Jodi Picoult - House Rules

Two hours later Theo’s brother, Jacob, arrived for his weekly tutoring session. A student of forensic science, he was surprised to notice a familiar footprint on the porch-the Vans sneaker tread that matched a pair belonging to his brother. Upon entering the unlocked house, Jacob found it in disarray. He called out but received no answer. Further investigation upstairs led to the discovery of Jess Ogilvy lying naked in a pool of blood.

Making the assumption that his brother was involved in her death-possibly during an altercation in the midst of a botched robbery-Jacob proceeded to alter the crime scene so that it would point away from Theo. He cleaned up and dressed the body and moved it downstairs (stumbling once on the staircase, which resulted in Ogilvy’s front tooth being knocked out postmortem). Using bleach, he cleaned up the bathroom to remove blood evidence. He picked up the overturned furniture and CDs and mail and proceeded to create a crime scene that might have been interpreted by authorities at first glance as a kidnapping, and at second glance as a cover-up perpetrated by Ogilvy’s stupid jerk of a boyfriend, Mark Maguire. In order to do this, Hunt had to put himself in the mind of a borderline idiot who might attempt (poorly) to make a murder scene look like a kidnapping. He packed some of Ogilvy’s clothes and toiletries in a backpack but made sure that they were not clothes routinely worn by Ogilvy, which someone less astute (like Mark Maguire) would never have realized. He left a typed note-allegedly from Ogilvy herself-asking for the mail to be temporarily stopped, as if she had decided to take a trip. He then cut the screen in the kitchen with a butcher knife-a red herring for forced entry. Finally, he walked below this screen outside wearing Mark Maguire’s boots, so that the police could trace this “cover-up” back to Ogilvy’s boyfriend. Then Hunt carried Ogilvy’s body to a culvert several hundred yards from the house and waited for investigators to piece together the information he’d left them.

Jacob Hunt neglected to realize, at the time, that he might be implicating himself in the murder. He neglected to consider that the scene he’d come across (at worst, murder at his brother’s hand, and at best, a death accidentally caused by Theo) might instead be a death by natural causes: a slippery floor, a skull fracture, and a hematoma. None of this, however, really matters.

In the years afterward, Jacob’s motive for restructuring the crime scene and moving the body was hotly debated. Some felt that, as there can be crimes of passion, there can be crime scenes of brotherly love. Others felt that Jacob’s fixation on forensic science came into play: he wanted to experience the thrill a murderer might feel, waiting for the authorities to figure out the trail he’d left behind.

Think whatever you want. The only thing that really matters is this:

I’d do it all over again.

My Life in 8 Words: Writer, mom, Wonder Woman. Not necessarily in order.