A friend of mine, and a fellow PI, has run across a client that he harbors some suspicions about. What I mean he isn't sure that the reason the person gave for wanting to find their estranged spouse was valid. He suspected the spouse was hiding from what may have been an abusive relationship.
Actually, we PIs pretty much know that a client will withold information from us if they think it is going to help them. It doesn't really, but people, especially in divorce and child custody cases, want to win at any cost.
If I try to find a person, I will not divulge their location to my client, but will deliver any messages the client wishes, leaving it to the found person to make the decision of initiating contact. TV star Rebecca Schaeffer (My Sister Sam) was killed by a stalker who got her address from a Private Investigator. Of course, if I'm working for an attorney, I will pass the information along.
I also will not tell a person where there significant other is at the moment. If they are at a motel with a lover, the client is likely to show up and start being violent. There was a case several years ago when a PI told a lady where her husband and his mistress was. She showed up and ran him over, then backed up over him again. I would really not want to be that Private Investigator when he tried to explain things, even if he had no control over the actions of his client.
