Idiot Savant would be one way of describing them, though a rather slow detective might be another. They never got good grades in high school and not really quick on their feet. He doesn’t know much of anything but he notices everything and might just be inquisitive enough to ask people who seem knowledgeable about it. And he never forgets a detail, he still remembers that time you told him four years ago you got stung by a bee or about how your dog keeps making a mess on the back step.

When our absent minded professor is killed by a jealous rival chemist, our idiot detective doesn’t understand a single word of how the suspicious chemist goes on how the deceased was a hack and never deserved his PhD, let alone tenure, our simple detective still notices all the quirks and tells of the chemist to know he’s lying and emotionally invested in the fate of our late professor. He’s also the one to find a bunch of cleaners in the trash by the custodial closet, and the only one to give them mind because the bottles in the closet are half full and have wear marks like they only get used a few times a week, while the ones in the trash seem almost brand new save for their empty contents. He also finds a number of recently used implements in the chemistry lab that hadn’t been properly cleaned. He may not have the knowledge to piece together that these otherwise inert chemicals can be mixed and prepared in a specific way to make a fast acting toxin, but he does know the Chemist is lying when he claims he used them to clean up his lab and work area, because said lab and area are filthy and do not smell of cleaners, but the beakers he found do.