The Westing Game

The meeting adjourns when the attendees hear screams and bangs from the kitchen. Mrs. Theodorakis runs out covered in what appears to be blood, although a few moments of investigation prove it is, in fact, tomato sauce. An entire row of cans exploded in the kitchen. She and her son Theo believe it was a bomb because of all the equipment in the kitchen that has been damaged. Grace suggests that this is the opportunity for a remodel (she claims to be an interior designer). Mr. Hoo smiles at the prospect of the café closing its doors for a few days, as he feels it has been taking business away from his restaurant. Sydelle has been slumped over since the eruption of noise and finally comes to, although no one had been paying attention to her.

Turtle confronts Angela for stealing her newspaper (which she needs to determine stock market investments) and reminds Angela that she’s left her engagement ring on the sink again. Sydelle nags Turtle for her poor manners, and the two begin to argue. Angela shoos Turtle out before she and Sydelle can say too many hurtful things.

Judge Ford’s informant at the paper calls to tell her he’s found a newspaper clipping in which George Theodorakis is an escort to Violet Westing—Sam Westing’s daughter. That makes four people, including her, connected to Sam Westing. She looks in the phone book to hire a private detective, and the first name she comes to shocks her. The narrator reveals no information about the detective’s identity, but when Ford picks up the phone, “it [is] no coincidence. The voices [are] one and the same” (72).

Someone sets a bomb in the kitchen of Shin Hoo’s restaurant just as Grace Wexler advertises the Chinese fare as a great option during the temporary closing of the coffee shop. She is now a hostess at the restaurant and takes her job seriously, using it as a strategy for the Westing game. She seats customers with people they don’t know well, inspired by the arbitrary couplings resulting from Westing’s teams.

Grace sits Theo and Angela together, and he fumbles for conversation as Angela’s beauty distracts him. Both parties find themselves embarrassed at their own candidness. Theo admits he will defer going to school so that he can work and help pay for a surgery for Chris, though he wants to be a writer. Angela wanted to be a doctor, but her father was only semi-supportive and her mother thought that “it was too difficult for a woman to get into medical school” (75).

Judge Ford and Flora Baumbach sit together, and Judge Ford discovers that Flora used to run a bridal shop with her husband and that she once made a wedding gown for Violet Westing.

Sydelle Pulaski and Chris are paired together. Although Sydelle tends to speak patronizingly about Chris, they have a fun time sitting together, wondering at the new cuisine they’re eating. She jokes with him that there is no “better disguise for a thief or a murderer than a wheelchair” (77). Chris likes others to perceive him as dangerous.

Grace Wexler seats her husband, thoroughly enjoying the professionalism of her new job. Jake becomes jealous as he sees his wife has created inside jokes with Mr. Hoo and has begun calling him by a nickname, “Jimmy.”

A bomb goes off in the kitchen and injures Sydelle. Angela accompanies her to the hospital. The policemen decide that the explosion was a gas explosion, but the residents know better than that. The narrator reveals that the Wexler apartment is the site of the next bomb.

When Sydelle asks for her makeup, Angela unearths a strange letter with the clues “thy” and “beautiful” taped to its bottom (88).The roads are clear outside Sunset Towers, and Angela checks under the hoods of cars—something Sydelle advised based on one of the clues. She finds nothing. Flora and Turtle are losing money on the stock market, but Turtle remains convinced that they will find their answers by continuing to invest money.

Judge Ford learns that Sandy supports a large family at home and that he was fired from the Westing plant for “trying to organize the union” (82). He is thankful that Judge Ford has given him all their $10,000 game money, and Ford notices a flask sticking out of his pocket as they share strategies. They decide that they need to find out which of the heirs had bad blood with Westing.

Chris is not keen to sign the check for $10,000 because he thinks that his partner, Denton Deere, will drop out of the game to attend to his duties as an intern. This is his way of keeping his partner involved.

At the hospital, tension between Denton and Angela rises, and he questions if she wants to get married at all. She waits at the hospital until she’s able to visit Sydelle. The attending doctor tells her that Sydelle is not “crazy” but was “lonely and wanted some attention”; for that reason, she falsely claimed to have a “crippling disease” (87). When Angela reaches Sydelle’s bedside, she goes along with Sydelle’s lie out of kindness, not letting in that she’s found out the truth from the doctor (though Sydelle is implied to realize what Angela is doing).

In terms of weather and operations, “Friday [is] back to normal” (88). The kids are back to school and both the restaurants have reopened. The group of five who were in on the Westing house dare—Turtle, Doug, Sandy, Otis, and Theo—stand in the parking lot. They wonder what method killed Westing. Doug pokes fun at Turtle, who wonders how she ever could have “had a crush on that disgusting jerk” (90).

Jake, finding his apartment empty, goes to eat at Mr. Hoo’s. Grace and Mr. Hoo discuss a new name for the restaurant with him, as Grace believes better marketing should be put in place to gain patronage.

Judge Ford receives more information from the private detective. Photographs of Mrs. Westing reveal that she was a thin, fashionable, and “nervous woman.” Sandy found out that neither Mr. Hoo nor Flora met Mrs. Westing, as the latter was not a very public figure. This leaves only Sandy and Ford who have seen Mrs. Westing in the flesh, Ford discovers. As for the daughter, Violet Westing, she was engaged against her wishes to a senator. Sandy recalls that there was a rumor that she “killed herself rather than [have] to marry that crooked politician” (95). However, a man with whom Violet is dancing in one of the photos turns out to be George Theodorakis. They realize that Angela looks like Violet and that Theo looks like George. After making these connections, they wonder what Westing could be up to.