The Final Gambit

After the fondue food fight, Eve’s only shirt is ruined, so Avery lets Eve borrow a top. Eve is stunned by Avery’s lavish wardrobe, telling Avery that Toby wanted to keep her far away from the lavish Hawthorne life: “He hated this place. Hated it. And when I asked why, all he would say was that the Hawthorne family wasn’t what they appeared to be, that this family had secrets” (85).

Avery tells Jameson and Grayson about the envelope (the one with the photo of Toby and the hidden message). Jameson suggests, “Either Toby’s captor just wants you scared, in which case, these are vague warnings with no greater design. […] Or it’s all part of the same riddle: one answer, multiple clues” (88). They need to find out who took Toby and why.

Avery has a dream about Toby, who she first met while he was living as an unhoused man named “Harry” in a park in Connecticut. Toby, as “Harry,” used to play chess with Avery before Tobias named Avery in his will. Waking up from her dream, Avery looks outside and sees Grayson and Eve by the swimming pool together. Jameson stumbles across Avery watching Grayson and Eve and recognizes her mixed feelings—and possible jealousy.