The chicken or the egg?
Saturday 20th May 16:22
Mark put down the papers he was reading and smiled at Cheryl as she ran up onto the deck of the beach house. A glance back down to the waters edge told him his son wasn't far behind. As Cheryl bent over to catch her breath Mark scolded her "When Steve said you were making him finish work early I took it to mean you were encouraging him to rest, but it looks to me like you are wearing him out."
She smiled and shook her head, "he needs the exercise" she panted as Steve turned and made his way towards the house, "and he needs me to motivate him."
Mark shot her a questioning glance "you beating him is good for his motivation?" he asked, then lowering his voice as Steve approached added "couldn't you let him win for once?"
Cheryl laughed, "then it wouldn't be winning," she told him.
"What wouldn't be winning?" Steve asked breathlessly but his question went unanswered. Mark headed inside to get some drinks while Steve and Cheryl caught their breath out on the deck.
"Good run today" she smiled as they stretched against the railings, looking back down at the ocean.
"Yeah, it felt good. Give me another couple of weeks and I'll give a real run for your money."
"Talk is cheap Sloan" Cheryl retorted as she began to breathe more steadily.
"A couple more weeks" he insisted.
"A couple more weeks until what?" his father asked as he returned with the drinks, setting them down on the table.
"Until I'm back to my old self and leaving her for dead down on the sand."
Cheryl raised her eyebrows "you said it not me."
"Said what?" He crossed to the table and took a seat.
"Back to your old self" she giggled and Steve scowled.
Mark decided to change the topic of discussion "how is Rod Brown doing with the charity angle?" he asked, but before Steve could reply the phone inside began to chirp and Mark excused himself once more.
Cheryl perched on the edge of the table and picked up a glass. "I've been meaning to ask you about Rod" she began after taking a sip "I hear he's a bit of a character, how are the two of you getting on?"
Steve mulled it over for a moment. "I've had cuter partners," he confessed slipping his hand up Cheryl's thigh. As she turned to look at him she couldn't help but blush as his eyes twinkled back at her.
"I'm serious," she scolded him, trying to mask her smile behind her glass.
Steve rolled his eyes "Rod's OK, a bit bullish, but he's a good detective. We've pretty much gone our separate ways on this case and it seems to be working alright." There was a pause before Steve asked, "How are you and Bill getting on?"
"Bill?" Cheryl asked hesitantly, she slipped from the table down into the chair facing Steve. "God, how long have you got?"
"Go on" Steve prompted leaning towards her.
Cheryl put down her drink, took a breath and began counting the points off on her fingers "Bill Bowman is sloppy, he's cocky, he talks like he's in a twenties gangster movie, he's convinced he'll be the youngest Chief Of Police in history"
"He is young" Steve interjected with a grin
"Yeah, too young" she clarified "it's more like babysitting an overgrown school kid than having a partner some days." Steve picked up on the subtle change in Cheryl's expression.
"Do you trust him?" he asked seriously.
"Oh, he's a straight cop" she assured him but Steve shook his head.
"I mean when it comes down to it, is he reliable, is he safe to work with?" he elaborated.
"I dunno" Cheryl shrugged "I think so."
Steve reached across and placed a hand softly on her shoulder. Her skin still felt warm and clammy beneath his palm. Subconsciously he dropped his hand a fraction lower, his thumb tracing back and forth along the line of the scar that traversed her triceps. "You need to know so," he told her gently.
She leant close and cupped a hand around his cheek "don't worry about me."
"But I do" he smiled, kissing the heel of her hand "if you aren't confident about Bill you should do something about it."
"Like what" she asked.
The grin was back on Steve's face "find a new partner." He slid his hand down her arm and gently took hold of her fingers.
Cheryl pretended to mull it over "you wouldn't happen to know anybody looking to fill the role?" she enquired playfully.
"Give me a couple of weeks, I'll pass my medical and I'll be back on the job full time."
"And then you'll find me a new partner?" Cheryl joked
"I wasn't so bad to work with was I?" Steve pouted
"Well….." she left him hanging for a while "You were OK, but I've had cuter partners."
"Very funny" he sighed, releasing her fingers from his grasp and leaning back in his chair. "But seriously, what do you think about us teaming up again? Think it would be too much? Think the department would allow it?"
Cheryl shrugged "we know that we get on and we work well together. Sure the department has rules but we both know they get bent from time to time. I think we should see how you go with the medical and take things from there."
Steve cocked his head, "you do think I'll pass the medical don't you?" he asked sounding a little concerned.
A wry smile crept across Cheryl's face "I may need to give you a few more thorough work outs just to be sure you're on top form" she whispered.
Steve grinned "Sure beats running".
Saturday 20th May 17:43
Later that afternoon Jesse and Amanda joined Cheryl, Steve and Mark on the deck. CJ and Dion passed a football down on the beach.
"You mean Corrine Simmons admitted to the affairs, just like that?" Jesse asked sounding shocked.
