5. Research

Ian and Chrissy are put under the microscope.

Jonathon, Stefanie and Becka all sat down at a small, round table in the hotel lounge. Both women had several sheets of paper in their hands. “Okay, guys, what have you found out?” asked Jonathon with a touch of eagerness.

Stefanie began, “Their names are Ian Stewart and Chrissy Allen. Married a little over two years. They live about three hours from here. Here's their address.” She handed him one of her papers. “It's an apartment complex. All ground level units. The car's registered to him. There's a motorcycle registered to her, a Yamaha V-Star 250.” She laid another paper on the table.

“I'll start with her,” she continued. As she spoke, she laid printed pages on the table with all the details. Jonathon or Becka would occasionally pick one of them up and peruse them as Stefanie went on with her report. “She's definitely the more interesting of the two. She's twenty-eight. Born in Quebec, Canada. Emigrated to the U.S. with her mother when she was a child. Fluent in English and French. She's a bit of a hot-head. Got kicked out of high school for fighting. Arrested a couple of times for bar-fights. She's a former drug addict. Has a record - nothing really bad. Misdemeanor assault, theft, possession, a prostitution charge that was dropped. She works at a custom business software company as a translator and an account rep for their French-Canadian clients.” She paused and looked up at them. “Frankly, I'm having a hard time picturing her dealing with customers.”

Jonathon interrupted, “Any chance she's still using drugs?”

“I doubt it,” she answered, “Her record doesn't show any activity for the past seven years. Of course, people can conceal drug use for years and never get caught. However... the little girl, Emily, was orphaned at age six. Her parents were killed in a car accident. They adopted her about a year ago. If our Ms. Allen was still using drugs the background check should have caught it. They're usually pretty thorough.”

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Um...” she checked her papers. “Only that she's into photography. She's entered some local competitions and won some awards. That's all. It's Becka's turn.”

Jonathon turned to Becka as she began to speak. “Ian Stewart, forty-eight years old. This is his second marriage. The first lasted eighteen years and produced a daughter. She's grown and lives several hundred miles away. He works as a shipping clerk at a place called Fini Manufacturing. He's an artist in his spare time. A painter. He's actually pretty good. He's represented by a couple of galleries in the city. Spent three months in a mental hospital about twenty-five years ago. I couldn't get any details, though, the records from back then weren't digitized. Otherwise his background is clean. That's about it on him.”

“Good job, guys!” he said with a smile, “All of my teaching has paid off. We'll leave first thing in the morning. Becka, you find us a good hotel. I'll find us a place we can use as an 'office'. It's supposed to be a beautiful day. You guys take the car. I believe I'm going to ride my motorcycle.”

Reviews

[C. Rose]

Loving the detail. I'm glad you didn't just say "here's the address let's go".
This scene shows how professional they are.
I assumed you were going to use this to play up the Becka Stephanie rivalry more, but on the other hand I can see how you wouldn't want to over-sell the rivalry.
At first I found it questionable that a former drug addict would be allowed to adopt a child, but I don't really know a lot about that process.
A little short in comparison.

[Craig2591]

Yes, I did some research and found that having a record doesn't automatically disqualify someone from fostering and adopting a child. I wanted to be accurate. I wrote another short book that tells the story of how they met and adopted Emily and how Chrissy's past almost ruined it for them. And you're right about the Becka/Stefanie rivalry. I didn't want to overdo it.

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Oh, my goodness, they certainly are skilled at stalking, aren't they? Any amateur can find a bunch of that information from Google once they have either a name, address or phone number, since even small town police blotters have archives online, but some of that would definitely be purchased information, especially in a minor. The plot thickens... you are very good at shifting between characters

[Craig2591]

Thank you very much. I've seen shows about how easy it is for private detectives to get all kinds of information on someone, often illegally.

[K.]

Really interesting back-stories on everyone in this novel. Sorry this doesn't give much input or help to your story, but I felt like adding at least a little.

[Tina Kline]

A rather chilling scene in the sense of all the info they had on Chrissy and her family. I guess that's pretty easy these days. Good chapter!

[Craig2591]

Yes, I understand that it's not unrealistic at all. Thanks for reviewing.

[John Lauterbach]

Depending on whether you want to present this story alongside the other Chrissy/Ian stories or not, this chapter may be conditionally necessary. It's a refresher for me since I've read your other stories involving them, but on the other hand it's good to establish how much these new characters know about them. It's casual between the 3 agents, but still has a creepy vibe around how much information they gathered. Professional pack-stalking.

[Craig2591]

Yeah, both of those reasons were the purpose of this chapter. As I understand it, any half-way talented private detective can gather that much info on someone in just a few hours.

[Annie Ale]

It's nice to know the characters' backgrounds! Very simple and well done!

[Craig2591]

Thank you.

[Barbara Walker]

This does not bode well for our family! Great scene you set up here. I felt like I was at the next table, listening to their plans. Chrissy, Ian, WATCH OUT!

[Craig2591]

Thank you for continuing to read.