The Art of Being Right

How He Does It

They ended up in Conan's office ten minutes later, waiting for the doc to arrive. While they were alone, Wilson took the time they had to go over the room, deducing every tiny detail possible about the man he was about to meet. JJ watched with a slightly awestruck expression.

"How do you do it?" She asked quietly as he picked up a notebook that had been left open on the desk.

He didn't answer for a moment, lips moving silently as he dedicated the information on the page to his memory. "Do what?"

"The whole I-know-your-life-story-in-one-look thing? It's impressive but I wanna know how you do it."

He laughed, putting the notebook down and instead moving onto the small calendar propped up next to the computer.

"It's just about noticing the details. Looking at the stuff no one else usually sees."

"Give me an example." She pressed, walking over to him with a curious look on her face.

"Okay, well how about this? We can try something I get Hart to do when I'm trying to show him part of a case he's missed."

"Sure, go ahead."

Wilson sat her down on one of the chairs opposite Conan's desk, crouching in front of her. His hands rested loosely on her knees as he looked straight up to meet her gaze. There was a hint of a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. They were so close to each other; JJ could feel his warm breath against her skin as he watched her. She fought the blush colouring her face, not wanting to make things awkward between them. Whatever feelings she had for him couldn't ruin the investigation.

"I need you to shut your eyes." He said matter of factly. JJ raised her eyebrows but did as she was told, tensing slightly.

"Now what?"

"Relax. It won't work if you're too wound up."

JJ allowed her shoulders to slacken as she sat back slightly into the chair.

"Good. Right, you need to picture the crime scene."

"I can do that. Details?"

"One victim, shot three times in the chest. You're in an alleyway - it's narrow and not much room to manoeuvre around. There's only one streetlight, but it's at least ten metres away, by the main road. The alley is narrowed by an outbuilding that cuts into the already small space."

JJ could see it all, the dimly lit space, the red brick walls and the litter covering the Tarmac. In the distance the roar of cars was distorted slightly by the fog setting in over the city.

"This is was scene of the shooting. How can you tell?" Wilson asked patiently; she could visualise the two of them stood with their backs to the brick, staring at the victim sprawled across the damp ground.

"There's a pool of blood on the ground, but no drag marks. He was shot here and hasn't been moved from where he fell."

"Good." He praised, waiting for more from her. "What else can you see?"

There were holes in the wall behind where the body lay, shards of brick on the ground next to the foot of the structure: bullet holes.

She moved to look at the wall, holding her arms up as if she was aiming with a gun, to work out the angle from which the shots were fired. Two steps to the right, to avoid the out building, and one step forwards. As she looked at her feet her theory was confirmed - shell casings.

"Here. He shot from here."

"How do you know?"

"The angle's right. And there are shell casings by my feet."

"Brilliant."

JJ beamed at his words, starting to see now what Wilson had meant when it was just noticing small things that would usually go unseen.

"And what about the killer?"

"It can't have been a professional hit - there are too many missed shots; it's too disorganised."

Her eyes opened to find Wilson staring back, his trademark crooked smile on his face.

"How'd I do?"

"Great, to say it's your first time."

"You get your Superintendent to do that?" She giggled, half imagining Wilson convincing Spence to participate.

"Sometimes my explanations aren't enough for him, he wants to see for himself. Not that he understands it any better, though."

The pair fell into silence as Wilson got up and continued to shuffle around the room, taking the time to look over every shelf, every tiny aspect of the office. Occasionally he'd make some kind of quiet noise to himself, or mumble half a sentence before giving the object he was holding a puzzled look. It made JJ laugh, watching him in his own little world.

When the door opened it jolted the couple from their own thoughts. Dr Conan swept into the room with an air of superiority, eyes narrowing as he saw Wilson stood by his bookshelf.

"I'm sorry, what are you doing?" Conan snapped, clearly disturbed by the thought of someone going through his things.

"I like to make a habit of getting to know the people I'll be questioning. It makes it easier to profile them." Wilson said placidly, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Do you have a warrant to go through my things?" Conan retorted.

"We were let in here, and I'll think you'll find I don't need a warrant to look around a room I've been invited into. We haven't moved, touched or disturbed any of your belongings, so stop trying to find a fault with what I'm doing."

JJ knew that Wilson was lying about a lot of what he'd said in that small speech, but Conan moved behind his desk and sat obediently, looking slightly worried until he saw JJ.

"I was beginning to think we weren't going to see you again," Conan winked, showing his teeth in what could only be described as a predatory smile. JJ shook her head in disgust, and Wilson noted how her right hand clenched into a fist.

JJ was right; this guy was a creep.

A/N: thanks for all the votes guys! :) Any comments or reviews would actually be really helpful right now so if anyone has any, let me know.

~Holly