Michelle and I were working an undercover sting this week together. I was the woman scorned. I was going out of town for spring break. Therefore, my husband would be all alone for five days. We met with a guy who posted an ad on Craigslist for investigative services. When we met the “PI” he told us his story of how he came to be a PI. He had been out of work for over a year and friends told him he was good at catching cheaters.
I made contact in advance with the “PI” to set up a time to meet. He seemed nice enough on the phone, but we can never tell. Once we met him we knew he really was just a nice guy. We had mixed emotions about the sting because we do try to catch the “bad guys”. This case was different because he was not a true “bad guy”. Sitting in front of us during the sting was a guy just trying to make a living in a tough time.
As moms we are always watching out for our cubs by keeping danger away. This was not one of those cases. Luckily, the ending appears to have turned lemons into lemonade. The funny thing was our subject had actually applied for a job with our firm several weeks ago. This could have turned out to be the strangest job interview ever for him if he ends up actually becoming a licensed PI.
I am not sure if he will be working with us in the future or not, but it reminded us that not all of our cases involve “bad guys”. Sometimes it really is just a nice guy in the wrong circumstances.
“Where’s the hammer??” I called out to no one in particular…I continued to rummage through the refrigerator after depositing the container of petrified pasta in the sink. I walked back to the pasta and poked it with a fork. Gee I LOVE Clean the Refrigerator Day…I rummaged in the drawer for a bigger fork…or better, a mallet.
Bam Bam BAM!
I pounded on the petrified pasta to no avail–it remained a uniform solid brick. Better NOT put this in the garbage disposal…Rinnnng!
“Hello?” it was one of my fellow PI Moms checking in about an upcoming undercover sting involving a social networking site.
“Ready for tomorrow?”
“Yeah–got the the purse cam ready to go…did you secure the parking place?”
“Done.”
“See you in a few–when I have properly disposed of the Petrified Pasta….”
“Never a dull moment at your house!”
Sigh…
“
Don’t you love it when you plan and plan and things just don’t go as they should? Working as a PI Mom we are always developing Plan A, B and sometimes C for the undercover operations we conduct. It can be the difference between the success and failure of the case. An investigator cannot always plan for what a subject will do. We obtain information in our investigations that may alter the course of the entire operation.
Working as a Private Investigator has made me realize I need to do this in my personal life much more than I do. I am an adjunct professor at several universities in their criminal justice/legal department. With the economy the way it is many schools are cutting classes due to lower enrollments. I thought I had my schedule all worked out to coincide with cases at Butler and Associates. Suddenly, the university schedules have changed requiring a modification in my entire life’s schedule. Uggh is all I can say right now!
Many moms can relate to the sudden schedule changes whether it is caused by work or a sick child. It can be difficult for moms to quickly adapt because they get use to a routine that works with their family. The thing about the PI Moms is we have been trained to adapt to sudden changes in a case. We are prepared! It may not go as smoothly in our personal lives; therefore the need for PI Moms to take our work home and have a Plan A, B and C for anything that crosses our families path.
So my 15-year old son has decided to finally ask out the girl he likes. Thus begins a new adventure of discussing with my son all of the rules and etiquette of dating. Of course, this comes with grunts, groans and the “Oh please mom” comments. While we are having this discussion, I am pulled to yet another adventure—potty training. My 3-year old runs towards me clutching and yelling that he needs to use the bathroom NOW. Typical in the early stages is that we do not make it to the bathroom on time. Your child dating and going through potty training are huge milestones in both a parent’s and child’s life. I have been faced with tricky cases before, so this should be no different, right? I can handle it! Think up a plan and expect the unexpected. I am not sure I am ready for these particular adventures to begin, because my babies are growing up so fast. Luckily, I have another boy still in the baby stage. Gotta love the journey you take with your kids!
Arrived home from a case in LA after 1am only to rise Rise RISE at dawn to get the daughter off to school for AP biology lab…she IS my hero. Though exhaustion is now settling in to the point of droopy eyelids and I don’t mean droopy from botox I mean droopy from 3 kinds of tired–and the drive back can be long and long with not much to listen to but Dr. Drew, Christian radio and plenty of music from bad 80’s hair metal bands….the kind with the names one always tends to forget…”Play Freebird!” woohooo! sigh…early to bed for this PI Mamma.
