agree,” Cassel says as he comes in and sees what Leland is doing.
He must have some hangup over not being able to keep Micah tied up because he pushes Leland out of the way and takes over.
“Hey, hon, I think you were teaching Waylon something,” I say as Micah breaks free of Cassel’s first attempt and Cassel is left standing there with his mouth open. Jeremy offers him comfort in the form of a pat before noticing the dozen donuts and ditching him.
Leland freezes. “Oh, I forgot. Right. Our demo is over, Micah, teach him. Go on, now.”
“It’s easiest to fool cocky ones like these two,” Micah explains as he slides in next to Waylon with the rope in hand. “You use distraction—and let’s be honest, both of these two are easilydistracted—and while they are, all you need to do is shift your arms in a way that makes it seem like they’re tight together when you’ve instead created yourself some space. Let me show you.”
“While he’s doing that, I have the data from Barlow’s house,” Cassel says.
He shows us a recording that depicts how the man was already waiting inside before we arrived, having already begun the process of herding Teo’s men before we even got there. It was all a game to him, and the entire time, he never appeared to have a second person with him.
“Could someone have been directing him using the security cameras like you did for us?” I ask Cassel.
“I thought of that too, but there was no trace of anyone having broken into the feed before I did. Now, they could have gotten in through traditional means, like by being in the security room, but I don’t see any trace of them,” Cassel says. “One thing that does stand out to me is that the man knew the routes. He knew how to usher everyone exactly where he wanted, telling me that this wasn’t his first time in that building. He could have found blueprints for the estate. There are also pictures online from when the house was originally sold to Teo Barlow,butthat wouldn’t tell him enough.”
“Have you cross-checked all of the people who were active in the house this past week with the ones who died?” Micah asks.
“I’m working on it.”
