He was middle-aged, healthy, and a very successful business man.
In fact, he had built a substantial empire. This had grown to the point where his factories, shops and transport company were all being managed by people he had put there. From his point of view, the whole thing ran itself. This level of success meant that he was no longer required to take a hands-on role. Through the years of going from strength to strength he often thought of the one man who had played such a big part in putting him on the straight and narrow. Having lost his parents when he was in his late teens, as a result of an airliner coming down, he had lost his way. He began a lifestyle that would have lead him down the long road to nowhere. That’s when he met the man. The man that would turn his life around.
This life-saving mentor was a social worker. He became a father figure, a teacher and a friend. This man had actually made him feel good about himself. Looking back, he found the powerful impact the man had on him over such a short period still amazed him. He remembered how sad he had felt when, after just a few short weeks, the man was suddenly called away. Despite that, he had embraced a new and positive view of the world and began to see how much better his future was going to be. Running through all this yet again in his mind he suddenly realised that he was in a position to fulfil a lifetime wish. He had often felt the desire to find him and properly thank him for what he had done. He realised that a lot of years had passed and tracking him down may not be easy. For this reason he hired the services of the most prestigious detective agency in the city to trace him.
It was about a month after this that he received a call from the agency to say they had found him. They asked him to call in to collect their report. He asked if they were positive it was the right person. He was assured that because of the photos, one was of him and his mentor together, and all the other information about the man they were given, there was no doubt that this was the person. When he asked for more details regarding their findings it was explained that such information was not given out over the phone as part of their own policies that dealt with confidentiality. In fact, they much preferred their clients to call in and collect the report in person.
“Where is he? I would very much like to meet him.”
“Well, I see in the report that he made a similar request to meet you. However, I suggest you need to read the report first.”
“That’s OK, presumably you have his current address?”
“Yes, it’s in there, but…” he hesitated.
The other jumped in. “Look, if for any reason he prefers to come to me, I’d be perfectly happy to pay his fares.”
The agency man sighed and shook his head.” I don’t think he’d be free to do that.”
“Oh! He’s a busy man, then. I wouldn’t be surprised, he was very gifted.”
The man creased his face in frustration. “Look. Strictly speaking I am only obliged to ensure that I’m handing this over to the correctly identified client.” He picked up the envelope and opened it. ‘I think in this case it’s better if I read you just one line from the report. He flipped through several stapled pages until he found what he wanted.
“Yes. Here we are. I’m quoting now. ‘…and is currently serving time for kidnapping, child abuse and three counts of murder.’”
