March 2019
Volume 12 Number 3
Nation Ford High School
1400 A.O. Jones Blvd.
Fort Mill, SC 29715
What It’s Like To Be A Private Investigator
A
FAMILY
by Kayla Southwood gentle shake from his mother wakes eightyear-old Brady Sellers. It’s just after 4 a.m. He drags himself out of bed, trudges down the stairs, snags a banana for breakfast and follows his mom to the car in the deathly quiet dawn. “We get up early in the morning,” says Brady. “Like really early. It’s our routine.” Brady makes himself comfortable in the car with a pillow and blanket, letting his burdensome eyelids get the best of him, and dozes off while his mom goes to work. Brady’s mom Amy, is a private investigator, which means she is hired to discreetly investigate a variety of cases. Often times she is trailing suspicious individuals, taking photos and notes– and most importantly, observing. Amy moved with her family from Evansville, Ind. to Fort Mill less than two years ago. She is self-employed, and for five years, all kinds of individuals and companies have been reaching out to her in hopes of
F SPIES
satisfying their suspicions. People will hire Amy when they visit her online profile or hear about her business from word of mouth. She says she meets with the client before every case to discuss the situation. Next, she types up a contract discussing the rate she’ll be paid and everything she will have to do to prove her client’s case. Everyone who meets her can see her stand behind her work with confidence and passion in her eyes. “They just want that security,” Amy says. Although Amy didn’t originally plan on becoming a P.I., there’s no doubt she enjoys it. “Even though parts of it might be boring, it’s always something different,” she says. “There might be an hour that I’m bored, but the cases are interesting. And I like to try to figure out more than what they ask me to – I always try to put the whole puzzle together.” But being a P.I. has its difficulties too. Generally, Amy manages a number of worries, for instancestressing that she’ll lose the suspect she’s chasing. continued on page 6