Elizabeth Brock
Licensed investigator with over
10 years of investigative experience.
If you are reading this, you likely have a hunch that something is slightly off in your relationship. You may have known for a while or the recent holiday season has brought it to a head. As a private investigator, I notice two types of clients: one who says it startedas a small thing the client talked themselves out of, forgot about, and then bam! It’s living in the back of your head every day. You check their location. You read the same text thread looking for something you might have missed. You replay conversations trying to figure out where things changed – and when.
Other clients notice it particularly during the holidays – something begins to shift that has not transpired before. As a private investigator whose been doing this for over 15 years, we typically see a major shift in the spring to summer season…but signs arise prior (shortly after the holidays).
I get it: you’re not sleeping, fully present, and on a loop of not knowing.
That’s why people call us.
After years of running infidelity investigations on Long Island and throughout New York City, I can tell you this: the stretch between Valentine’s Day and the first real warm week of the year is the busiest window we see. Every year. The holiday creates pressure: it either cracks something open or papers over it temporarily. And the second the snow melts and life starts moving again, so does everything else. This year has been a bit different: we are on our last week of snow and then soon the weather will change again.
If something has been nagging at you, you’re not crazy. And you don’t have to keep sitting with it.
Winter limits opportunity due to bad weather, holidays, family around, friends, etc. People are home more, schedules are tighter, and even the most motivated cheater has less room to move. But once that lifts?
The “working late” comes back. The gym routine that appeared out of nowhere gets very dedicated, and fast. Weekends fill up with vague plans. The phone stays face-down or on silent and guarded. Explanations get too detailed.
March and April are when I get some of the highest call volume of the year. People spent the winter sitting on a feeling, watching it grow, and by the time the weather breaks they’ve hit a wall. They can’t keep pretending not to notice. They can’t keep having the same circular argument in their head.
If that’s where you are right now, keep reading.
Almost every client says the same thing after we wrap a case: the signs were there, I just didn’t know what to do with them or “I thought I was crazy”. I am here to tell you you are not alone and you are not “crazy”. Here’s what we actually see, consistently, in infidelity investigations across Long Island and NYC.
1. The phone habits changed. The password changed, and you weren’t told the new one. Calls get taken in other rooms, texts get deleted, the phone charges somewhere new. Any single one of these is nothing. You used to be able to check your partners phone freely and now you can’t get a hold of it. All of them together is a pattern.
2. Their appearance matters more. Working out, dressing differently, grooming in ways that weren’t happening six months ago, with no real explanation for why. People often begin to dress up or get fit for someone. If the someone isn’t obvious, that’s worth noting. If they do this yearly and this is their workout routine, do not take this part only into consideration.
3. They’re tracking your schedule more than their own! They know exactly when you’ll be home, how long your commute is, when you’ll be out. But they’ve stopped asking about your day. That shift: logistical awareness combined with emotional absence, is one I see constantly.
4. Time doesn’t add up. A 40-minute commute is now an hour and a half. A quick errand somehow took two hours. The explanation either doesn’t come, or it comes with too many details in a way that sounds rehearsed.
5. Intimacy shifted in either direction. This can go both ways and trust me when I say it – I have absolutely heard it all from every single client and I never judge! Sometimes a cheating partner pulls away completely. Other times, frequency increases with new behaviors and positions/styles of intimacy show up. Both can be a reaction to what’s happening outside the relationship.
6. Money is not making sense. Cash withdrawals that don’t correspond to anything you are aware of. Spending money on items you can’t trace. A new interest in handling the finances alone. Cash is harder to track, and people who know that sometimes start using more of it.
7. Social media is locked down or suddenly performative. Either they’ve gone quiet, or they’re posting about your relationship in a way that feels more like a message than a genuine moment. New accounts. New followers. Late-night phone activity.You see new individuals liking post and being added as friends who you have never met before. This is an important one not to over look or try to do it yourself!
8. Direct questions don’t get direct answers anymore. Ask something simple & you used to get a simple answer. Now you notice deflection, are accused of being paranoid, or it turns into a fight. Guilt tends to come out as irritability. If every honest question now starts an argument, that’s its own kind of answer.
9. Mutual friends are acting differently. People who know something they’re not telling you behave differently. Conversations get a little careful. Friends become slightly less available. Subtle — but real.
10. You just feel it. This is the one I take most seriously. People who have been with someone for years know what normal feels like. When the energy in the room changes, when the way they say hello is different, when something you can’t name has just shifted, that’s not nothing. Your gut is picking up on signals before your brain can articulate them.
If you’re reading this and recognizing yourself — more than once, in more than a few of these — trust that. The fact that you found this post means you’re already trying to figure out what to do next.
Here’s what not to do.
I understand the impulse. You want answers & you want them fast. Waiting is an impossible task especially when you are walking around with this burden.
But in New York State, doing this yourself doesn’t just put your case at risk – it can turn you into a major legal problem. I’ve watched that happen to people who were the ones who were wronged but then took matters into their own hands which cannot happen.
When you hire Root Investigations, we gather evidence the right way, which means it can actually be used.
Physical surveillance is how most infidelity cases are built. We follow the subject discreetly, document where they go and who they meet, and compile timestamped video and detailed written reports. We know Long Island and NYC — the neighborhoods, the traffic, where a parked car stands out and where it doesn’t. That local knowledge matters more than people realize.
Digital and social media investigations catch what surveillance doesn’t. People leave more of a trail online than they think — check-ins, photos, tagged posts, accounts they assume you don’t know about. We know where to look and how to document it for court.
Everything is handled for potential legal use — proper timestamps, chain of custody, authentication. If this moves toward divorce proceedings, we can provide affidavits and testify if needed. That’s what separates legally gathered evidence from everything else.
See our pricing if you want to understand costs before you call – we are always upfront and honest and let a client know if we are able to assist with their investigation. Our first phone call is your way to help end the loop/spiral you are on. We offer a free 15 minute – 30 minute consult with Liz, the owner of Root Investigations.
During the free consultation, I’ll listen to what’s been going on and give you an honest answer about whether surveillance makes sense: what we’d look for, how long it would take, what it would cost. If it doesn’t make sense for your situation, I’ll tell you that. No pressure, no pitch.Just honesty from my end.
The most important thing to remember is the evidence doesn’t wait. Patterns change. People get careful. The window where we can actually document what’s happening doesn’t stay open forever.
You’ve already been sitting on this. You don’t have to keep doing that.
Call (516) 297-1958 and just ask for Liz. You can also text that number.
Root Investigations | Licensed & Insured | NYS License #11000210387
133C New York Ave, Huntington, NY 11743
Serving Nassau County, Suffolk County, all five NYC boroughs, and Westchester. Free consultations 24/7 — phone, text, or email. Everything is confidential.
We are a boutique private investigation agency serving New York City and Long Island with professional private investigation services.
We get to the root of the problem.
