Samuel Westing's lawyer is reading the will to his heirs. In the will it said that Samuel was murder and he did not die of natural causes. He was murdered by one of his heirs. To find out who was the culprit, Samuel made a game that who ever finds the murderer will get rewarded.
As Angela and Sydelle were going to Sydelle's apartment, they noticed her door open but she was confident she closed the door. She found out the someone had stolen her short hand notebook.
All the people that were participating in the game was at a party. They did want people do at parties except for laughing because it was a serious matter to find out who the murder was. That party grew suspicion on who would be the murderer.