Playing the odds

Wednesday 24th May 14:50

Jesse and Mark were in the doctors lounge filling Amanda in on the details of Lexie's revelations earlier that morning when Cheryl and Steve entered each carrying a brown paper bag. Steve had barely sat down before he grabbed a sandwich from the bag and started to munch quickly.

"Late lunch?" Mark asked Cheryl knowing he was unlikely to get a response from his son while his mind was so obviously focussed on eating.

She nodded, removing a juice carton from her bag and piercing the top with a straw. "Rod interviewed Lexie's friend Margaret again, gave her his speech about good citizenship and what happens to little girls who lie in murder investigations. She soon changed her tune; Lexie did go home after school but turned up at Margarets at about 3:55. Her mother confirms that Lexie was there when she got home at four."

"So that ties in right?" Jesse asked and Steve mumbled something to the affirmative through a mouthful of food. "She got home at 3:30, fought with Max, stormed to her friends just before four." He nodded thoughtfully "now I don't want to say 'I told you so', but…"

"Jesse!" Amanda tried to quell his enthusiasm.

"What!" Jesse shrugged "I told you Lexie and Matthew Green did the robbery together, what can I say, I had a hunch and it turned out to be a good one."

Mark shook his head in disbelief "Jesse, I don't know how to say this" he chuckled "but if you back every horse you're bound to be a winner."

On Jesse's confused look Steve took a pause from eating and clarified "At one time or another you've suspected everyone, so you're bound to be right." Jesse slouched in his chair and folded his arms. "But" Steve conceded, "technically you were right about Lexie and Green" he took a sip from Cheryl's carton. "And we cleared up the confusion over how exactly Green got the combination" he continued "Cheryl and I had another chat to him, hence the late lunch. When Green turned himself in he was under the impression that his relationship with Lexie was still a well-guarded secret. Not wanting to add to his troubles or involve her he realised the only thing linking them together was her giving him access to the safe combination."

Cheryl took over as Steve devoured another mouthful of sandwich. "When Green called Lexie at school she told him she had the code written in her diary, so when he decided to turn himself in…"

Amanda nodded "he bent the truth, said he'd found her journal while snooping around the house."

"It removed Lexie from the robbery but it was also quite a clever move in another way" Mark interjected running a finger across his top lip. He wagged a finger "if Green admitted knowing the code before entering the house it would have shown his actions to be pre-meditated. But by saying he entered the house with no purpose and stumbled across the combination it made it look like a spur of the moment decision. A jury may have viewed that scenario less harshly."

"No matter now" Steve shrugged "we know that the robbery was pre-meditated and that Lexie was a willing accessory."

"Will she be charged?" Amanda asked.

Steve sighed "Technically, nobody has filed a complaint regarding the robbery. Max certainly didn't, probably for fear of bad publicity as Lexie told us. We are still holding Green under suspicion of murder but it's been two days and with lack of physical evidence his lawyer will probably have him out before tonight."

"Doesn't Corrine want to press charges over the robbery?" Jesse asked.

"And spoil the grieving widow act?" Cheryl raised her eyebrow and shook her head. "She doesn't want the bad publicity any more than Max did, and now that we know Lexie was involved she wants the whole matter brushed under the carpet."

"But she can't do that!" Jesse exclaimed, "a man is dead!"

"I know" Steve replied calmly "but it look's increasingly as though the robbery and the homicide were two unrelated crimes committed at two different times."

"By two different people" Amanda added.

"No" Jesse shook his head, "All we have is Lexie and Green saying the robbery took place at 10:30, no independent witness or evidence to back that up. Then we have Lexie saying her dad was alive when she left around 3:45. For all we know they could be pulling the wool over our eyes."

Mark frowned "It is possible that Green checked into the motel at 1:00 then drove straight back down to meet Lexie at the house at 3:30."

"Tight time frame" Cheryl reminded him.

"But possible" he continued. "As Max didn't report the robbery it is possible that it took place later in the day."

"Why lie?" Steve shrugged "Green admitted the robbery, why lie about the timing?"

Jesse rolled his eyes "to cover up a murder, maybe?" he replied sarcastically. "After all, we only have Lexie's word for the fact that her father was alive when she left to go to her friends. What's to say she, or Green, or both"

"Back all the horses" Amanda chimed in.

