The Westing Game

A bomb squad begins investigating all the packages delivered to Sunset Towers. They find two harmless packages over the course of a few days, both from Jake Wexler to Grace—a box of chocolates and a dozen roses. Jake eats upstairs in the restaurant. The two couples—the Wexlers and the Hoos—have found camaraderie. Jake teaches Madame Hoo English, and the teams share their clues.

Sandy begins keeping a meticulous notebook that compiles the work of the private detective with his own findings. He’s discovered that Mr. Hoo sued Westing over the disposable paper diapers and was unhappy with the settlement of $25,000 that he received last year.

Theo does homework late into the night and uses his chemistry knowledge to create a formula out of his clues. This leads him to suspect Otis as the culprit, so he heads to Doug’s apartment to share his findings. It is dark, though, and he ends up knocking on Crow’s door. She pulls him inside, says she knew he’d come, and tells him: “You must go to your angel, take her away” (104), referring to Angela.

Flora is now the official braider of Turtle’s hair, and as she braids, Turtle reads information on the stock market. Turtle dictates what to sell and what to buy since Flora doesn’t understand how the market works. Turtle “glow[s] behind The Wall Street Journal” when Flora compliments how smart she is (105). Flora begins calling Turtle “Alice,” and Turtle begins calling Flora by the affectionate name “Baba.” Later that day, Flora notices that Westing stock skyrockets.

Meanwhile, Sandy is writing about Flora in his notebook. Her husband left her. Her daughter, Rosalie, had an intellectual disability and died of pneumonia at age 19.

Theo does not believe that what happened to him last night at Crow’s place was real. He remembers receiving a letter but can only find a Westing Paper Hankie (all the heirs have been buying Westing paper products due to a clause in the will) in his pocket. However, Doug does confirm that Crow lives next to the Hoos’ apartment. Doug feels stressed as Theo hounds him for not pulling his weight; he agrees to begin helping, and Theo tells him to begin following Otis Amber.

Doug does as instructed and chases Otis Amber around town all day. He follows buses miles to the attorney’s office and to the hospital. By the end of the day, he is so exhausted that he doesn’t notice Otis coming up to him to tell him that “all the heirs gotta be at the Westing house this Saturday night” for another meeting (108).

At the meeting, Sandy discloses his recent findings. He reveals that Otis Amber has an IQ of 50 and lives alone in a basement. The group concludes that Sydelle Pulaski’s backstory does not “seem to fit” (110). She is currently on her first vacation ever, which is the accumulation of six months of saved time off. When she left work, she had no ailments. They wonder what was causing her to limp before the explosion.

Angela will have to receive plastic surgery after her wounds heal. Turtle sneaks in to tell Angela that she mustn’t reveal any information to any other of the game’s players, but Denton sends the lawyer Plum and a large nurse to escort her from the building. She runs out before they can catch her. When Grace Wexler goes to visit her daughter, she sees Ed Plum over Angela’s bed and screams, as her clues have led her to believe that he is the culprit.

Chris is excited to have three visitors—Otis, Flora, and finally Denton—in one day. When Flora tells him about her daughter, she wonders if “her daughter might have been an artist if things had turned out differently” (112). In a moment of reflection, Chris wonders how his life might have been different under varying circumstances. Denton Deere tells Chris that he has important news. He’s found a neurologist who might be able to help Chris with just medicine and no surgery. Denton isn’t just after the money, Chris notices. His partner really cares about him.

Flora continues to watch Westing Paper Products (WPP) climb the stock market. Turtle, however, gets in trouble at school for always listening to the radio. She blames it on a toothache, explaining that music is the only soothing cure. She then resorts to listening to stock reports every 30 minutes in the bathroom.

When Otis tells Crow that he suspects James Hoo of being the bomber (and targeting his own restaurant for cover), she begins to tremble. Crow, believing Angela to be the “beautiful, innocent” Violet Westing “reborn” (114), angers and wants vengeance for her injury.

Sandy’s recent investigations are about Crow. Crow married young and divorced decades later. According to the records, her ex-husband is “Windy Windkloppel” (115). Crow also formerly had an alcohol addiction but recovered when she found religion. Sandy and Ford, however, don’t see any connection between Crow and Mr. Westing.

Crow goes to lunch at Hoo’s restaurant to investigate. Grace notices that Jake and Madame Hoo are increasingly chummy. Madame Hoo “giggles at Jake” as she serves food (114), and he pats her hand. Crow complains to Jake about his lack of expertise as a doctor because the corn removed from her foot is still causing her problems. He blames it on the shoes she’s been wearing her whole life. She has an abrupt change of heart about Mr. Hoo when he overhears the conversation and brings her a pair of his paper insoles: “Mr. Hoo was a charitable man” (117).

At the hospital, Chris finds a note in his pocket, which he believes to be a love note from Theo to Angela. He gives it to her. It is actually the note that Crow had given to Theo, containing two of Crow and Otis’s clues and ordering Theo to take Angela away from “this sin and hate / NOW! Before it is too late” (116). It also contains the clues “with” and “majesties.”

Sandy and Judge Ford discover mostly unsurprising news about the Wexler family, except for the fact that Grace’s real maiden name is Windkloppel, not Windsor. This is also the name of Crow’s ex-husband, which means the two are somehow related. This information about the last name has come from an interview. When they reread the interview, they notice the interviewer was a childhood friend of Crow’s whose name was Sybil Pulaski. This means Westing made a mistake in making Sydelle Pulaski one of the heirs.

Friday comes, and WPP stock is still climbing. It has reached its highest price in 15 years, and Turtle instructs Flora to sell.

Doug Hoo continues to trail Otis, disappointed to find nothing suspicious about Otis’s continuous trips back and forth between Sunset Towers and the shopping center. There’s a break in the pattern when Otis goes into a rooming house for hours. Doug goes home to tell Theo the news. His feet no longer hurt because Jake suggested Doug try his father’s invention. He is amazed to find “those paper insoles really work[]” (121).

Judge Ford confirms that George Theodorakis was a longtime sweetheart of Violet Westing. It was, however, Mrs. Westing—not Mr. Westing—who pushed Violet into marriage with a politician. This, in turn, is what caused Violet’s death, although George does not explicitly mention suicide.

Sandy and Judge Ford wonder why Mr. and Mrs. Theodorakis are not heirs before returning to the question that guides them: “Which heir did Sam Westing want punished?” (122). Sandy guesses it is the person who caused Violet’s death: Mrs. Westing. Therefore, Mrs. Westing must be one of the heirs.