"After I'd talked to the kids I asked Corrine if there was any truth in the ridiculous rumours I'd heard about her having an affair. She just rolled her eyes, said she'd been going to tell me herself as she knew that her 'behaviour' was a well-known secret in certain circles. She said she wanted to clear things up as she had nothing to hide" Steve explained. "It tally's with what the housekeeper, Alyson, said, and the daughter Lexie. Max knew about Corrine's infidelity but he was in love with her and he forgave her," there was a pause "repeatedly."
"I presume Corrine benefits financially from Max's death" Amanda quizzed.
Steve nodded "some money was put aside for charities and also for trust funds for the children, his mother and nieces, but Corrine gets control of most of the estate."
Mark shook his head "I consider myself a man of the world" he began "but some of the things that woman said almost made me blush."
"Blush!" Steve cried "I thought you were going to pass out when she told you about that fitness coach."
Cheryl and Amanda laughed as Mark's face began to redden at the memory. "Details" Jesse demanded rubbing his hands together,
"You're far too young and hopefully still too innocent," Mark declared, holding a finger up to hush Steve.
"Corrine's a smart lady" Steve asserted changing topic. "She knew straight away what we were getting at but her story is that Max was incredibly reasonable about the whole thing. He acknowledged that he was often away working earlier on in their marriage and that over the past few years he'd been caught up in his charity work. He even offered Corrine a divorce, said he wanted her to be happy and as long as he had access to the kids and it all remained amicable he'd learn to live with it. I checked with their family lawyer, Max left the offer on the table, so if Corrine wanted money and freedom she could have easily taken it, she had no need to kill him."
"But even if the offer was generous" Amanda pointed out "it wouldn't have left her as well off as she is now."
Steve shrugged "if that's the case, if she's that greedy, then she's really taken a gamble."
"So let me get this right" Cheryl asked "Max loved Corrine so much, wanted to be with her so much, that he forgave her numerous affairs, but he was happy to grant her a divorce any time she wanted one? That sounds a like a hell of a contradiction."
"If you love something set it free" Amanda replied.
"Anymore clichés to air?" Steve smiled and Amanda swatted his arm.
"No cliché, but I have a question" Cheryl replied. "Is there a current boyfriend?"
"She's taking a break at the moment" Steve answered sceptically. "What are you thinking dad?" he asked as Mark scrunched up his nose.
"Corrine threw me a bit, you know" he began, "but I get the impression she really was fond of Max, more than that, I think she did love him in her own way. She doesn't strike me as a murderer…"
"But?" Steve asked hearing the uncertainty in his father's voice,
Mark shook his head, "I think she's hiding something, when you asked about current boyfriends she seemed too…..what's the word?"
"Prepared" Steve offered instantly,
Mark clicked his fingers "exactly! She knew that we were bound to ask and she knew exactly how she was going to reply. I think there is another man on the scene, whether that's relevant or not I don't know, but it would be worth finding out."
"If the affairs are so public that shouldn't be hard" Amanda observed,
"You said even the daughter knows about her fooling around right?" Jesse asked.
Steve held up his hands "I could do without having to get too close to Lexie again" he confessed. Mark answered the questioning gazes
"Seems she had a little bit of a crush on Steve," he explained.
Cheryl couldn't let the opportunity for a jibe to pass her by; "You said she seemed a little disturbed but I didn't realise the poor girl was so bad."
"Hey, it was borderline sexual harassment and I'm quite traumatised, thanks for your concern" he joked.
"So Lexie is taking after her mom as a man eater?" Jesse laughed.
"Seems so" Steve replied "I was going to ask her about boyfriends but to tell the truth I was feeling a little intimidated. I may broach the subject when I have armed back up with me."
"Mark, you said Corrine seemed prepared for answering Steve's questions?" Amanda asked and was met with nods of agreement. "Isn't that suspicious, as if she's covering her tracks? Also, Luis found the body around 4:15 and I would put time of death at just minutes before that. He must have only missed the killer by moments." A puzzled look crept over Amanda's face "don't you think it's a bit odd that Corrine doesn't have a better alibi for the time frame than driving around town between social appointments? What if Luis did see something, his mother leaving the house for example, but is too confused or scared to speak up? You did say he was extremely distressed Mark."
"Amanda's right" Jesse jumped in "Corrine's got nobody to back her story up, she claims she looked in a few shops but she didn't buy anything. A woman with that much money is killing time and she doesn't sped a dime, now that I find hard to swallow."
"She's got a shaky alibi but so far she's got a tentative motive too" Cheryl reminded them "I don't think we should jump the gun. Maybe she was prepared for Steve asking about the boyfriend situation but that doesn't mean she's guilty of anything more than adultery and having a sense of reality. If you knew you were going to be questioned you'd go over what you might say in reply right?"
The others nodded and Steve was quietly thankful that she'd calmed the situation before his friends got carried away.
Mark cast a glance down at CJ and Dion on the beach. Returning his gaze to his own son he asked "You thought Lexie was holding a lot back?" Mark asserted.
