PEDERSON: Because they felt sorry for him.
CHANG: No, because after school, he’d get them high on the weed he’d been smoking in order to survive the bullying from the rest of the kids. Circle of life. High school is an ecosystem of its own. Even when things don’t make sense.
PEDERSON: And you think Naveen doesn’t make sense.
CHANG: Humble, articulate, intelligent. Terrible athlete. Nothing in common with assholes like Eric and Adam and the “Princes.” So why’s he hanging out with them?
PEDERSON: He wasn’t in the inner circle like I am. There’s a hierarchy to the Princes. Just like there is to the Princess Game.
CHANG: You’re in the inner circle.
PEDERSON: Yeah. I mean, I was. (pause) What?
CHANG: These boys aren’t your buddies, Pederson.
PEDERSON: I know that. I’m not an idiot. Want me to go harder? I’ll go harder. Don’t treat me like a baby, Chang. I’m trying to find the murderer, just like you. That’s why I got inside the Princes. That’s why I made friends with them.
CHANG: You sure that’s why? (Chair slides.) Besides, if you’re a Prince, then everyone’s a Prince.
PHILLIP
COUNSEL: The time is 4:22 p.m. on Friday, May 1. Just confirming on the record that Phillip Aurora is neither a suspect nor a person of interest in the Princess Killer case, and this is purely a routine interview for background information that might be useful in finding the perpetrator.
CHANG: He has alibis for the murders of Ariana Merced, Charlotte Lawson, and Kelly Blake, and given that the murders are serial in nature, yes, we can rule him out as the Princess Killer for now.
COUNSEL: Then you may proceed with your questions.
PEDERSON: Five girls dead, posed as fairy-tale princesses. Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella. Snow White. Alice in Wonderland. Little Mermaid. Who’s killing them?
PHILLIP: How should I know?
PEDERSON: You hooked up with all five.
PHILLIP: I did not hook up with Kelly Blake.
PEDERSON: She said you did. As long as she promised not to tell.
PHILLIP: And you believed her?
CHANG: It’s in her texts to you. April 21. A week before she was killed. “Thanks for the great time. Still thinking about the way you smell. I promise I won’t tell. Your secret’s safe with me.”
PHILLIP: (Snorts.)
CHANG: What’s that about, then?
PHILLIP: She’s Naveen’s lab partner. Came to watch his basketball practices, because he never got to play during games. Or at least, that’s why she said she came to watch. Real reason was so she could sneak into the locker room afterward and annoy me and all the other boys she was hot for. Tried to ban her, but one time she brought Madelyn Mayberry, who made out with Kristoff in front of all of us on a dare—and ever since, we let Kelly keep barging in, hoping she’d bring another one of the Princesses. Never did. So yeah . . . I probably accidentally gave her a smile or a nod or something in the locker room, and she turned it into whatever that message said.
CHANG: “Still thinking about the way you smell.” That’s from an accidental nod?
PHILLIP: How should I know? It’s a locker room. For all I know, she was stealing our jockstraps. Kelly was nasty.
CHANG: You hook up with a lot of girls?
PHILLIP: That any of your business?
CHANG: All the girls you hook up with seem to end up dead.
PHILLIP: Well, there’s a lot more who haven’t.
CHANG: What’s your dad think about you getting around?
PHILLIP: My dad?
CHANG: He’s a church deacon.
PHILLIP: Yeah, and he brags to his friends about how much play I get. And don’t bring up my dad again or this “interview” is over.
COUNSEL: I’d say it’s over already.
PEDERSON: Huh. Weird.
PHILLIP: What?
PEDERSON: The day she sent that text message . . . you didn’t have basketball practice.
CHANG: Schedule says he did.
PEDERSON: Yeah, but the gym lights short-circuited, and coach had to cancel practice.
CHANG: How would you know?
PEDERSON: Long story.
COUNSEL: I’d like the answer on the record.
CHANG: So would I.
PEDERSON: I was hanging with someone in there. (pause) You know . . . ’cause it was dark.
CHANG: Who?
PEDERSON: Rebecca Walker.
CHANG: Principal Walker’s daughter. (Snorts.) Yeah right.
PEDERSON: Point is, there was no practice.
PHILLIP: You finally scored with Becs? In the gym? Dude. Wait till Flynn hears.
PEDERSON: No—I mean—don’t say anything.
CHANG: Hold on. Let me get this straight. We went undercover investigating students, and you were “hanging” with the daughter of the principal, who let us into his school?
PEDERSON: She’s eighteen! And she liked me! Said I’m the only good guy at Chaminade.
CHANG: And you couldn’t say no?
PEDERSON: To an awesome girl? I never got any play in high school.
CHANG: You’re not in high school!
PEDERSON: I got confused!
CHANG: Jesus Christ.
PEDERSON: Like I was saying, Phillip didn’t have basketball practice, so Kelly couldn’t have seen him there. Her text message had to have been about something else.
COUNSEL: If I’d known we were coming to a clown show instead of a questioning, I would have told my client to stay home. Look, Phillip isn’t a suspect. What are we doing here? How is any of this relevant to finding the Princess Killer?
CHANG: How is this relevant? Pederson’s right. We have a text message from a dead girl saying Phillip has a “secret” that only she knows, and Phillip’s explanation for it is a lie.
PHILLIP: You think a guy like me would hook up with Kelly Blake?
CHANG: Because a Prince wouldn’t, right? The Prince of Chaminade. Voted Best Looking three years and counting.
PHILLIP: You said it. I don’t need action from wenches.
PEDERSON: Can I see your phone?
PHILLIP: Why?
PEDERSON: To see what you replied to Kelly’s text.
COUNSEL: Funny guy. Get a warrant.
PHILLIP: Here. (sound of phone on table) I don’t care.
CHANG: A dolphin emoji. That’s what you sent back to her text.
PHILLIP: When dealing with girls, best response is a random emoji. They don’t know what to say back.
PEDERSON: (Paper shuffles.) Huh.
COUNSEL: Now what?
PEDERSON: That day, the gym went dark. Sergeant reviewed footage from the camera positioned toward the south parking lot. It’s mounted on top of the rear door to the gym, so it can track everyone coming in or out. At 3:22 p.m., right as practice starts, the lights short-circuit in the gym. Basketball team exits, including Phillip, along with the school chorus that rehearses in the basement. Then at 3:31 p.m., the camera catches Phillip going back into the gym alone.
PHILLIP: Forgot my bag.
PEDERSON: Then at 3:34 p.m., Luke Stoeckel enters the gym. He doesn’t come back out until 4:42 p.m., with Phillip . . . and then it looks like they both run into Kelly Blake in the parking lot. Luke gets in his car, but Phillip keeps talking to Kelly, pretty animatedly. Then she and Phillip go into the dark gym and don’t leave until . . . 5:12 p.m.
CHANG: Luke Stoeckel . . . Pederson, that’s the guy Kelly was trying to set you up with?
PEDERSON: Wish I was into dudes. Stoeckel’s a catch. Well, not at Chaminade, though. Principal’s files say he’s had his locker vandalized, his car spray-painted, and he got beat up by Eric and Adam at Homecoming for “harassing” Phillip. Oh, and another fun fact: Luke used to be a parishioner at Phillip’s church before Phillip’s dad had him and his parents barred from services.