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Detective

June 12, 2017

There are many jobs that require licenses, like a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, an architect, etc. If not, maybe some people would die because of a bad surgery, or maybe some buildings would collapse because of a bad design. On the other hand, there are some jobs that don't require licenses, like a writer, an artist, a sports player, etc. They earn their living only with their skills. Also shops, like a boutique or convenience stores don't need licenses. They only need to offer good services, or the customers would leave. He thought that detectives would require a professional license. He thought that it would require to pass a difficult exam. In fact, to be a detective, one needed to obtain a license; but, it didn't require an exam. One only needed to submit a document to the police, and that's it. As he was an enthusiastic fan of Sherlock Holmes from his school days, he always vaguely thought to be a detective someday. When he quit his job because of a quarrel with his boss, he decided to be a detective. Thanks to the information from the Internet, he could learn a lot about detectives. The most frequent assignments for detectives were as follows: Search about love affairs; Search about the person who the client or their child were to marry; Looking for a missing person; Investigating about stalkers; Search about a company's contractors. Although he preferred more movie-like investigations, maybe if he continued with these search cases, then there should be some Sherlock Holmes-like requests among them, he thought. He rented an office on the second floor of an old building in the downtown area. He submitted the required documents to the police, and received a detective permit. When he returned to the office, he sealed a sign on the window, which read 'XXX (his name) Detective Office 〜Do you need Sherlock Holmes?'   As he didn't have any customers at the moment, he started his self- training. First, he studied how to follow a person without being noticed. This was simple training. He picked out one person and started to follow him. If it is in a downtown area, it is not difficult to follow. They don't notice you even if you are walking just behind them because the noise and crowd erases your existence. But, if it is on a lonely street, especially at night, it is totally different because the person is very sensitive to others. He practiced again and again until he was able to do it stealthily.   He learned what he could do and what he couldn't do as a detective. He couldn't enter other's properties; he couldn't put wiretaps (eavesdrop devices) on others' properties. You can talk to people related to the case, but you can't force them to answer. One month passed. There were no customers. It seemed natural because this type of business needs trust. Being trusted is needed, and he didn't have it. One day a strange thing occurred: A woman in her 30's knocked on the door of his office and consulted him about her concerns: She had a close friend when she was a high school student, and she wanted to know how she was doing. She gave him a memorial book from their graduation. She showed him a picture of herself and her friend. They were cute girls. There was an address list of the graduating students at the end of the book. He said, "So you don't know where she lives, her present family name, or if she is married." She said, "That's right. After a couple of years after our graduation, we had a big fight. We haven't met for more than thirty years. Recently I had surgery and realized the importance of being healthy, and remembered my young days. At least, I'd like to know whether she is ok or not." She changed her voice tone and added, "We used to like to read Sherlock Holmes very much, so I came here." He asked her about her other friends' names and their pictures in the book, and started to search. It took one week to find her friend. She lived in the next prefecture and worked as a cashier in a supermarket. She didn't look talkative. He didn't see her talking to any of her colleagues, so he decided not to ask her colleagues about her. She lived in an apartment alone. She didn't have a cat or a dog. She liked reading detective stories. He was able to notice this at the book store when she was browsing. One night after finishing her work, he was following her at a distance in a residential area. Suddenly, she stopped and looked back at him. Her face was hard. He cursed his amateurishness, but it was too late. He needed something to say.  He said, "Excuse me, but do you like Sherlock Holmes?" She looked at him in a perplexed face, then it became calm. Now he felt that she was looking past him, remembering her younger days.

*require :必要とする
*contractor :契約者
*stealthily :気づかれることなく
*wiretap :盗聴
*eavesdrop :盗み聞く