House Rules - Chapter 7 (pgs 293-335)

In Case 7: Blood is Thicker Than Water, Ernest Brendel doesn't dispose of all the evidence linking him to killing his friend and his friend's family. It is pointed out that friends can end up being enemies.

As I lie in bed last night after reading the case but before beginning the chapter, I feel down as I think about how Jodi isn't likely to pair Emma and Oliver. Rich will come around to Jacob's innocent and help clear Jacob. Emma will realize he's a decent guy. Oliver will be a family friend. =( I usually pull for the underdog in love triangles.

Theo's section on how he's going to be the one eventually taking care of Jacob was honest and real. I'd feel that way if I were him. I think a lot of people might.

Oliver thinks about Emma. He thinks about cooking according to color scheme. Emma asks Oliver to watch the boys. Emma goes to the bank to take out a second mortgage. She is denied because she's unemployed. Oliver plays Wii with the boys. He cooks yellow foods and saves a plate for Emma.

Oliver goes to court to get Jacob's interrogation by Rich to be inadmissible during the trial. Jacob has a minor meltdown after Rich implies that Emma thought he had something to do with Jess' death. Emma doesn't look Jacob in the eye as she tells him that she believes he didn't kill Jess. Oliver gets an expert on police relations with Autistic people to testify by trading him a consult on an injured horse. Jacob then takes the stand and by interacting with Oliver and prosecutor shows the judge he can be misunderstood.

Emma invites Oliver to lunch the next day. Jacob reads the newspaper in the car on the way home and discovers that Dr. Henry Lee, a famous forensic scientist, will be speaking relatively nearby. He really wants to go, but is unable to understand that he can't go because of being under house arrest. He thinks Emma should be able to change this. He thinks Emma thinks he killed Jess.

The bit with Farley McDuff from Neurodiversity Nation was just odd. I really hope Jodi doesn't go somewhere weird with that. I guess he is representing the extreme side of Autism rights. I am hoping this doesn't somehow get Jacob's case into the national media.

Jacob is still not giving up on seeing Dr. Henry Lee. Emma is firm that he cannot go. Emma asks if he killed Jess. Jacob says he did not and Emma believes him. She wonders about his lies by omission though. Were they deliberate, or did Jacob simply not say anymore because he wasn't asked about it specifically.

Jacob thinks about how he'd dreamed of studying under Dr. Lee in college. He admits that he set up the crime scene to point to someone else's involvement but ended up a suspect himself. Did Jacob set up the crime scene to point to a certain person's involvement to frame someone, to throw the trail off of someone, or because he knows who it really was. The police haven't figured out who the crime scene is supposed to point to, unless it is Mark.

Jacob calls 911 and tells them he is being abuse by his mother because Emma won't take him to see Dr. Lee. Rich ends up being the one to respond. Jacob quickly realizes his mistake. He hides his stuff, which he is worried might also end up confiscated, and then he hides under the bed. Rich insists on talking to Jacob about what he did. He's nicer about it. We're supposed to realize that Rich isn't that bad, that's he's not a jerk. I don't think he is, but I still don't like him any better.

For a smart 17-year-old, how can Theo possible believe that the police's involvement with Jacob is to get to him from breaking into people's homes and basically doing nothing.

In Jacob's dream, Dr. Lee tells Jacob that he understands why he did what he did.

Mostly paraphrasing on this chapter. I didn't seem to have much to say. In regards to the case from the beginning of the chapter, Jacob left the ROYGBIV quilt on Jess and he admitted to moving the body and cleaning up the crime scene. But is there something the real killer, if there is one, missed that will point to him. Rich being the friend who ends up being an enemy is too obvious. Maybe Oliver, but he's growing as a lawyer and learning he has good instincts in law too in addition to with horses. Theo or Emma, for not being completely sure of his innocence.