Lady Gumshoes Track Down Cheating Lovers
May 12, 2006 — -- Denise Rhodes weaves through Atlanta's nighttime streets in her shiny black car with tinted windows, tailing a middle-age chiropractor whose wife is certain he is cheating on her.
Rhodes, a divorced mom raising a daughter, is a private detective who works 18 hours a day for about $65 an hour. Tonight's job: catch the suspected cheater with his girlfriend -- on tape.
"The money shot would be to get them physically kissing or physically touching somehow," Rhodes said. "Holding hands, brushing her hair back, or a little slap on the butt."
Rhodes is one of the hired hands of Busted, an all-female private eye agency based in Atlanta. Busted caters to both men and women, and the detectives make their living on the cheating side of town.
Sometimes the women of Busted go undercover, changing their hair, makeup, clothing and glasses to trap a cheater. The old trenchcoat and fedora cover are yesterday's news for these women.
Carol Martin was an actress and successful businesswoman, but she says she's always had the private-eye bug.
"I kinda started doing it while I was a kid watching my neighbor cheat on his wife," she said.
Martin says that she'll use her feminine wiles to get information on a cheating man. "I've been doing it my whole life," she said with a laugh. "Why would I stop now?"
So, why do these women do it?
For one thing, there's a lot at stake in divorce settlements, and people are willing to pay for any evidence that will help them.
Though most states have no-fault divorce laws, video proof of adultery can have a major impact on alimony and child custody settlements.
So, as one woman private eye, Stacy Fandos, put it, "If there is a lot of money involved. … They will spend their last dime on us, to find out the information, rather than give her anything in a court settlement. … So the sky is the limit."
Then there is the potential excitement and glamour factor of the job. Fandos, a mother of three, says her suburban routine was feeling a little desperate before she joined Busted.
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