The Final Gambit

Alisa is waiting for Avery at Hawthorne House. She reveals that there’s more bad press about Avery, like: “People Are Getting Very Nervous: Hawthorne Heiress on Verge of Taking the Reins” (208). Alisa is worried about the headlines, saying, “Perception matters” (210).

Avery tells Grayson and Xander about the new clue: “363-1982” (202). Together, Avery, Xander, Jameson, Grayson, Thea, and Rebecca try to figure out the clue. While they work, Thea gets a call on her cellphone—it’s “Luke,” for Avery. He gives her another clue, suggesting that she go into Tobias’s study and “Look up” (213). Avery follows the clue, which directs her to the wall of patents in Tobias’s office. She realizes that the numbers “363-1982” are a patent number.

The patent number 3631982 was filed in 1972 and registered to two people, Tobias and Vincent Blake. Avery now knows the man on the phone, “Luke,” is Vincent Blake, but his reason for seeking revenge against Tobias is still unclear. Grayson points out that Tobias filed another patent in 1972. After some discussion, Avery figures out that Tobias filed one useless patent under both Tobias’s and Vincent’s names—and then filed a second patent under only his own name, cheating Vincent out of his contribution. This patent was the turning point for Tobias and elevated him from an everyday worker to a millionaire. Vincent lost millions in the process. The group looks up Vincent and discovers that he’s a billionaire with old oil money who also lives in Texas, not far away.

Avery goes to talk to Nan about Vincent, and Nan confirms the theory that Tobias swindled Vincent out of a valuable patent. When Avery asks Nan why Vincent—already rich and powerful at the time—didn’t sue Tobias, Nan replies: “Because Tobias beat him, fair and square. Oh, it was a little underhanded, maybe, and a betrayal, certainly, but Vincent Blake appreciated someone who could play the game” (222).

Avery returns to the group (Rebecca, Thea, Jameson, and Xander) to tell them about her conversation with Nan. Their conversation is interrupted by Grayson informing them that Eve is gone and has left a note, saying she’s going after Blake. Grayson insists on going after Eve. Jameson tells Avery he needs to speak with her alone.

Jameson leads Avery to a room in Hawthorne House she’s never seen and locks her inside. Jameson will join Grayson to follow Eve to Blake’s, and he wants Avery to stay behind, safely locked up. Avery is angry at being left behind; Jameson explains that he has to go to help Grayson, who is still heartbroken over Emily’s death and has now developed an irrationally protective instinct over Eve. Jameson tells Avery, “I’m thinking more clearly than I ever have. I don’t trust Eve. […] The only person I trust with all that I am and all that could be, Heiress, is you” (229). Jameson leaves Avery in the locked room.

Avery realizes that the room Jameson has entrapped her in is an escape room, and solves the puzzles needed to escape. When she gets out, she meets Oren. He tells her that Jameson, Grayson, and Eve are all safe and on their way back to Hawthorne House. Avery remembers that Xander’s father, Isaiah Alexander, worked for Vincent Blake after he was fired from Tobias’s company. She asks Xander if he’s ready to meet his father. Xander has already done research into Isaiah and knows that he’s a mechanic at a nearby garage. Xander agrees to go talk to Isaiah and see what he knows. Xander, Avery, Thea, and Rebecca go to find Isaiah.

Isaiah isn’t surprised to see Xander; he knows who Xander is and asks if he wants a job at the garage. Isaiah tells Xander that he tried to get custody of him when Xander was born, but Tobias blocked Isaiah’s efforts. Xander is shocked, asking, “You’re saying that you wanted me?” (240) to which Isaiah replies, “Still do” (241). Xander is overwhelmed and runs off.

Avery, Thea, and Rebecca find Xander nursing his sorrows at a nearby doughnut shop. Avery calms Xander down and they go back to finish talking to Isaiah. Xander asks Isaiah if he knows what the small metal disk with the concentric rings is. Isaiah tells them that it’s Vincent Blake’s “calling card” (245). There are five of these small metal disks or coins: “If you had one of the seals, it meant you had Blake’s blessing to play in his empire as you wished—until you displeased him. If that happened, you were stripped of the seal and the status and power that came with it. It’s how Blake kept his family on a very short string” (245).

Isaiah also reveals that Vincent had a son who took off and disappeared. Since there was no direct heir to the Blake family fortune as a result, the rumor is that anyone who has one of the five disks has a claim to the fortune. Avery realizes the small disk is worth some 100 million dollars—one-fifth of Vincent’s net worth (an estimated half-billion). Isaiah also reveals the name of Vincent’s lost son: William Blake. Avery remembers that a poem by English poet William Blake is written on Toby’s old bedroom wall in Hawthorne House—and that Toby wasn’t just referring to the poet, but to Vincent’s son.