As always my story starts by getting a phone call, this time it was not from a client but in fact another PI (Mike) who needed me to fit a vehicle tracker on his behalf, he had obviously had a call from a client himself that needed this doing (at one stage I was one of very few people who used to fit these or at least one of the only ones who did it for a decent price). The tracker needed to be fitted that same night to a camper van that would be parked outside the clients house, Mike went on to explain that the clients husband was planning to go away for a long weekend by himself and he would be taking the camper van with him, the client was obviously suspicious about this and wished to track his movements over the coming weekend.
I set off about 23:00 (the later I went out the better as it reduces the risk of being seen) and arrived at the target location some 45 mins later. When I arrived it was a really quite looking area (the best kind), there was no traffic, no one was about and all curtains in the street were closed. Normally I would park my car a couple of streets away from the target but this area seemed really safe, it looked like it was going to be an easy job. I parked my car just 50 meters in front of the camper van (this was just really lazy of me). Once parked up I sat in my car for a few minutes while I set up the tracker to make sure it was working correctly before I deployed it. Once I was happy all was OK with the device I got out of the car and began on foot.
Now normally before I deployed a tracker I would take a long walk around the area often doing several laps of the housing estate just so that I could get a good feel of the area, I would be looking out for people who may be outside, people who may be looking out of windows, cars coming past and of course a good look at the targets vehicle and property but most of all I just needed to gain a feel for the area. I have in the past had a bad feeling about a place and I learnt that you should listen to this no matter how silly it feels as it often turns out that there is a good reason for it.
This place was different though, the street was calm, quiet and no one was about so I guessed it would be simple, I had a quick walk around the block just to be sure. The best part about it was when I looked at the vehicle itself, the camper van was parked on the road just outside the clients house, it was quite a high vehicle which was great as it meant the neighbours on the other side of the street wouldn't be able to see me. It gets even better though as the neighbours on my side of the street couldn't see me either as all the houses had tall conifer trees in their front garden. This was great not only was this a nice area but I was so well hidden that I could actually take my time to fit the device.
I got down on the floor and lay under the vehicle, there was plenty of space to do this because the vehicle is quite high off the ground. I took the device out of my pocket and fitted it quietly to the underside of the camper-van. The only issue with the van being so tall is the fact that it is very easy for the target to stick his head under the van and see there is a tracker fitted, with this in mind I tried several areas under the van to see which would be best. I worked quickly as I wanted to be gone as soon as possible, I literally moved the device to three or four different location. Each time I moved it, the magnets made a very quiet noise as they made contact with the metal but I was positive no one would be able to hear this as it was so quiet.
What the client forgot to inform everybody was the fact that the target was actually sleeping inside the camper-van (the noise of the magnets would have woke him up). The shocked look on my face must have been a picture as the vans doors swung open just above my head, I shot up in a tenth of a second. The target approached me, he was quite a large guy (overweight) and was probably aged between 50-60 years old and was dressed not much better than Rab-C-Nesbit (photo below).
"What are you doing!!" he began shouting.
I'm sure you could all come up with a great excuse to get me out of this mess but at that moment I totally froze and I came out with what must have been the worse excuse possible.
"Er, I'm looking for my tennis ball" I said (as if he was really going to buy that). "yeah right" he said "I have already had two break in attempts in this week." The stupid thing is I was actually quite relived about the fact he thought I was trying to break in as at least it meant that he had no idea that there was a tracker fitted to the underside of his vehicle. "I'm not trying to break in" I said. It was at this point that I realised that this conversation was leading no where fast and so before it turned nasty I simply said "you look a little too old to run", "what" he replied, at that I ran past him down the street in the opposite direction to my car. "where are you going" he shouted down the street, I just kept on going.
This wasn't exactly the best situation to be in right now, the tracker was fitted and so the job was done which meant normally I could go home but not this time because I had carelessly parked my car in front of the targets vehicle it meant that I would have to allow the guy at least an hour to calm down and go to sleep. The other issue I had was the fact that he may have actually seen me get out of my car which meant he already knows the car belongs to me anyway. I had to take the chance that he was none the wiser and just aimlessly walk around for the next hour.
Some fourty five minutes later I decided to check back at the scene and test the waters, to my horror I was assured that the target was not asleep due to the fact there were two Police cards parked outside the clients property. At this point I really didn't care about the fact that the Police had been called out all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed but this obviously wasn't going to happen any time soon. I continued to walk round the streets like a cold homeless person feeling quite anxious and frustrated about the fact that I had no idea what time I would be getting out of this place and weather or not I was going to be spending the night being interviewed by the Police. The only thing going for me was the fact that the Police could have been there long before I had even seen them, so with this in mind I decided to head back to the scene some 20 minutes later. I was in luck this time, the Police had left and all seemed calm again. The only problem was the fact that I was behind the van and my car was in front of it, I really needed to make sure that there was no way that I was going to be spotted by the target again, the only way to do this was to approach the vehicle from the other side so that I could be sure the target wan't sat in the front seat plus it would also mean I was closer to my car.
So I decided that I had to find a way round the housing estate so that I would be closer to my vehicle, this may sound easy but when its 2am and I'm tired, cold and there was no such thing as Google maps for your mobile phone it really was the last thing I wanted to be doing right now. After about 20 minutes or so I was able to make my way round so that I entered the close from the opposite side. I cut across the front lawn of the end house and hid behind one of their bushes so that I could see the front of the camper van without being seen myself (I hoped anyway). To my relief the target had placed a blind across the windscreen of his van and so I was happy that I could make my way to my vehicle, I quietly opened my door and quickly got inside closed it again, I then sat still in my car for a minute to ensure the noise hadn't disturbed him before driving away. I must have returned home at about three in the morning.
I spoke with my colleague the next day to let him know that I had fitted the device, he then told me that the client no longer needed the device and wished to cancel the job. The reason for this was apparently someone had tried to break into their van last night leaving the couple quite shaken up and so the target had cancelled his weekend away.
So basically all that was for nothing and I couldn't even charge anyway as it was my fault the target had cancelled his trip, what could I say apart from............
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