Trouble And Money #36

The Hampton Ground And Brew - Hampton, New Hampshire

I'm trying to make this year a record year for income with my Private Investigation service. It's a tricky business to create a steady, predictable cash flow.

I'm about to jump into a case I would have turned down in earlier years, but it is an easy layup, and the woman hiring me may own a bank or something. ( Great hair, nails, scent, a Range Rover, an expensive diamond ring equal to the GDP of Rhode Island)

This kind of business has suffered due to easy information finding, low-cost tracking devices, deployable tiny cameras, and smartphones.

Smartphones...the rectangle of pure joy and wonder is the downfall and enabler of cheating spouses and a killer of the Detective profession.

Tiny cameras and crumbled up ghost pepper chips have made refrigerator theft at workplaces something to be celebrated.

Affordable car tracking devices cause spouses to storm cheap hotel rooms and restaurants to confront cheaters.

During the final confrontation, the smartphone is always present, causing the owner to strike a pose where the camera is held with two hands facing forward. The owner records the crime in rumpled sheets, French restaurants, and the back seats of cars.

The camera holder always exudes a smugness. Sometimes it makes me sympathetic for the"caught."

Am I human or one of those evil men?

Adults would be smart to talk with their kids to learn strategies for learning counter surveillance techniques.

Nobody is as skilled at "flying under the radar" as a young person doing something their parents disapprove of.

Trust me, they are adroit at evasion. If you, as a parent, suspect something is going on, don't believe a word your kid says.

To that end...

I met Mrs. Ellen Defalter at a coffee shop in the buzzy downtown of Hampton, New Hampshire.

Ellen explained in great detail what she needed me to do, and I wrestled with the different ways to say, "I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of case I work on." 

 Remember, I am fresh off a government contract. I should gross about $12,000.00 for dodging lead.

 I can afford to be picky...today.

 She started crying, and suddenly, I agreed to a missing persons case.

 Her 19-year-old son has been gone for five months.

  He attended college, attended classes, made new friends, and told his parents he "was going away to find direction."

 He has ghosted Mom and Dad.

 I explained my significant daily rate plus expenses. She was not put off. I looked at her engagement ring,

 "If this involves me having to travel, you understand you will be responsible for my time and expenses, which include coffee money, hotels, and, if needed, flights," I said.

 I matter of factly said, "Experience has shown this kind of case will take five to ten days to do it right." 

 Do you like how I dropped that whopper? It didn't phase her desire to hire me or her banking account.

 She said, "I'll transfer $10,000.00 right now to get you on board to finding my son.

 I asked her, "What would you like me to do when I find him?"

 "We need to make sure he's okay. You don't have to confront him; we would prefer if he didn't know we sent you."

 I spent the next two hours listening and asking questions.

 As we left, I told her I would email her my first findings in two days.

(I didn't know while I sat in the coffee shop listening about what would typically be an easy case, that it would turn out to be complex, deadly, and lucrative.- Conrad Grange, Private Investigator)

Trouble And Money is published Monday through Friday. It is a free serial fiction detective story with characters you will love. Read the adventures of Conrad Grange as he solves cases and contends with a harsh world.