I get the feeling that this is a really cool story but it's hard to see how any of these events relate to one another.

So your buddy PI slogs through a series of bad 'investigations', and is finally asked to do some work he initially enjoys but later procrastinates on. Wait though! It's all set because, surprise surprise, the as-yet-unmentioned baddie was faking the results all along!

I get the feeling that your last paragraph is supposed to be a stunning wrap up, but after some reflection I've concluded this is only because of the preexisting motif that everything after "and it turned out.." is a galactic burn.