- He was allowed to keep it when Whiplash begged to be arrested. It will be a Ransom of Red Chief homage.
Having read that story, all I'll say is that Whiplash must have been a -very- desperate man by that time. I do rather hope you do a flashback that covers this, I rather imagine it'll have more than a few amusing bits in it.
He obviously was a most challenging child to raise and Tony seems to have done fairly well; I daresay it was not without a great lot of help from his friends and associates.
From what I've seen, the Grand Master's "first novel" is more a collection of ideas, that later reappeared, than a real novel. I am, though, very interested in reading Variable Star which Spider Robinson fleshed out from notes and drafts Heinlein left behind him. I think Spider is one of the few I'd really trust to do the Admiral justice.