At the time, I had thought nothing of it.
Now I felt the past rearranging itself.
Rebecca watched my face.
“He discovered irregularities.”
Officer Daniels immediately stepped in.
“What kind?”
“Equipment purchases that didn’t match deliveries. Duplicate invoices. Serial numbers that appeared more than once.”
Maya’s father stared at her.
“How long ago?”
“Nearly four years.”
I felt Julian’s hand find mine.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Rebecca looked toward him.
“He may have been trying to protect the investigation.”
“What investigation?” I asked.
“There wasn’t an official one. Not then.”
Her face tightened.
“Tom came to me because I handled grant records. We compared paperwork for several months. We thought someone was purchasing new adaptive equipment using grant funds, then substituting refurbished equipment and reselling the new units elsewhere.”
Officer Cooper was writing quickly.
“Did you identify anyone?”
“Not conclusively.”
“Aaron Pike?”
“He was one person we questioned internally.”
