We got an assignment to drive up north close to the state line to work a surveillance involving a guy who was working light duty a few hours a day, two or three days a week because he had been injured on the job. He worked for a small manufacturing company near the edge of town and was drawing workers’ compensation. We were to pick him up there as he left his light duty and see where he would lead us.
Working in rural areas and small towns is touchy because almost everybody knows everybody, and they all recognize strangers. I had Randy helping me with this one, and we each had a vehicle. He had a regular passenger car, and I had our van. We had a set of two-way radios too.
To start out, we parked Randy’s car in a church parking lot out in the country. We both got in the van to watch this guy’s workplace and follow him to his home. Turns out he lived out in the country on a paved county road with a large cornfield across from it and fields all around the farmstead. Not a very good place to conduct surveillance. We have to be careful not to break any trespass laws when we do this. We have to stay on public property or have permission to be on private ground. So laying out in one of the fields was out of the question. We needed some way to keep an eye on the place, so we drove back to Randy’s car to discuss our strategy.
The farmstead on the blacktop road was about 1/8 mile off the main highway into town. It was summertime and sweet corn time. While Randy began drive-by’s with his car, I went into town and bought three large paper bags full of sweet corn from the grocery store. Then I went out to our guy’s turnoff and set up my stand. I opened up the back of the van and put a blanket up inside to hide all our surveillance gear. I put out a sign advertising sweet corn at a substantially higher price than people could buy it in town, so I didn’t anticipate much business. But I could see our guy’s house from my stand with binoculars. It was about four miles around the section to accomplish a drive-by. As Randy was finishing up this one, he suddenly said over the radio, “He’s working out in his yard.” Music to my ears.
We took down our sweet corn stand and both drove to the church parking lot. Our decision was to both get in the van, with Randy driving and me with the video camera trying to get footage as we drove by the house. It didn’t work out too well on the first pass, so I had an idea. I told Randy to drive close to the farm and turn the ignition switch off and on like he was having car trouble.
Then I told him to get out, kick the tire, and cuss loud enough for the guy out in his yard to hear him. We wanted him to see Randy walking back to town for help. Randy played his part perfectly and left me locked in the back of the van directly across from the guy’s house. I was there for over an hour watching this guy re-sheet the roof of his shed. He drove plywood over on a tractor with forks on the front of it, got off and climbed a ladder, and took the sheets of plywood off the forks and threw them onto the roof. I taped it all as he laid the pieces in place and nailed them, swinging the hammer like a pro.
I called Randy on the radio and told him it was time to come get me. I told him to bring his car, pull over on my side of the road facing the van, and open the hood. The sliding door of the van was facing away from our guy, so I snuck out and acted like I had arrived in Randy’s car with him. Amazingly enough, we got the van running fairly quickly and both drove away grinning from ear to ear.
T. W. Person is a veteran of seventeen years as a licensed private investigator. His investigative roots began with the US Air Force, where he held a Top Secret clearance as a Russian linguist. It was there he first encountered the lure of searching for and finding that which others endeavor to hide. His investigative career has taken him into the world of civil lawsuits, cheating spouses, drug dealers and murderers. He has become adept at surveillance, witness interviews and information searches. Now of retirement age, he still enjoys the hunt. He is married with two grown sons and six granddaughters.
Copies of his book, Milo Powell, PI, are available at Xlibris.com, at the web site www.milopowellpi.com or they can be obtained by emailing milopowellpi@aol.com. Using the email method, they can get a signed softcover copy. The Xlibris and web site price is set by the publisher at $19.95 plus shipping for softcover, but we can offer them a Pursuit Magazine special for $17 plus $2 for shipping ($19 total) if they order by email.