To be honest, it was a suspicion that the manager had and he did tell you in confidence because of your 'friendship' and I think that he probably only told you this because of that condition. Therefore I don't think that you can really hold him liable for divulging what his thoughts were - he wasn't telling you on a 'professional' level (so to speak) but more of on a ('Hey, friend, we think this might have happened...'). Who knows, as long as they took the blame and stepped up
