When Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal last year, police scrambled to find her, and even her parents became suspects. And then, Francisco Marco, a Spanish detective, entered the scene: he was to be paid about fifty thousand British pounds a month to bring Madeleine McCann home for Christmas. He even issued a photo fit of a suspect, much to the Portuguese police’s apparent scoffing that the man’s work had “no credibility”. Marco works for a private agency, Metodo 3, which moved from its tiny Barcelona headquarters to a posh villa in one of the Spanish city’s largest boulevard the day that it received the money to search for Madeleine.

In this article, Marco talks to a British journalist about his work on the case. Barcelona is also the hub of private investigation agencies, some of which the journalist also speaks with. The private investigation agencies want to see Metodo 3 succeed with its investigation and finally bring Madeleine home, but the other agencies worry that the overblown promises, if not met, will make the rest of the agencies a laughingstock.

Metodo 3 itself is a unique firm. Founded by Marco’s mother, it is situated in a Barcelona where private detective agencies are more about looking for infidelities to protect family fortunes. Metodo 3 specialized in swindling, insurance fraud, and even industrial espionage. Metodo 3 won fame for tracking down Francisco Paesa, an infamous Spanish arms dealer. Still, Paesa is a fugitive. Metodo 3 is also making sometimes impossibly large claims on their abilities, casting doubt on whether their contract to look for Madeleine McCann. Other detective agencies in Barcelona also speculate that Metodo 3 may simply be finding publicity leverage in order to elevate its status above other private investigation firms whether or not the McCann case will be solved.

Private investigation itself is a difficult job, and it involves dangerous work, irregular hours and sometimes even tedious routines that include hours sitting down and waiting for something to happen. According to statistics compiled by the U.S. government regarding private investigation, about thirty percent of all private investigators in the U.S. are self employed, and hail from many different fields such as the military, army intelligence, and even law enforcement. Private investigators, moreover, are not only involved in stakeouts or database searching. They can prove the fidelity of spouses or significant others, investigate claims of fraud, look for witnesses and interview them, and even work for companies in secretly monitoring the activities of its employees. In nearly all the U.S. states, a license is required to practice private investigation.

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