Private Detectives in Bruges | Detective Agency Bruges*

Ever since the British cult film "In Bruges", the city of Bruges (Fr. Bruges, Dutch Brugge) – the capital of West Flanders in Belgium – is known to a wide public. The medieval city centre (UNESCO World Heritage Site) was an excellent setting for the big screen and is more than worth paying a visit in real life, too, something which the private detectives of the Kurtz Detective Agency (+49 30 555 786 41-0) had the pleasure to note during an investigation in Bruges:

When Mrs Donati (name changed) first approached our private investigators in Berlin, she did not seem emotionally vulnerable at all, unlike many other clients who find themselves trapped in a difficult private dilemma. She knew exactly what she had to expect from the Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin, what her duties were as a client and she also knew, most likely, how she would proceed after the investigation, once she would hold in her hands the evidence for her suspicion. Mrs Donati, of a vivacious southerner spirit, did not create an impression of a hurt wife who was pushed aside. Instead, she showed a certain strength and was willing to fight. Thus, consulted our private detectives in Berlin to investigate her case in Bruges.

Mrs Donati informed the investigators at the Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin of her husband’s plan to go on a business trip to Bruges – if not today, then tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or at least at some point during the following two weeks. He would probably bring along his "personal assistant". According to Mrs Donati, that woman was quite a rascal who, perhaps, was not interested in sleeping her way up to the top but was, indeed, blinded by Mr Donati ‘s charm and wealth.

Finally, it was decided that always two detectives at a time would monitor Mr Donati during his company's official business hours. In this way, we would notice it when he makes his way toward Bruges. Unfortunately, it was not that easy which we noticed after our private investigators had followed Mr Donati for nine days in and around Berlin. During this time, he travelled west several times and relatively long distances along the Bundesautobahn 2, but he never crossed the border. Hence, our idea that "we would notice" was easier said than done. During these nine days, our detectives also observed multiple times how Mr Donati picked up the suspected colleague from her place and how he dropped her off at her place, several hours later. Affections were never exchanged except, perhaps, inside the darkened luxury sports car of our subject. What happens inside a vehicle, however, is part of the highly protected privacy right of a person. Thus, a surveillance of what happened inside the car would have interfered with privacy laws and would not have been permissible. Besides, the car never stayed for longer than four minutes, which may be an unusually long period of time for the colleague to get in and for the driver to leave the parking spot, but this observation did not help our investigation. Instead, we had to rotate our detective teams during these nine days since following a target person by car or on foot in Berlin’s traffic would otherwise have inevitably lead to a high-grade risk of recognising the investigators.    

Finally, on the tenth day, Mr Donati picked up his assistant (as he had done before) and drove with her along the A2 towards Hannover, but this time he passed Bielefeld, crossed the Ruhr area and continued to Bruges, where the two arrived late at night (around 04.30 am). Ultimately, they were seen as they went into the same hotel room. Luckily, the operations management of the Kurtz Detective Agency for Bruges had already assigned the investigation to a new undercover team and deployed a new superintendent. The risk was thus a lot lower since we did not deploy the same investigator team that had worked on the case for the past few days as well as on day ten.

When the target couple had left the wider surroundings of Berlin and had passed Braunschweig, our detectives could already document, for the first time, how the suspects caressed each other publicly. We could take various pictures and record two videos as evidence. This, however, was not enough for Mrs Donati. "Go on, I want more!" She instructed unmistakably on the phone. So, our private investigators continued to follow the suspects all the way to Bruges, as mentioned above, where they could document a number of rather public displays of affections during the following four days.

The days of our investigation were all quite similar: Sometime during the morning or midday, the suspects left the hotel room to go to the buffet, returned to their room after breakfast, before proceeding to various business meetings which were always scheduled around some kind of meal (Mr Donati is of a rather sturdy build). In the meantime, the suspects strolled through the old town with the occasional detour back to the hotel room, cuddled on a park bench followed by another detour to the hotel, and so on. It was very easy for our undercover team to follow them since, first, we had acquired a hotel room right above the room of the suspects, equipped with a balcony and plain sight on the target vehicle. Second, the target couple, blinded in their world of passion, did not pay any attention to the people around them. Anyway, taking a break was out of the question for our investigators.   

