The investigation expanded.
Morrow Industrial was searched.
Warehouses were searched.
Bank accounts were examined.
Investigators discovered equipment worth millions of dollars.
Some of it still had Bellweather serial numbers.
Maggie was asked to identify the equipment.
She did.
One machine after another.
She remembered them from the North Plant.
A hydraulic press.
Three industrial cutting systems.
Twenty-four motors.
Several specialized components.
The evidence was overwhelming.
Bellweather had been losing assets for years.
But the question remained.
Who had organized it?
Martin Hale?
Daniel?
Someone else?
Then Victor Lang disappeared.
His car remained in the company garage.
His office was empty.
His phone was turned off.
Daniel was already in custody.
Martin had stopped answering calls.
Victor was the president.
His disappearance changed the entire investigation.
Sarah called Maggie.
“We need to talk.”
Maggie met her at a quiet café.
Sarah placed a file on the table.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“A property record.”
Maggie opened it.
She recognized the address.
A remote cabin.
It belonged to Victor's family.
“Do you think he's there?”
“We're checking.”
Maggie looked at the document.
“Why would he run?”
Sarah hesitated.
“Because he may know more than he's told us.”
They found Victor two days later.
He was alive.
He was frightened.
And when Maggie walked into the room where he was being interviewed, he looked at her for a long time.
Then he said:
“I should have listened to you.”
Maggie sat down.
“You should have listened to the documents.”
Victor looked away.
“How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
He closed his eyes.
“I knew something was wrong three years ago.”
Maggie remained silent.
“I found irregularities in the asset records.”
“Why didn't you report them?”
“I tried.”
“To whom?”
“Martin.”
Maggie frowned.
“That was your mistake.”
“I know.”
Victor continued.
“He told me everything had been approved.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“I became suspicious.”
“Then why didn't you act?”
Victor looked at her.
“Fear.”
Maggie nodded.
“Fear explains silence.”
“But it doesn't excuse it.”
“No.”
Victor's voice cracked.
“I thought I could fix it quietly.”
“Could you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“They threatened me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Maggie studied him.
“You do.”
Victor looked down.
“Martin.”
“And Daniel?”
Victor did not answer.
That was enough.
Maggie understood.
Daniel was not the mastermind.
Martin was.
But even Martin was not the beginning.
Sarah entered the room.
“Victor, we need the whole story.”
He nodded.
Then he began.
The fraud had started years earlier.
At first, it was small.
Unused machinery was sold through outside companies.