Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

69. Investigation (1)

They denied everything.  It was expected but still frustrating.

First, no one would admit to having seen the video to determine if it had been filmed at the school.

Second, the headmistress claimed that once the Crown Prince had denied being in the video, it was no longer considered the school's concern.  

Johansson suggested they could have reported it anyway, as the school had its duty of care toward its students.

"One of the students was recognizable though.  Why didn't that prompt you or your staff to report it?"

"His family never came forward to say anything to us, but I realise now that we should have reported it.  I sincerely regret that we didn't, but of course now that's obvious." Anette looked away from the detective.

Johansson narrowed her eyes at the headmistress as she prepared herself for the reaction to the next question.

"Were you ever asked not to report it?"

Anette hesitated only briefly, then replied that no, of course she wasn't.

"But you saw the pixel evidence too...why didn't you report anything then?"

Anette was clearly very nervous as the weight of her involvement settled on her shoulders.

"We didn't want to ruin anyone's life.  It was suggested that the pixels had been photoshopped and it seemed plausible."

"Don't you think it would have been a good idea to report it to the police so that we could determine if that was true?"

Anette shifted in her seat. "Hindsight is 20/20.  We just didn't want to involve the police and destroy anyone's future if it wasn't necessary."

Johansson shook her head imperceptibly as she sat across from Anette.  Of course it was necessary.

She wondered if the headmistress really hadn't come up with any better defense for her negligence.

Johansson decided not to insist.  She knew she was being lied to, but catching the headmistress in covering up the scandal wasn't her first priority.  She had something more important to worry about.

She finished the interview with the intention of coming back to the headmistress once she'd gathered more evidence against August.

In any case, she knew none of the staff would be willing to stick their neck out.

The one who had was already on "temporary leave".  She decided that making the headmistress or staff more nervous than they already were was pointless.

She concluded her interviews for the day and left the staff building then headed down toward Forest Ridge.  

She briefly lifted her hand to greet her colleagues from a distance then turned to glance at the students that were gathered nearby, watching the investigators take photos outside the Crown Prince's window.  

It was their way to confirm that the video had indeed been filmed in the same location, but also, thoroughly surveying the area might help reveal any details they'd missed that could connect August to the video.

Wilhelm and Simon were out for the afternoon somewhere on campus as far as she knew.  They didn't want to be at the center of everything that was going on that day to be observed by their classmates.

Johansson remembered that Wilhelm had explained that August had ended up at his window that night as he was trying to sneak back in from the party they'd both been to.