The Parker Inheritance

As Candice and Brandon head back to Perkins, they don’t see Milo, meaning that Candice’s schedule worked. Ms. McMillan is excited to help them, and she uncovers a number of yearbooks for both Perkins and Wallace. Though they find some information about Leanne Washington, but none of it really makes sense with the clues they are searching for. When Brandon goes to help Ms. McMillan get some books, Candice finds a plaque to James Parker, which includes a poem by Langston Hughes. Candice wonders “what would make [Parker] go to so much trouble to honor a school he never attended” (125) and thinks about whether he and Siobhan Washington loved one another. 

Candice and Brandon continue their research with Ms. McMillan, quickly figuring out that Leanne Washington was actively involved with “raising money to fight segregation” (127). After, they turn their attention to finding James Parker in either of the school’s yearbooks but have no luck. Candice gets upset when she finds that someone wrote “something stupid and ugly and racist” (129) in one of the yearbooks. Ms. McMillan promises to get her another copy and they begin wrapping up their work for the day.

Candice and Brandon begin to leave, but when they get outside Brandon realizes that he’s left Tori’s cellphone, which he had borrowed, inside.