Case 29: No Smoke Without Fire

The day before had been filled with court dates, the only highlight was a rather pleasant dinner with Judge Hall.

Sat in the office they were called through by King and told of the scout leader found in the forest, discovered by the younger members. Already JJ could feel the anger bubbling in his skin and as they walked he felt a hand curl into his own and let out a deep breath, squeezing gently.

They drove out into the forest and then walked the trail down to where Connor Sullivan was tied to a stake above a bonfire and the bile rose in their throats, thinking that the body was just left their for anyone to see.

"This is the Scoutmaster Connor Sullivan and now in charge is Isaac Weston, an Eagle Scout." David explained and JJ just gave him a blank look. "You weren't a scout were you?"

"And you were?" JJ asked looking at his lover as if he was an alien life form.

"Yes I was. There is nothing wrong with that." David laughed, mock glaring at the taller man.

"Right. Okay." JJ couldn't keep a straight face and laughed as he collected the evidence.

A match box within the damp ashes of the fire and fibres from a broken branch, both of which he'd give to the officer to take back to the lab while they spoke with their two witnesses; the Eagle Scout and the young boy who found the body, Ayden Young.

They decided to take a witness each, JJ going to talk with Ayden.

"Hello Ayden." JJ crouched in front of the young blond boy. They were about a hundred feet from the scene in a small picnic area. Ayden was struggling to take in breath, holding in the tears.

"Hey Petit it's okay. Let it out, there's no shame in crying." And the sobs bubbled up, tears streaming down young, round cheeks. JJ pulled the boy into his arms and he clung to the larger frame, crying into his shoulder as the red-head murmured in French, almost singing.

It was maybe twenty minutes until he calmed, leaning all his weight against the detective.

"Hey there Petit." The detective reached up and gently wiped the tear tracks away. "I'm JJ I'm one of the detectives trying to figure out what happened here. You up for answering a few questions?"

The blond head bobbed, sniffing.

"Good. Now did you see anything else in the area?" Ayden shook his head after thinking for a moment, tears creeping into his eyes again. "Can you tell me about your Scoutmaster instead?"

"He was really angry and he got into a lot of fights. One of them was with that hunter, Mr Savage. I really thought they were going to get into a fight." He explained with a small frown on his face.

"That's great Petit, now I have to go but if you need me or think of anything here is my card with my number."

Again the blond head bobbed.

"What does that mean?" He asked as he straightened up looking at the taller man seriously.

"Petit? Little one."

Ayden scrunched up his face and the detective laughed, ruffling his hair before standing up and taking his leave.

David smiled at his partner, a soft look in his eyes that made the younger feel warm all over.

"What did you get?"

"Isaac Weston said that the Scoutmaster wasn't the nicest person and that the bonfire had been built purely for the scout spirit. Though there is something funny about him." David mussed as they walked through the forest, taking around five minutes to reach the hunters cabin.

"Apollo isn't here so James is out. Come on." JJ walked in with out a care and found a smashed sign forbidding fire as well as a bloody knife he knew belonged to the hunter.

"What are you doing here?" James appeared behind them.

"Connor Sullivan, the scout leader was found dead about five minutes from here and you were seen having a fight with him?" David answered it as a question and the hunter scowled.

"Yeah I did. He lit a fire in a restricted area and when I told him he destroyed the sign. I would have hit him if it wasn't for the kids." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall. Dorian and Apollo were running about together outside.

"And the bloody knife?" That was the red-head and the amber eyed man blinked slowly with genuine shock. "Don't go anywhere." And they took their leave, heading back to the lab and dropped the knife with Grace.

They were just looking for more information on the victim when JJ's phone went off.

"Jensen."

"JJ." A hesitant voice spoke over the line.

"Hey Petit, what's up?" He spoke softly.

"Its my Mom, she wont stop crying since Mr Sullivan's death and I've tried everything to make her smile. Could you help?" JJ could see the young boy shifting place.

"Sure thing Petit, where is she?"

"At the Piccadilly Tea Parlour. My Mom is friends with Mrs Piccadilly."

"I'm on my way, hold tight." The boy hummed on the other end of the line before they hung up and JJ dragged his partner along.

The tea room was the same as last time and they soon found Gertrude, Ayden and his mother.

They spoke with the mother, Charlotte Young, but following their instincts as always and found that the victim had been abusive towards her and that Gertrude has a strong hatred towards Mr Sullivan, something they were developing themselves.

Looking around they found a lot.

They found a torn up picture of a fire truck that Ayden had drawn and found another reason to hate the man for being horrible to the young boy. Tearing up the picture because he didn't like the firemen.

They also found bloodied shards that were completely out of place, bagging them for Grace.

They spent the day going over interviews and waiting for the evidence as was normal and soon found that Scouts really weren't as wholesome as people liked to think, closing the cold steel around Isaac Weston's wrists.