The Art of Being Right

Victim

Wilson extended a hand and shook Spence's, mirroring the friendly expression on his face.




Fobbs was an ageing man - like Hart. He was right handed, judging by the smudged blue biro on the side of his right hand. He owned a cat - a Siemese? There were tiny silver hairs on his suit jacket and trousers where it had been sat in his lap.




Spencer Fobbs was a smoker: the tips of his fingers were stained with nicotine and there was a faint smell of smoke radiating from him. His right hand was shaking slightly - he was waiting for his next cigarette and was getting impatient. The way he stood suggested a military background; possibly the military police, or he may have even served overseas.




"Superintendent Fobbs I presume?"

"Please, call me Spence. Glad you could come down and give us a hand with this case. It's been causing us trouble for way too long."

"Not a problem," He grinned, running one hand through his windswept hair, looking around him briefly, "there were no pressing cases in the city so I've been spared for a few weeks." Spence nodded, but noticed Wilson's eyes lingering on JJ.




"Are you alright?" The city detective asked, looking over her with a questioning look on his pale face.

"Yeah I'm f-fine. Just c-cold." She answered, shrugging as her shoulders trembled. In one swift movement Wilson pulled off his thick jacket, and held it out to JJ.

"Here, I'm too warm anyway." She took it from his hand, wrapping the coat around her shoulders, grateful for another layer.

"Thanks. I don't get how you can be too warm." JJ laughed, holding the material around her tightly as a gust of wind blew through the small group.

"So who found the body?" Wilson asked, leaning slightly to see around Spence and JJ.




"I did, I came out for a run a few hours ago and when I stopped for a minute I saw him at the bottom of a ditch."

JJ was around his age, possibly a year younger. Incredibly athletic, a big fan of the outdoors and seemingly with something to prove; most of the officers on scene were male, maybe she was attempting to be seen as an equal, not a fumbling rookie who didn't know the first thing about law enforcement. She was looking directly at him: strong willed, not likely to back away from a challenge. That's why she'd waited with the body.

Wilson nodded as JJ finished speaking, stepping away from them to stand beside the body sprawled out on the forest floor. He knelt in the leaves, pulling a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and snapping them on.




The body was in a pretty bad state. There were large, deep slashes in the corpse's chest, abdomen and upper arms, and the man's throat had been ripped out. It had been decomposing for a while too - the smell was bad enough but the rotting flesh was enough to make anyone grimace. One of the newest officers had been violently sick upon seeing the body; and JJ hadn't blamed him. She vaguely recognised his face - or what was left of it - as one of the disappearances. But she couldn't remember his name.




She watched in silence as Wilson shuffled around the body, seemingly entirely at ease as he checked every tiny detail. He looked to be muttering to himself, counting something off on his fingers and tilting his head slightly. JJ looked back at Spence, who simply shrugged and went back to watching the detective work. After two minutes he stood up, dusted the dirt off his jeans and exhaled loudly.




"Well?" Spencer said after a long silence. Wilson took one last look at the body before stepping away and stopping a few feet from him.

"Victim is in his late twenties, an avid hiker and outdoorsman, strong and not easily stopped. He's been dead roughly three weeks judging by the state of the body, but I'd say he's been missing for longer."










A/N: Hey guys, thanks to anyone who actually managed to stick with the story for this long. I get that parts of it drag a bit - apologies! I've still got loads more ideas for this story so if you like it leave a comment or whatever, kinda hoping that at least someone enjoys reading the stuff I scrawl down. So yeah, more to come, thanks for reading, comment and follow :)

~Holly