There were still pieces missing from what Alex knew, some of which Simon could fill in, but others he was still waiting on her to uncover the links to in the show. Regardless of that he knew full well how far-reaching this all was. How much danger she and Strand have been in all this time. They were everywhere, absolutely everywhere, and had far too much influence to easily evade.

"You accept the evidence in front of you," Simon does manage to squeeze in at least one counter against Strand. Richard stubbornly covers his eyes and sweeps it all away with "apophenia" and never has to look any deeper than that. Alex was never satisfied with easy answers. Simon wasn't satisfied with lies. Simon will be polite and refrain from being excessively snide about Strand to Alex. He's not going to talk shit that isn't the truth.

Just... often the truth was also talking shit. To a degree.

"He always has been, Alex, but you knew that already," A little snide, as Simon does. "I imagine it has something to do with this place. The connection to Navi amplifies things. And then there's the other one." Back to being cryptic thank you Simon.