Private investigations

A story that took me almost two years to complete.

* * *

It's a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses

I work as a private investigator. My office is on the third floor of a decrepit building. The paint is peeling off the walls and the ceiling is cracked. Times are hard and clients are few. The job doesn't pay well, but a guy's got to do something for a living.

Confidential information
It's in a diary
This is my investigation
It's not a public inquiry

So what do I investigate? Unreliable employees, cheating spouses, digging up the past of a future son-in-law or daughter-in-law. I do them all. If there is something you want to know, you come to me.

My work is a source of tension at home. Especially the lack of money part. The wife stopped airing her complaints, once she realised whatever she said would not have an effect on me. We hardly talk unless it is necessary.

The son has ideas similar to his mother. My lack of social graces embarass him; he'd rather be seen without me.

In whole, strangers live under a roof.

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In this line of work

One day, a man walked in. He suspected his wife was cheating on him. He wanted proof he could show his divorce lawyer. And the money was big. I was surprised, but shrugged the thought away. After all, it is his money, his life.

Treachery and treason
There's always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can't get used to it

It did not take me very long to find out who the lover was. A week later, I followed the woman from a distance as she drove to meet her lover. The camera snapped away, and soon I had emptied my film roll. My client would soon get the proof he wanted; he would be happy. I knew I wasn't.

And what have you got at the end of the day?
What have you got to take away?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window
And a pain behind the eyes

I had made an extra copy of a photograph that showed the faces of the woman and her lover very clearly. I put it in an envelope and placed it on the table.

In my son's bedroom.

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations