Equipment records were altered.
Money disappeared.
Thomas noticed.
He confronted Lane.
Lane insisted he knew nothing.
Their relationship collapsed.
That was when Thomas began gathering records.
The hidden charitable fund had created the door.
Someone else had walked through it.
Victor Lane eventually agreed to speak with investigators.
His version was neither heroic nor entirely innocent.
He admitted authorizing the unauthorized fund.
He admitted keeping it from the board.
He admitted pressuring Dr. Mercer and others not to ask questions because he feared scrutiny would expose the original arrangement.
But he denied stealing money.
Financial records increasingly supported him.
Aaron Pike, investigators discovered, had created a shell repair company.
Payments had flowed into it through inflated invoices.
Sometimes he delivered donated equipment while billing Mobility Bridge for supposedly purchased chairs.
Sometimes he substituted used components.
Rachel Cole had processed several suspicious payments without understanding their final destination.
She eventually became uneasy but failed to report them.