"Oh yeah" Steve nodded. "She's a terrible actress and spoilt beyond belief which is probably why daddy insisted she spend the summer volunteering at the homeless shelter. She'd hoped he'd get her a job at SKE, something to get her foot in the showbiz door but Max felt Lexie needed some grounding, needed to learn the value of things. She hated volunteering, that much was obvious, but she insisted on telling me through gritted teeth how important work like that is and how daddy was so right in fixing her up there. I get the feeling that she and daddy darling didn't always see eye-to-eye on what was best for little Lexie. She was genuinely distressed but also holding back on something I just don't know what it was."
"Did she mention Max's brother?" Mark asked and Steve nodded. "Just said they talked once in a while, he was more of a 'realist' than her father but that he and Max didn't get along. Corrine describes Alex as a 'recovering heroin addict', he grew up in Max's shadow and her wording was a little more severe, she said there was 'hostility' between the brothers a while back" he explained. "She also said that since he's been clean the two of them had been on better terms. I'm going up to see him in the morning" Steve added and Mark scratched his head.
"Luis didn't mention his Uncle Alex," Mark told them,
"You think Lexie was right about Luis being in the dark over his mothers affairs?" Steve asked.
Mark pondered it for a moment. "Didn't say anything to me but you know how withdrawn he was, he could be holding a lot of stuff inside. It could be that he was somehow sheltered from his mother's actions, or just that he's too socially immature to have realised what was going on. Maybe that's the difference between him and his sister; she's an old sixteen, picks up on everything, while he's a young fourteen with an innocent mind."
After a moments silence Cheryl leant forward over the table and leafed through the photos of the crime scene. Shaking her head she turned to Steve "we keep getting caught up in what everybody had to gain; motives and opportunities. But I still don't understand the basic scenario here" she confessed.
Steve took a photo from her hand and let his eyes scan across, "I know what you mean, it just doesn't fit, which ever way you try and look at it."
"What are you talking about?" Jesse shrugged "safe is all but empty, gun is on the floor, there's a blood stained carpet and that cool outline of the body" he smiled.
"Ah amateurs" Cheryl mocked as Steve slid the photo closer to Jesse.
"Tell me again what you see, what you think happened" he invited Jesse as Amanda and Mark leaned in closer to look at the photo.
Jesse huffed "open safe, outline where the body was found with a gun lying beside it." Steve nodded and Jesse continued "I think somebody held Max Simmons at gunpoint, forced him to open the safe then shot him to make sure there wouldn't be a witness."
Steve turned to Cheryl, "Sounds so simple, doesn't it?"
"I guess that means I'm wrong" Jesse sulked.
"Are you going to give us a clue?" Amanda asked.
"What do we know about the weapon?" Steve prompted.
The three pondered for a moment while Cheryl and Steve looked on. Eventually Amanda spoke up "the gun belonged to Max."
Steve nodded and waited for somebody to spot the problem. Not surprisingly it was his father who, after a few moments thought, figured it out.
"Max always kept the gun locked in the safe. If somebody wanted to force him to reveal the combination then they couldn't hold him at gunpoint with that weapon, because it was in the safe."
"Chicken and egg" Jesse muttered scratching his head. "Maybe there were two guns, or another sort of weapon, Max was forced to open the safe and the robber used the gun from inside to kill him."
"Possible though a little pointless you'd think, and why not take the gun when they took the rest of the stuff?" Cheryl asked.
This time Amanda answered "could be the robber was afraid of being caught with the murder weapon."
"Could also be that Max wasn't forced to open the safe" Mark reasoned, "it could have been open already, say if he was working in there, or the killer could have been somebody he knew and trusted."
"What reason would there be for him to open the safe for anybody?" Jesse asked. "If Corrine wanted her jewellery out then she could open it herself."
Mark shrugged "weren't there papers relating to SKE in there?"
"According to Corrine there were a lot of business papers in there" Steve replied.
"Papers both Craig Emerson and Michael Kent may have wanted to get their hands on. With Max thinking about pulling out of SKE both remaining partners had interests to protect," Amanda reasoned.
"Maybe that's it" Jesse shrugged "after all who else would want those papers? The cash and the jewellery I can understand but who'd leave a gun yet take a bunch of contracts? I think Kent and Emerson have to be top of your list of suspects," he asserted.
"Well thank you detective" Steve mocked "With the money Corrine stands to gain she had motive", he counted the first factor off on a finger, "access to the safe gave her the means" he counted on a second finger and finished the trio with "and five minutes ago you were the one doubting her shopping alibi, implying that she had opportunity. Now you're putting your money on a business angle instead."
"What can I say" Jesse pleaded, "You get a hunch and you've got to go with it." Cheryl and Steve groaned,
Cheryl pointed to Jesse "I'm buying you a Cluedo set for Christmas" she joked
Jesse laughed, "you know what I think? I think all this thinking has made me hungry. Let's start dinner, whaddya say?"
For once he was met by positive responses all around.