CHAPTER 24: Wrong All Wrong

Summary

At the long library table, the partners sat in pairs. E.J. Plum opens another envelope, removes a tagged key, and unlocks the upper left-hand desk drawer with the next document. This document informs everyone that all answers are wrong. Partnerships are cancelled and the lawyer will return with the authorities. Further, this document of Sam Westing's informs the heirs that time is running out and they must name the person who took his life before he takes another. It further reminds everyone that it's not what they have, but what they don't have that counts.

Madame Hoo feels the tension in the room and thinks it's because of her and what she's stolen from them. Ed Plum leaves the room and locks the door behind them. Sandy encourages Turtle Wexler, telling her the game's not over yet and she can still win. Everyone grows paranoid until Theo Theodorakis asks that they work together as a team and share the inheritance. They all agree and Sydelle Pulaski asks if anyone has a clue word not in the song "America the Beautiful". There's some confusion over what words people have until Sandy McSouthers takes charge, drinking from his flask and instructing everyone to give their clues to Sydelle. Judge Ford watches Sandy suspiciously, wondering why he's doing this, then thinks of what Chris had said about everyone getting the perfect partner: in her case, she now realizes, her partner is really Sam Westing.

Sydelle assembles all the clues and finds parts of words missing - the BER in AMBER, the ERICA in AMERICA, the CROW in CROWN - as well as one whole word, THE. Placed in order, the missing segments spell out BERTHE ERICA CROW. Crow pales at this discovery, but Judge Ford gets everyone's attention and asks what they will do. There is no proof that she killed Sam Westing or that Sam Westing was even murdered; Berthe Erica Crow's only crime is her name appearing in a song and to turn her over to the police would be selling the life of an innocent human being whose been their neighbor and helper. She's then about to turn her attention to Sandy McSouthers / Sam Westing when he begins to choke and falls on the floor. The two doctors, Jake Wexler and Denton Deere, help him out while Theo bangs on the door for help. Ed Plum opens the door and two other men come in, Doctor Sikes and the Westing county sheriff. Turtle Wexler is distraught as she watches her good friend Sandy grow rigid as, in a last violent twitch, his right eye closes then opens again. Doctor Sikes pronounces the man dead, making Judge Ford think she was wrong.

The Westing county sheriff takes the heirs back to the game room, where Ed Plum asks him for permission to read the next document as per instructions in the will. The sheriff allows this though he's puzzled by all he's witnessed, especially as he was called in the middle of dinner, a half hour before anyone died. Plum reads the document, where Sam Westing reveals he was born Sam "Windy" Windkloppel of Watertown - changing his name to Westing to make it more marketable for paper products - and declaring that if nobody gives a name in five minutes, the will is null and void. The document closes by wishing everyone good luck and a happy Fourth of July. Everyone struggles with their conscience over the two million dollar inheritance and Turtle is puzzled by the closing part of the document; several think of how Crow filled Sandy's flask, which may have been poisoned. With one minute left, Berthe Erica Crow is named... by Berthe Erica Crow herself. Angela Wexler and Otis Amber protest, but Crow stands by her answer and splits the inheritance she's won in half: one half to Otis and the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen, the other half to Angela.

Notes

Sam Westing continues to stay one step ahead of all the heirs, including Judge Ford and Turtle Wexler, when he fakes his death as Sandy McSouthers. As readers later learn, Sandy's last violent eye twitch before "dying" is actually a wink to Turtle; this and his final words of encouragement to her shows that Sam Westing has chosen his heir and is simply waiting for her to solve the puzzle of his identities.

Judge Ford's plea to protect Crow strikes a chord with all the heirs, emphasizing not only her innocence but her role in the community of Sunset Towers; the mention of selling a life also takes on significance, as Judge Ford is African American and the specter of slavery is implicit in such a phrasing. Crow's decision to hand herself over for the supposed murder of Sam Westing is also her symbolic acceptance of responsibility for daughter Violet Westing's suicide; thus, she seeks further atonement by passing along the Westing inheritance she thinks she's won to her soup kitchen and the story's Violet stand-in, Angela Wexler.