Abigail Caldwell has the Lambert tennis courts dug up in search of an inheritance and is suspended after finding nothing.

Twelve-year-old Candice Miller moves with her mother to her late grandmother's house in Lambert for the summer.

Candice and her new neighbor Brandon discover they share a love of books and agree to swap their library checkouts.

Milo and his friends bully Brandon outside Candice's house, and she invites him inside to get away from them.

Candice discovers a mysterious letter hidden inside a puzzle book in an attic box labeled specifically for her.

Candice shares the letter with Brandon, revealing a $40 million inheritance tied to the wronged Washington family.

Candice and Brandon visit the Perkins Memorial Room and learn about a secret 1957 tennis match between the two schools.

Candice and Brandon research James Parker online and find that his website was last updated on the same date as the letter.

Ellie Farmer tells Candice that the bracelet she wears every day actually belonged to Siobhan Washington, not her grandmother.

Brandon realizes the letter's clues are numerically coded, and they solve the third clue using the mathematical concept of pi.

While looking through a yearbook at the Juneteenth Festival, Candice recognizes Reginald Bradley as the boy who could pass as white.

Candice and Brandon find a small key hidden inside the canvas of the tennis match painting at the Perkins Memorial Room.

At the bank, Candice tells a law firm the letter writer had two names — James Parker and Reginald Bradley.

Candice realizes her father's secret partner called Danielle is actually a man named Daniel, and Joe comes out to her as gay.

Candice and Brandon open the safety-deposit box and hold a press conference to reveal the full story of the Parker inheritance.

Candice Miller arrives in Lambert for a difficult summer and soon discovers a mysterious letter in her grandmother's attic promising a $40 million inheritance tied to a historical injustice. She teams up with her neighbor Brandon to investigate, gathering crucial clues from the Perkins Memorial Room and online research into a man named James Parker. Their investigation leads them to Ellie Farmer, who shocks Candice by revealing that the bracelet she wears once belonged to Siobhan Washington, the woman at the heart of the story. Candice identifies the letter writer as Reginald Bradley, a man who later passed as white and became James Parker, and Brandon cracks the letter's numerical coding to solve the final mathematical clues. They find a hidden key inside a painting at Perkins and use it to reach a safety-deposit box at a local bank. Their discovery culminates in a press conference that finally brings the truth about Lambert's buried history into the open.

The core mystery of Lambert's hidden inheritance.

Anne cautions Candice not to try to solve the mystery behind Abigail Caldwell's disgraceful firing from her city job.

Brandon's grandfather Mr. Gibbs explains that Marion Allen was the one who drove Enoch Washington and his family out of Lambert.

Ms. McMillan tells Candice and Brandon that the Perkins benefactor James Parker has been missing for more than ten years.

Milo and his friends taunt Brandon on bikes near their homes before an older neighbor comes outside to intervene.

Joe Miller visits Lambert and purchases a new laptop with internet access so Candice can continue her research.

Assistant principal Mr. Rittenhauer accuses Candice and Brandon of theft and lying when he finds them outside Perkins High School.

Mr. Gibbs's girlfriend Ms. Kathy identifies a woman named Ellie Farmer in an old yearbook photo alongside Siobhan Washington.

Tori drives Candice and Brandon to interview Ellie Farmer, pausing to share her fear of driving past police as a Black woman.

Ellie Farmer confirms that Marion Allen retaliated violently against Coach Dub and threatened Siobhan after Perkins won the match.

Candice and Brandon find a plaque dedicated to Siobhan Washington at Vickers Park engraved with the phrase 'She Loved All.'

Brandon is placed on punishment, so Tori serves as intermediary while Candice continues the investigation from Brandon's house.

Candice and Brandon video chat with William Maynard, a former Wallace player who knows about Parker but refuses to assist them.

Brandon retaliates against Milo's taunting and is knocked unconscious on the sidewalk when Milo punches him in the face.

Brandon confides that his best friend Quincy is gay and shares his dream of starting an LGBTQIA-focused sports summer camp.

City Hall is renamed in Abigail Caldwell's honor at a public ceremony and the city issues her a formal apology.

As Candice and Brandon pursue the Parker inheritance mystery, they encounter a network of adults who either help or hinder their progress. Helpful figures like Ms. McMillan, Mr. Gibbs, Ms. Kathy, and Ellie Farmer provide pieces of the puzzle, while a racist assistant principal shows the children firsthand how bias still operates in present-day Lambert. Brandon's ongoing bullying by Milo escalates to a violent confrontation that leaves him injured, forcing both children to reckon with issues of identity, safety, and the limits of self-defense. Candice also navigates her family's financial uncertainty and the difficult emotional terrain of her parents' broken marriage. A dead end arrives when the children reach out to William Maynard, the one surviving link to the 1957 Wallace team, only to be refused help. The story closes with a hard-won public reckoning, as Abigail Caldwell is posthumously honored and the city formally acknowledges its past wrongs.

The people and obstacles that shaped the investigation.

Siobhan Washington finds a riddle-note in her school locker inviting her to meet someone secretly at the big oak tree in Vickers Park.

Coach Dub places a newspaper about Althea Gibson on a rival coach's car, provoking a confrontation with a group of white men.

Chip Douglas realizes with a shock that Reggie Bradley, Siobhan's secret boyfriend, was the boy he condescendingly sent to buy Cokes.

After Perkins wins the tennis match, violence erupts and Siobhan is pulled away seeing only a sea of angry white faces around her.

Anne announces to Candice and Brandon's mothers that Candice will be leaving Lambert as early as the following weekend.

After the tennis match, Reggie Bradley fights off his attackers and partially blinds Marion Allen using a broken mop handle.

Coach Douglas reveals he passes as white and drives Reggie to a Mississippi farmhouse where Reggie agrees to become James Parker.

Siobhan Washington is told that Reggie Bradley has died in Georgia, never knowing he changed his identity entirely and is still alive.

Candice has a breakthrough realization: people hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see, unlocking her next search.

Siobhan challenges an adult James Parker to use his wealth for justice rather than personal revenge, and they part ways bitterly.

Candice cracks the mathematical clue by connecting it to the mathematician Euler, and the decoded result reveals Ada Marie Perkins as the location.

James Parker reconnects with an elderly Siobhan and they reconcile over sparkling cider, toasting together to a third chance.

Retired secretary Beatrix Halliday receives a final visit from James Parker, who firmly insists on being called by his real name, Reggie.

James Parker visits Abigail Caldwell in Atlanta, meets her toddler granddaughter Candice, and whispers his real name in the child's ear.

Abigail Caldwell receives a package containing Siobhan's bracelet and decides to spend years preparing young Candice to solve the mystery.

The Parker Inheritance turns on a series of pivotal moments in which characters are forced to confront painful truths about identity, race, and justice. From Siobhan and Reggie's secret romance in 1950s Lambert to the violent aftermath of the tennis match that tore them apart, the novel traces the choices that led Reggie Bradley to assume the identity of James Parker and spend decades in hiding. Even after decades of separation, Siobhan challenges Parker to pursue justice rather than revenge, ultimately inspiring him to create the inheritance. In the present day, Candice undergoes her own transformative revelations — about the letter's clues, about the people she loves, and about the world around her — culminating in the mathematical breakthrough that solves the puzzle. The final chapters reveal how Parker himself shaped Candice's destiny long before she ever found the letter, bringing the full circle of the inheritance into view.