I was a detective responding to a homicide call when my phone rang.
I didn't recognize the number, but I picked up anyway.
The person on the other end was someone I hadn't spoken to in years. At the time, we had no suspects. None. And this was a community where law enforcement wasn't trusted — not even a little. The police weren't welcome there, and everybody knew it.
So when I heard his voice, I couldn't believe it.
He said he got my number from someone he wouldn't name. Then he told me he didn't agree with what happened to the victim. And he said the reason he was calling me — specifically me — was because every time we crossed paths over the years, I had treated him with respect. That was it. That was the whole reason.
Then he gave me a name of a possible suspect.
I was still on the highway. That name broke the case open. Before I even reached my exit, we had what we needed.
I've thought about that call a lot since then. Not because of where it led, but because of what made it possible. It wasn't anything I did that day. It was every interaction before that day. Every time I could have written someone off and didn't.
"You can't manufacture that. You can't pretext your way into it. It either exists or it doesn't."
That same approach is how I work every case now.
A few months ago, I was working a locate. The last known address turned out to be empty. The house was listed as a short sale, moving toward repossession. Nothing in the public record gave me anywhere to go next.
Then a man pulled into the driveway next door. He got out holding a cigar.
I smoke cigars.
I pulled up, introduced myself by my first name, and told him I was looking at the house next door as a potential flip and wanted to know if it was a safe neighborhood. He confirmed the house was for sale. Then we started talking about cigars — brands, what we liked, all of it. Eventually, I asked who had lived there and where they went.
He described the family and told me the state they moved to.
We shook hands and left with smiles on our faces.
I called my client that same day. They had their answer. The subject was confirmed out of state, and I found the new address.
No wasted hours. No bill for a surveillance operation that went nowhere. Just a conversation between two people who both happened to smoke cigars.
That's what integrity looks like in this work. No tricks. No pressure. Just being a real person with the people in front of you and letting that do the work.