From Riches to Rags Read Free Page A

Bumgartner, Private Investigator
     
    Case #210, Christine Dolores Livingston
    Subject is a twenty-five-year-old lesbian, long sandy blond hair, green eyes, medium height, very thin.
     
    Ms. Livingston was a spoiled debutant who threw one too many tantrums and her parents kicked her out on her butt. But in my conversations with the Livingston’s, I find that they are not cruel people, they just didn’t know how to help their daughter any longer. This seemed like the last desperate alternative to having her committed to a psych ward. However, they did retain my services exclusively for a year, to keep an eye on their daughter, including protecting her, should the need arise. But their specification is that I am not to let her know this, because they are trying to teach her a lesson. That might seem harsh now, but hopefully, it will bring her back to her senses.
    Chris grew up in Collierville, Tennessee, which is just a few miles East of Memphis, and had the normal, small town adventures, and friendships. But when her father, Carl Livingston, made some good investments for himself, they paid off, and overnight he was rich. He took his expertise a step further and began investing for the Memphis Investment Funds, an international firm known for its return percentage. Once his finances were secured, he moved the family to a mansion in Memphis, and put Chris in an expensive private school.
    Her teen years are when her troubles began. Mr. Livingston was forthcoming about his daughter; his wife, however, was not. I got the feeling it was too embarrassing for her, and also to painful.
    When Chris was sixteen, she came out, literally, at the debutante ball, where the young southern women are formally introduced to society as adults. Chris got drunk, announced to the world that she was a lesbian, and left the ball with three other debutants. The next morning her picture was on the cover of the Memphis social magazine. So began her wanton ways, as her mother tells it.
    I got the feeling, although he didn’t come right out and say it, that Mr. Livingston blamed himself for his daughter’s sudden change. The Livingston’s were thrust into the high society life. In an effort to be sociable and fit into the perceived rich circle of important people, they drank, partied and encouraged their guests to do the same, when they hosted parties in their own mansion. Livingston believes it was because he let Chris attend those parties, she learned that drinking was acceptable and expected. He didn’t see what it was doing to her until it was too late.
    As I said, they are good parents who only want their daughter whole again. They are not above public ridicule because of their daughter’s actions, and as a consequence, must also rebuild their reputation, which was somewhat tainted after the drunken car accident, but not irreparably. I believe that Mr. Livingston was shrewd in paying off the victim quickly, before his case could go to court. In doing so, it was just a blurb on the back page of the newspapers, where it was whispered around the water coolers, and forgotten quickly.
    In observance of Chris since the night she was turned away from her parents’ home, I have seen a complete three-sixty change in her behavior. The Livingston’s hired me the day before they showed Chris their tough love and kicked her out, so I have been, for lack of a better word, spying on her since that dramatic day when she begged them for forgiveness.
    The first night she checked into a hotel and drank until she passed out. She continued that behavior over the next three months of exile. Quite frankly, the way Chris drank, I was sure she would be dead or raped by now, although I made sure I was nearby to try and prevent both. The fact that her parents had kicked her out and cut her off from their money had only encouraged her to drink more. I believe it was due to a mixture of heartache and stubbornness that drove her to drink. I don’t believe she is an