Jesse ignored her and continued, "they could have killed Max, Green could have driven back to the hotel and Lexie could have gone to her friends" he finished triumphantly.

Steve shook his head and sighed "no physical evidence Jess"

"Lexie's prints on the gun" the young doctor reminded him.

"Max didn't die any earlier than four pm and Lexie was at her friends house by then, she has a solid alibi" Amanda reasoned back.

"Knowing he died no earlier than four and that Luis arrived home at ten past also rules out Emerson and Kent as suspects as they were in a meeting." Steve added. "As for Alex Simmons, he has no alibi until he turned up at the self-help centre at four thirty when he conducted a tour for potential contributors. It's over an hour and a half's drive from the murder scene to the centre, and yes he would have to drive" Steve clarified before Jesse could jump in "no private helicopter waiting for him, no way he covered the distance in twenty minutes."

"Then Green" Jesse shrugged, "it has to be Green, sure the timing is tight but it's possible." On the disbelieving looks he asked "why not?"

"No prints on the gun" Mark replied.

"It's tough getting prints from a bloody weapon dad," Steve reminded him.

"Ha!" Jesse chirped triumphantly.

"I bet there was no gun shot residue on Green's hands or clothes" Amanda came back.

"But" Jesse jumped in "didn't you say" he asked looking to Cheryl "that there are instances where residue isn't found on the shooters hand?"

Steve chuckled and smiled at his partner "he's got you there, got to be careful what you say around him, he picks everything up you know."

Cheryl nodded slowly "Yes Jesse, you are perfectly right" she smiled and the young man beamed back with pride. "And a little more information about residue for you. We tested Green four days after the murder but reside is often gone from skin in as little as three hours."

"You're helping me prove my case" Jesse laughed.

"But doesn't residue stay on clothes, fabrics, for much longer?" Mark asked.

"Yes it does" Cheryl agreed "and we tested Green's clothes, but there is no way of confirming that they were the articles he wore for the robbery."

Jesse nodded "could be he ditched the things he was wearing." A huge grin spread slowly across his face. "You have to admit it is possible. Lexie met Green at the house after school, she opened the safe, he took out the money and the gun. Lexie left for her friends, hence the alibi, but Green hung around whether Lexie knew it or not. Then either Max disturbed Green and the shooting was an accident or Green intended to kill Max, lay in wait and shot him in cold blood." He grinned at his audience who sat in silence as he raced to his conclusion. "Admit it, I'm right, Matthew Green killed Max Simmons" he slapped the table.

A small chuckle escaped Steve as he couldn't help but be amused by his friends tenacity. Tenacity and an attention to detail, just like his father, all he needed now was a dose of maturity, a smattering of patience and he'd be well on the way to being another Mark Sloan, if that was possible.

"Alright" Steve conceded at last "I admit that, technically, theoretically that is, Green could have murdered Max" Jesse beamed proudly "But" Steve continued, "we still have no physical evidence."

"So he covered his tracks" Jesse smiled back.

"His story ties perfectly with Lexies" Steve countered.

"They collaborated!"

"The window of opportunity left no margin for error"

"So he got lucky" Jesse shrugged. "It may have been tight but he did have opportunity" Jesse grinned "and with the code to the safe he also had means"

Steve smiled as he realised Jesse was using the same criteria Steve had outlined just a few days previously. He didn't take much satisfaction from drawing his friend's attention to his one omission. "Two out of three ain't bad," he admitted genially "but what about motive?"

"Er, well" Jesse stammered as his mind searched for a retort. His eyes scanned the ceiling before falling back on Steve. "He got sacked" the young man suggested without conviction.

"Not by Max" Amanda reminded him

"Corrine dumped him" he changed tact, this time with more fervour in his voice.

"So why go after her husband?" Cheryl asked "And if Corrine was so important to him, why sleep with her daughter?"

Jesse was silent for a moment then glanced at his watch. Rising from the table he straightened his lab coat, "you can't prove he's innocent" he shook his head, "lack of evidence doesn't mean he didn't do it."

"No it doesn't Jess" Steve agreed "but we have this little legal quirk where we presume people are innocent until we prove otherwise."

Jesse huffed "He did it, OK, I'm backing one horse, Matthew Green, call it a hunch but I just know he did it" he stated resolutely. "Now I've got rounds" he snapped and headed for the door.

As he left Cheryl smiled at Mark, Amanda and Steve, "Where did you find that guy!" she giggled.