The Inheritance Games, #3
The Final Gambit
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Contents
CHAPTER 72
Overview
Avery uses the blueprints and Toby’s old messages to conclude that Toby found Liam’s body, moved the remains, and hid the evidence somewhere tied to Hawthorne House construction. The clue “the darkest hole” leads Avery and Jameson to the hedge maze, where their search becomes intertwined with Jameson’s fears about Grayson.
Avery openly chooses Jameson, framing their relationship not as destiny but as a deliberate commitment. Their emotional clarity is immediately followed by a breakthrough when Avery finds a buried coin marking a place to dig.
Summary
After Avery explains what she has discovered, Nash leaves ominously with Libby, while Avery turns to Xander and Jameson to plan the next move. Xander reports that Rebecca and Thea are at the cottage after Rebecca’s family began calling in the wake of Eve forcing the truth from Mallory.
Avery shows the boys the chronological blueprints and explains her reasoning: the chapel was built after Toby’s conception, and its hollow stone altar functioned as a tomb. The altar held no body, only Tobias Hawthorne’s hidden USB and Toby’s message: “I know what you did, Father.” Avery and Jameson conclude that Toby must have discovered Liam’s body after learning he was adopted and before running away.
Avery reconstructs Toby’s actions: Toby found Liam’s remains, stole the Blake family seal, moved the body, left hidden accusatory messages for Tobias, and then spiraled into the destructive path that ended with the fire on Hawthorne Island. Avery connects this trauma to Toby’s lifelong avoidance of Hawthorne House and his attempts to protect Hannah, Avery, and Eve from the Hawthorne legacy, the truth, and Vincent Blake.
Interpreting Toby’s clue that “the evidence I stole” is in “the darkest hole,” Avery considers the tunnels and the Hawthorne House additions built during the years when Toby could have moved the remains. Jameson spots a significant possibility in the blueprints: the hedge maze. Xander leaves to gather reinforcements while Avery and Jameson go to search the maze themselves.
At the maze, Avery decides to start at the center and spiral outward. As they walk, Jameson asks about Grayson, and Avery says Grayson will be okay because confronting Eve helped Grayson let go of Emily and forgive himself. Jameson’s unspoken insecurity about Avery and Grayson pushes Avery to answer honestly: Avery cannot say it was always destined to be Jameson, because Avery believes in choice, and Avery chose Jameson.
At the center of the maze, Avery and Jameson search the hidden sword compartment and the surrounding ground while Avery explains that Jameson taught Avery to want more from life and that Avery wants the world with him. Just as Jameson moves close, Avery’s fingers hit a small buried metal coin in the grass. Recognizing it as a marker, Avery tells Jameson to dig there.
Who Appears
- Avery Kylie GrambsDeduces Toby moved Liam’s remains and leads the search to the hedge maze.
- Jameson Winchester HawthorneHelps interpret the blueprints and receives Avery’s honest affirmation of love.
- Toby HawthorneCentral to Avery’s deduction as the person who found and moved Liam’s remains.
- Xander HawthorneHelps Avery review the clues and leaves to gather reinforcements.
- Grayson HawthorneAbsent from the search but central to Jameson’s insecurity and Avery’s reassurance.
- Nash HawthorneLeaves ominously after Avery explains the situation.
- Libby GrambsAccompanies Nash after Avery briefs the group.