Be Diligent, You Might get Something

It was 2011, and I had not had my Private Detective License all that long. Young and determined to make or break it in this world I had been working myself dry. By day, running a boutique limo service. By night, conducting surveillance. I remember the rush between the two, running back to the trunk and changing to my surveillance clothes, ready to switch hats back to my favorite job.

I went on like this working from 4am to well after midnight for just over a year. See the thing is, I wanted this career. I loved this career. I set my mind to being as purposeful and as determined as I could be. I decided then, I would always be ready, always be diligent.

See that very first year, I learned how diligence pays off. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was independence day weekend, during the hottest summer we had seen in years. I finished my limo runs, and rushed with excitement to begin this case. I had been assigned to observe an individual who had made a medical malpractice suit against his doctor. He was claiming that the procedure had damaged nerves on his right arm, ultimately hindering him from full range of motion and functionality. His wife also filed claiming Loss of Consortium, i.e., loss of affection, relationship and/or the personal companionship of husband and wife.

This case started quiet. Following the subject through town, everything normal as can be. He’d stop by the store for a cup of coffee, went to church (alone, which I scratched my head to, but he left alone, so….), and went about life as is. So the hours carried on, and I continued the surveillance back towards his home, expecting him to be done for the day. But on his way home, our subject stopped for what I assumed would be take out at the local Mexican Restaurant.

So I waited…..And waited……And waited. The unexpected was unfolding. I expected him to go in, get his food and return to the house. I could have just sat there in the parking lot waiting or assuming he was alone, yet it's when the unexpected occurs, you want a private detective to be prepared for that. I knew that something wasn't quite right. I didn’t pick up a book or get lost in my thoughts while I was in that parking lot, I was sitting there staring at the building like a hawk. Being aware that it shouldn't take 20 minutes to order and get food, I knew it was time to see what was happening on the inside. I grabbed a cell phone, which is actually a camera that is designed like a cell phone and walked in….

While waiting to be ‘seated,’ I take the opportunity to scan the room. There he is…..with a girlfriend? They’re holding hands (right arm), dipping chips into salsa (right arm), lifting one of those mega-size amber plastic cups you get in these restaurants (right arm). So there he was, just like that, the man I had been following was sitting in front of me using his arm he claimed to be hindered….and joined by a woman, who was not his wife…All captured with photo evidence. It was not what I was set out to observe. Cases like this don’t often end inside a Mexican restaurant. Yet, diligence paid off. I’m not going to lie, it felt awesome.

See whether you are a fellow detective reading this, or a partnered law firm- you know the meaning of diligence. You spend hours preparing all the time. You might sort through hundreds upon hundreds of pages of discovery. You might sit in a boiling hot car for 15 hours on the hottest weekend of the year. But no matter what it takes to get something done, you do it. That’s what’s right for your clients. Being diligent in all areas grants us the success that we strive to achieve.

Our surveillance subject ended up losing his case against our client, and with our unexpected find, so did his wife. It wasn’t easy to be diligent when I was an exhausted young investigator 10 years ago. Good things just don’t come easy. A decade later, and I’m not that young PI anymore. I’m the lead investigator and owner of Katella Investigations, a team of international Private Investigators who are devoted to our core values. We’ve used our core values to help people with incredible stories, using incredible tactics. We’ve brought back missing people, proven innocence, helped victims find justice, and more.