General

Given a chance I'd always partner with Harry; his conversation was about as interesting as sharpening pencils but he noticed things no-one else did. At the scene I'd flash the badge and do all the talking, he just listened, read their body language and followed their eye movements. Then he'd ask them the perfect question at the perfect time with such an innocent tone of voice, like he genuinely just wanted to know. We got so many leads that way. In any crime scene you could rely on Harry to notice whatever was odd: a picture at an angle, a footprint going the wrong way, furniture and objects misplaced. I think it helped that he looked like such an idiot, his suit ill-fitting and that stupid lumber-jack hat he wore nine months a year. He's never been to a single one of our staff functions, apparently he lives with his cats and the antique cars he fixes up. He has quite a name among collectors I hear, no detail is too small for him to find inconsequential.

By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, January 26, 2015.