Thursday, May 13, 2010

House Rules - Chapter 3 (pgs 90-146)

I read Chapter 3 on Friday night so I'm going with the flipping through the pages, skimming, and commenting method again. It was a long chapter but it felt like a shorter read than Chapter 2. I remember thinking after I read it that I didn't have have as much to comment on as I did on Chapter 2 so hopefully this is a shorter post. I do want to hurry up and get it posted so I can read Chapter 4.

The case opening Chapter 3 is titled Bragged, Taunted, "Kaught". I can't see how that relates to this chapter. Thoughts? I thought a possible link might be to the previous chapters in that Jacob solved the case of the man who died by hypothermia and Rich eventually found out who Jacob was, but it's not a very good link.

As soon as Rich starts commenting on the neighborhood where Jess is house sitting for her professor, I just know that's the house Theo broke into and Jess is the girl he saw. I think then that maybe Jacob saw Theo leave Jess' place then walked in on Jess dead and that's why he melted down. But he wasn't scared or angry with Theo so if he did see Jess dead, he knew his brother well enough to know he didn't kill her. Or he knew Theo did kill her but that it was an accidental death (knew by forensic science) and he's covering up for Theo. Then there is the mug with the tea bag in it and I know for sure that that is the house that Theo broke into and Jess is the girl he saw.

Jacob fingerprints something of Jess'. I suspect it's her iPod. His suspicions are confirmed. I think he finds Theo's fingerprints. If they were Mark's, I think he'd turn it in. Then he hides it. Theo's prints will be on the tea mug and other things in the house though.

Theo clearly doesn't know Jess is dead or was hurt. So she wasn't when he left after seeing her naked.

Rich is definitely interested in Emma. He likes that she's single and he compliments her.

Did Jacob take the stuff in the backpack because it was incriminating towards who killed Jess or because he wanted her stuff to remember her. Is the stuff in the backpack the odd stuff that Rich and Mark thought wasn't what she'd take if she left on her own.

The alphabetical CD tower is explained. And it seems that Jacob took the backpack to investigate further. He hands it over to Rich and want to know what he finds. Maybe Jacob doesn't know what happened after all. He just knows Theo was there, and likely had nothing to do with it. Maybe he saw Theo drop the iPod as Theo left. Rich finds the boot print.

Jacob has Jess' body. He moved it from the crime scene. He should know better. Why did he move it. He's surprised Rich hasn't found it yet. He gives Jess a blanket. Somehow Rich is going to figure out that Jacob was there. Rich will know someone was there because the cel phone was off but now it's on and someone called 911 from it.

3 comments:

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Good question: "Did Jacob take the stuff in the backpack because it was incriminating towards who killed Jess or because he wanted her stuff to remember her?"

But I don't have a good answer.

Jennifer, I like the way you are systematically going through the book, chapter by chapter, commenting on the things that catch your interest.

Shirley said...

Could the case scenario's reference to the BTK killer being caught by the computer disc's identifier be an analogy to Jacob returning Jess's cell phone to her body and the GPS allowing her body to be found?

Jennifer, you're sharper than I am as I didn't pick up at all that Jacob might have realized that Theo had been at Jess's before he got there and found her body. I went back and reread the section of his fingerprint identification and realize that I also missed that it was probably Theo's fingerprints that he id'd.

I thought he put the things in the backpack both to remember her by (plus size before she lost weight; t-shirt for her Special Olympics work and who she is now; and toothbrush because Jacob seems quite concerned that people brush their teeth.

I wondered why Jacob moved Jess's body, but after realizing that he suspected Theo it is starting to make more sense that he may very well have used his forensics science knowledge to try to cover up Theo's possible involvement with the murder. However, Jacob was also aware of Mark's probable violent tendencies so I had thought he suspected Mark.

I'm still puzzled by the typewritten note in the mailbox.

Jennifer, I also appreciate the systematic approach you are taking as you summarize your thoughts on each chapter.

Jennifer said...

Thanks, Bonnie and Shirley. The chapters are long and filled with stuff.

Shirley, I didn't think of that about the catching of the BTK killer and Jacob through similar means. I'd also forgotten about the typewritten note in the mailbox. I can't think of how that fits in either.

Chapter 4 thoughts coming up.