The Westing Game: Chapter 30 Summary & Analysis

Another handful of years later, Turtle—who now goes by T.R. Wexler—is on the board of the Westing Paper Products Corporation. With a handful of advanced degrees in law and business, T.R. is a multimillionaire who has made a fortune in the stock market. She sits by the bedside of 85-year-old Julian R. Eastman, who tells her that he is nearing the end of his life rapidly. T.R. tells him, addressing him as Sandy, that even if he dies in front of her, she won’t believe he’s dead.

T.R. tells Eastman about the other heirs. Ford is now on the United States Supreme Court. Crow and Otis, she says, still run their soup kitchen—this, however, is a lie. Crow and Otis died two years ago within a week of one another. Sydelle, she says, is married to Schultz and retired in Hawaii. Eastman asks what became of Angela, the bomber. She says that Angela is now an orthopedic surgeon. Angela and Denton are married—and now they have a daughter named Alice. T.R. reveals that Flora lives with her; the Theodorakises have retired to Florida; Chris is a professor of ornithology at a nearby university. She also reveals that after winning Olympic gold twice, Doug is now a sports announcer. She does not reveal that Mr. Hoo is dead.

Eastman asks about his niece, Gracie Windkloppel. T.R. reveals that Grace now has ten restaurants. Jake, meanwhile, is the state crime commissioner. Eastman asks how T.R.’s husband is—and how his writing is coming along. T.R. reveals that Theo is a novelist who is nearly finished with his second book. If the two of them have a child, she says—leaving out the fact that she and Theo have decided against having children in order to prevent passing down Chris’s disease—they will name it Sandy whether it is a boy or a girl. Eastman asks T.R. to tell Crow to pray for him. T.R. feels her mentor’s hand grow cold in her grasp. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July.

When Eastman dies, with him die Windy Windkloppel, Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers. No one ever learns T.R.’s secret—and so a little bit of her dies with him, too. She inherits Eastman’s stock and ascends to director of the company. On the Saturday of Eastman’s funeral, T.R. hurries from the cemetery to meet her niece, Alice, for a game of chess.