It was near impossible to satisfy Mrs Donati's thirst for information, the client who commissioned our detectives from Berlin: The information we gave her on the state of our investigation was never enough. She called us constantly and at the most impossible times to receive the latest updates. Usually, our private investigators choose not to deal with requests of this kind. You have to imagine what a physical and psychological challenge it is: to follow a suspect for days, not to sleep in one’s own bed, sometimes having to sleep in the car, always having to be awake longer than the suspect. Even if the suspects are on holiday, the investigator works a shift of 16, 18 or even 20 hours. At night, the two private investigators will take turns: One keeps an eye on the hotel exit and the target vehicle while the other one tries to catch up on sleep. After three hours, they swap. After a maximum of six hours, the night is over – which allows a maximum of three hours’ sleep per investigator. That is if they can fall asleep immediately.

It is understandable, then, how straining it can be if the phone constantly vibrates during these small windows of sleep because the client wishes to be updated on the happenings of the latest 15 minutes (no matter at which time of night). In the specific case of this vigorous and dedicated client, our private detectives in Bruges opted for answering the phone instantly to calm down her overeagerness – no matter which time of night it was.

• No, nothing happened between 03.00 and 03.15 am, just like nothing happened at that time during the last few nights. We need to rest and will provide you with an update tomorrow morning. Thank you, yes, good night!
• At 03:30 and four seconds: No, in fact, nothing happened between 03:15 and 03:30 am, just like nothing happened at that time during the last few nights. We need to rest and will provide you with an update tomorrow morning. Thank you, yes, good night!    

After four days, a lengthy investigation report, and exhausted memory cards, the suspects returned home, to Berlin, and so did the investigators of the Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin. Once our detectives arrived in Berlin, the client allowed them four hours of sleep before she rang again and asked when the investigation report would be finished.  Put under a certain pressure, our investigators agreed somewhat hastily on an appointed day and time for the handing over of the acquired information and evidence.

As soon as the superintendent blurred the suspects’ faces in the last photograph, Mrs Donati already appeared behind him and asked for the photo material, the evidence. Our leading investigator went through every single photo with her. Seeing the obliterated suspects, embracing and caressing each other, would have been a slap in the face for most women.  But not so for Mrs Donati. With every photograph, her triumphant smile grew wider. "Ha! Such a bastard! I will show him! This is great! I will rub this in his puffy face! The best detective of the entire world, the best of all time! I will put this everywhere online!"  (By the way, we are still waiting for that, Mrs Donati.) We should note here that the investigation in Bruges may have been exhausting, but not professionally challenging. We don’t intend to praise ourselves to the skies but simply echo what Mrs Donati, overcome with emotions, exclaimed.

Having to inform a cheated woman or man about their partner’s infidelity is never a task much enjoyed or eagerly anticipated by our investigators. Mrs Donati was no exception. Hence, our client's wild enthusiasm surprised our superintendent accordingly.

When our detective asked in astonishment why Mrs Donati was so happy with the result, she informed him that not her husband but she was the owner of the company and the multi-millionaire in the relationship. She was the one who brought the company and wealth into the marriage. Her husband may, perhaps, benefit from numerous financial freedoms but, in the end, he was depending on her. "I will break him!" She exclaimed with sparkling eyes. Interesting relationship dynamics, indeed.

• "So, do you want us to bring forward the proof of his marital disloyalty to spare you the maintenance claim after your divorce?" Asked our investigator.
• "Divorce? What are you talking about? I want to rub it in his fat face and then he will beg me to take him back. Like a dog."

We chose to let this pass without any comment from our side.

After so much excitement, our detectives in Berlin were, naturally, more than curious how the issue was handled between husband and wife. From the couple’s daughter who, by then, was let in on the "secret" we learned that this was by far not the first incident. Our suspect had repetitively chosen "personal assistants" for their looks and, in fact, was known to frequent the brothel, too. "But my mom is so attractive!" She says in astonishment.

It is not the first time that our detectives are left speechless in the face of this unusual case of marital infidelity.  Finally, we want to fill the gap by thanking Mrs Donati, her husband and their daughter for their consent that we may publish their case in such a blunt style – and, of course, we also want to thank them for their confidence in the abilities and skills of the Kurtz Detective Agency Berlin!

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*Please note: All operations of Kurtz Investigations Berlin are executed and billed from the Rykestraße in Berlin. The other operating cities and regions advertised on this domain are neither local branches nor permanent establishments of the Kurtz Detective Agency, if not explicitly stated differently. We can offer you affordable travelling expense flat-rates nationwide. The same applies for traveling to a wide range of areas abroad. When operating in the countryside, the cost evaluation starts from the next greater city. You can find further information on our fees here, and on operating areas here.