The Real Lady Detective Agency: A True Story. Rebecca Jane

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СКАЧАТЬ the meantime it was just me and my princess. And to be honest, that was all I needed.

      I managed to finish the house I was developing by the skin of my teeth, thirteen weeks after I’d been given the ultimatum. I was a week over deadline, but somehow got away with it. I made no profit and my career in property development was officially over. I was down to my last house – the one I bought as a barn in the middle of a field in 2006 and turned into a home from nothing. It was secluded, isolated and still needed some work doing. I utterly loved it though. Paris and I moved into it, and lived between there and my parents’ home. It was fantastic to have my parents’ support at that time because, if I’m being honest, the barn was a lonely place where the two of us just had a few dozen sheep for company. I actually ended up spending most of my time at my parents’ house, which meant they could help me out looking after Paris.

      Next, I needed to find a new job and there was an idea that had been ticking over in the back of my mind for some time. I wanted to open a private investigation company. I had a strong feeling there was a market for it. Our company would be understanding and affordable. When people picked up the phone, just as I had, it meant they were going through one of the most traumatic periods of their lives. They needed someone who understood and could relate to them rather than someone who was trying to rip them off. People don’t phone investigators for fun. When you reach that point, it’s deadly serious.

      As I’d found, it wasn’t possible to hire a private investigator for an hour. Instead a big institution rips you off for at least a day’s fee plus expenses at a time when you are at your most vulnerable. I wanted people to turn to us because we understood how they felt and would do what was needed at minimal cost. And there was no question that I understood what it felt like to be cheated on. I could have written a book on the subject!

      The only problem was that after the property crash and my divorce taking every last penny I had, I was left with almost nothing. Even though I still had my barn home, an impending lawsuit with my soon-to-be ex-husband meant it could and most likely would be taken away from me at any second. I was prepared to fight to the bitter end to stay there and retain the beautiful house I’d made, but I knew it wasn’t very likely. I may not have had the million-pound home or the fancy cars any more but I didn’t care. I felt nothing but freedom and happiness. Mum pleaded and begged me to get a proper job, and I know I could have walked into most estate agencies and earned £30,000 a year as a sales agent – enough for Paris and me to live a reasonably comfortable life … But it wasn’t my dream.

      Dad understood. He said to Mum: ‘Rebecca won’t listen to anyone. When she decides she’s doing it, she’s doing it. Now hush up and support her.’

      I had mountains of passion and determination. I just had to figure out a way to make my new venture work.

FINDING OUR FEET

      ‘Hi, girls, how do you fancy starting our own detective agency?’

      Steph, Helen and Jess look at me as though I’m bonkers but – to give them their due – they go along with it, even if at first I can tell they’re just humouring me. We start throwing ideas back and forth, exploring the concept, and gradually they seem to start believing in it. There was never any question in my mind that they would be part of it.

      I know that starting a brand new business venture with no capital isn’t going to be fun. Let’s face facts, though – when you hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere else to go, right?

      ‘Let me get this straight: we’re literally going to watch people?’ Jess asks me.

      ‘Well, that’s the idea!’

      Back in primary school, I used to spend weeks writing scripts and putting on miniature pantomimes with my friends. We’d have ‘big’ ideas of putting them on the school stage and performing to fellow classmates, but they never actually took off. I know that the detective agency could be really good – no, amazing – work. Making it a reality was another thing. It could go the same way as The Wizard of Oz very quickly!

      ‘Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it?’ I say to the ladies, tapping my pen on the table.

      ‘It does a bit, yeah,’ Steph agrees.

      ‘But we have to give it our best shot. Something tells me it will work. People need the help, and we’re the perfect people to give it. We know where they’re coming from, and we’ve all been there.’ I look at the ladies, and it’s true. We’ve all been cheated on at some point. They’re nodding!

      ‘I totally agree. If it doesn’t work, then at least we know we tried,’ Jess says with conviction.

      ‘That’s more like it.’

      ‘I just think it’s really darn cool. Will people really pay us to watch their other halves? … I’m so excited!’ Steph squeals.

      It’s hard work getting it off the ground. I spend several months producing a website and designing lots of marketing flyers. And I have to give Steph, Helen and Jess credit – they are genuinely amazing. They pound the pavements delivering flyers to anywhere and everywhere, identify key areas for us to market and help with the optimisation of the website. We all read anything and everything we can find about methods of detection: surveillance, background checking, DNA testing – you name it. We call experts and pick their brains. We spend hours on the Internet, getting excited about every new discovery. We live and breathe the subject and it’s all we talk about between the four of us.

      I have a gut instinct I am going to find this work fascinating. I never felt I entirely fitted in when I was doing property development or working for big companies, but a little business like this sounds like my dream job.

      By rights this master plan of ours shouldn’t work. For some strange reason, though, I feel it might just come off. We’ll each work from home to start off with, and mine will be the main number to call, but I’ll bring in the others as and when I need them. And we’ll call it ‘The Lady Detective Agency’. For years ‘Lady’ has been my nickname. Even my car registration plate says ‘Lady’ – something I’ll have to change, actually, because it’s a little too obvious for surveillance missions. The only flaw is that it sounds like we only help women, when really we want to help anyone. Men are just as insecure as women, and women are unfaithful just as much as men – I should know. But my gut instinct tells me the name is right for now anyway!

      When we can’t possibly do any more research, or read anything else about investigation, and our lives have become totally engrossed in the new business, we start doing some surveillance work for friends, without charging, and that helps us to hone our methods and work out where the pitfalls might lie. But still we haven’t had a paying job.

      I am almost losing the faith, when one day about four weeks after we first start planning the agency …

      The phone has finally started to ring! I’m spinning round on my new revolving chair when the Mission Impossible soundtrack – my new ringtone – begins to emit from my mobile. I wonder if this whole ‘private detective’ thing is going to my head? I’m loving the training, and I’m loving everything surrounding it, but have to keep reminding myself that I’m supposed to be a serious businesswoman.

      It’s a lovely summer day in 2009, pleasantly warm but not too hot. I’ve spent the morning with Paris, who is now at playschool. One of the huge benefits of having free time is that I’m getting to spend proper mothering time with her.

      Anyway, СКАЧАТЬ