How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
When it was over, Rob got five days in jail, and Nikki got a lecture from the judge and some kind of probation involving anger management counseling.
Privately, I had gotten some counseling too, from Officer Brooks. He took me aside. "Kid." Again, he was not unkind, just blunt. "What were you thinking, hanging out with your mother's ex-boyfriend? There's no reason to do that. Just let your mom know you love her. Okay?" (28.12-13)
Well, that's just about the worst advice ever. Nikki doesn't need to know that the kids love her—that's not going to solve the glaring problem of her emotional instability. No wonder Matthew has little faith in adults. They all downplay his problems.
Quote #5
"I wondered what she would do if she got even angrier at me. I wondered if she would make a mistake. The police weren't going to care if she violated the restraining order in small ways. If we were going to get you kids away from her, she had to be worse than that." (32.10)
Murdoch isn't scared of what Nikki will do to him. Instead, he wants her to do something really bad so that the state will have no choice but to intervene. He's willing to put himself in danger so that the kids can get out of that house.
Quote #6
Ben didn't flinch. "It could work out. I'm hoping it will. Murdoch feels we can assemble enough evidence against Nikki for me to get custody." (33.47)
At a certain point, the Walsh kids and their adult protectors need to get savvy about the Massachusetts justice system. They need to figure out a way to make it so that the state has no choice but to take away Nikki's custody.