You claim to have the world's record for collecting evidence in 27,062 divorce cases.

I amassed that record in a period of about 10 years in the '60s and '70s when the courts around the world demanded photographs. I was the guy who invented a better way of picking the locks, and getting in, and doing all that sort of stuff.

When they liberalized the divorce laws, you didn't need the photographs anymore.

Well, no, but you still need a lot of evidence of where the money is, custody, who broke down the marriage. Of course, people don't understand the secret. The secret is that not everything we do goes to court. Everybody comes into my office and says, "How is this relevant to a court hearing?" It has nothing to do with a court hearing. Ninety percent of what we do is never going to court and nobody cares. Many clients come in and just want to know something, whether their partner is playing around, whether the director is stealing.

Has the computer changed the spy business?

This is all bullshit from people who don't know what they're talking about when they say they don't have to leave their office to get all the information. If I want to know where you were last night, how is my computer - with all the hacking in the world - going to tell me where you were at 11:20 last night? Sure, your AMEX card might tell me where you ate and roughly where you were for a short time. And your petrol bill might tell me where you gassed up, but [exactly] where you were at 11:20?

For that you still need old-fashioned surveillance?

Get out there, follow the body, infiltrate places, talk to people. Sure I have a searcher. I pay him a hundred bucks whenever I open a file. He gives me reams and reams of paper. And to him, he's done my whole job. But we don't usually go after normal, God-fearing, taxpaying men who live in Westchester with two kids and a wife, and drive a Ford. When they've stolen 10 million dollars from Motorola, they're not going to actually write it down anywhere. It's gonna be cash.

We'll call her Jill, although that's not her real name. She is, in a word, gorgeous. She is 26 years old, 5'8" tall, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She has the looks a guy would kill over. But that won't be necessary. All she needs them to do is talk. And they do - a lot.

Jill's job is to get people to tell her their secrets. She isn't a psychiatrist. She's a spy. For five years, she has worked for the Monte Investigation Group. The popular myth of the private eye is of Bogey in a trench coat and fedora, playing Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon. Jill is more partial to tight black dresses than trench coats, and she doesn't have to carry a "heater" to get people to open up. Usually a drink or two will do it.

When she spoke to Gallery, "Jill" was saving up to buy her second apartment in Manhattan - no small feat in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.

GALLERY: What got you into this line of work?

JILL: Well, it wasn't that I particularly meant to go into this. I just saw an ad in the paper looking for secretarial work, and I applied. I thought it might be exciting working in an investigation agency. Then after a month, one of the operatives called in sick. There was a simple surveillance job where I had to follow a woman from work and see where she went. I found it very simple and interesting. It was also a little fun.

What are the typical things you do?

Infiltration of companies. Things like that. The pay is fantastic. The pay is probably why I do it. Also, there's a certain amount of travel. I did an undercover job in Las Vegas casino last year and that was fun.

You have to get on the inside to get information?

Yeah, and it does involve a certain amount of power. You have to be aware of the object, the reason you're there. If I'm in an office for three weeks, and I know there is a certain file that I have to photocopy, things can get a little dangerous. First you have to fill the job requirement they hired you for and then do your real job.

Do you do matrimonial jobs where you have to go into a bar and talk to a guy?

Oh, sure. It certainly doesn't make up the bulk of our work, but it does happen. We get three or four a month, and I do them.

Do you initiate the conversation, or let him do it?

Ah, well, the thing is to let him do it. If you're a single girl in a bar, and you're looking great, and you're maybe making eye contact, more than likely he's going to come up to you.

And married guys will ask you out?

Oh, yeah, all the time. I mean that is power. Right? You have to be careful too because you're dealing with egos. There is a sexual tension there, and you must always, always, always be in control. I'm not going into a bar to have a drink. That's not why I'm there. The agency always sends a backup. They're either in the bar or outside.

What did you do in the Vegas casino?

A lot of stock was missing from the casino. We're talking five figure sums every week. It was an inside job. I had to get a job there and approach a certain guy who drove one of the trucks. It didn't take long, actually. It took less than a week to catch him.