Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

70. Investigation (2)

"So you never made it back to your room that night?"

Alexander shook his head, inhaling deeply and glancing around and back up toward his classmates who were out of earshot but still observing them.

"And you were in custody until your parents came for you the next day?" 

"I can't really...talk to you about that."  Alexander suddenly tried to withdraw and took a step back as if he wanted to emphasize that he was about to walk away.

"Alexander, I'm really not interested in the pills."  She lowered her voice. "It's already been resolved. But I need to know where everyone was that night.  Otherwise I can't prove who made the video." She gave him a quick smile.

Alexander seemed to calm down slightly although he was still nervous. "Right."

"So you weren't in your room..."

Alexander shook his head slightly wishing for the conversation would end without him having to say another full sentence.

"And where were you coming from...when you...?"

"There was a party.  I left first.  We usually stagger our...departures...we can't come back to Forest Ridge in a big group."

Johansson nodded and thought of Alexander being sent out first to draw attention from the other students so that they could return undetected.  Alexander was apparently the most expendable of the group.

"What happened at the party?"

Alexander shrugged and his eyes darted around, avoiding her gaze for a moment before he finally answered.  "They al played drinking games.  Took pills. Then I left. I don't know what they did after."

"Who else was there?"  As soon as she asked, she could see Alexander look up the hill at his classmates again, probably worried that he was throwing them to the wolves just as they'd done to him.

"The kids who come from nobility."  He didn't elaborate or give any names, still trying to hurry the interview along.

"Ah.  Ok.  So August...You don't know what he did after?"

Alexander shrugged again.  "I didn't see him after the party, but he probably stopped at my window, then he couldn't get in so he moved over to Wille's."  Alexander lowered his voice as if it was uncomfortable to say.  "Then he filmed them."

Johansson raised her eyebrows at Alexander and watched his change in expression as she asked her next question.  "Do you think it could have been anyone else?"

Alexander bit his lower lip and furrowed his eyebrows then shook his head adamantly. "No.  It was definitely him.  He told me so."

"He told you?"  Johansson watched Alexander, nonplussed.

"Yeah." Alexander smirked and nodded adamantly.  He saw that Johansson was patiently waiting for him to explain further.

"He found out they were going to report him so he found a way to stop Wille and Simon.  He had this idea for us to tell them I'd take the blame."

She watched him skeptically, frowning. "And you agreed?"  

"We weren't actually going to do it.  It was just to stop them from reporting him."

She contemplated him in silence for a moment, perplexed at how he could possibly have thought that scheming with someone who'd made a sex tape of their classmates and leaked it on the internet, one of whom was his own cousin, would ever be a good idea.  Then she remembered that he was only sixteen.

Alexander saw the look on her face.  He scoffed and shrugged his shoulders again, then took a deep breath before explaining further. "Wille pretended to be my friend, but he was lying to protect Simon.  He blamed me for the drugs so Simon wouldn't get expelled."