“I don’t know.”
That answer frightened me more than any explanation I could have invented.
We called Officer Daniels.
He asked us not to confront anyone.
Twenty-five minutes later, he and Officer Cooper were sitting at our kitchen table while the brown envelope lay between us.
Inside were invoices, grant agreements, shipping lists, and pages of Thomas’s handwritten notes.
There was no dramatic confession.
No secret ledger marked criminal evidence.
Instead, there was what Thomas had always been good at recognizing:
small inconsistencies.
A wheelchair billed at $6,800 but carrying a serial number belonging to a discontinued model.
A powered mobility unit purchased twice on paper.
Three grant checks issued for equipment supposedly delivered to families whose signatures did not match.
And beside several entries, the initials A.P.
Aaron Pike.
But Dr. Mercer’s name appeared too.
Not as a recipient.
As a witness.
He had been the assistant principal responsible for accessibility programs when Westbrook first partnered with Mobility Bridge.
