Chapter 1
The City that Never Seems to Sleep
The alarm sounded, droning on and on. Edward looked up from his pillow to glance at his phone. Someone was calling him. At two in the morning, and he was now pissed.
"Hello?" He growled into the phone. An equally crabby voice growled back.
"We have a situation." It was Mustang. Again. Edward really hated it when Mustang called him in the middle of the night.
"What kind of situation?" Edward drawled out as he sat up, switching on his bedside lamp.
"Some chick is lying dead on a car, that kind of situation."
Edward's brain immediately started to function. A murderer was on the loose. Again. Edward pulled on a pair of jeans and sighed into the phone. "Has anyone touched the crime scene?" He asked. He slipped on a shirt and a hoodie that had been lying on the floor.
"Not yet. I'm waiting for you to get your ass down here." Mustang growled again.
Edward smirked. Yes, he knew he was that good. "I'll be right down there. Gather some witnesses."
"Yeah, don't be giving me orders pipsqueak." Edward ground his teeth. He slowly assumed self-restraint and answered into the phone.
"Where's your location?" He said. The message was garbled because he said it through his teeth. Edward could almost hear Mustang smirking and gloating on the other end.
"I'm on 23rd street. Right in front of the…" A pause. "Merry Coffee. What kind of whacked out psycho names their coffee shop-"
"Yeah, I'll be down there in a second." Edward said cutting him off. "I'm already getting the directions from MapQuest." Edward always had his laptop on in case he needed to get directions to some place or other. After about 3 months of being chewed out by Mustang because he always got lost, he decided it was better getting a higher electricity bill.
As Edward walked out of his large apartment, he thought of his many murder cases. They ranged from ordinary gun to the head, to chopping people up into little pieces and serving them at his local meat market. However, he solved them eventually. He could not sleep otherwise.
As Edward got into his black mini-cooper, and he thought of his great cases that got him this far. He could not really remember. However, he knew that wherever he was going, it was somewhere good.
Really good. However, that was before he wandered into the "Angel" case. Before he knew of deep emotions that would always hide beneath the surface in any man.
As Edward wandered onto the crime scene, he sighed. A crowd of people had come to watch. How annoying. He really hated it when people came to see these things, as if it was CSI or something. He gladly shoved people aside as he got to the center.
"Come on people, crime scene detective coming through. Watch your feet, watch those elbows. Hey lady, fricken move will ya!" He yelled. Just then the redhead turned around, an angry expression on her face. She turned around, slapped him, and walked off. Edward scoffed and groaned. Redheads. Pains in the ass, if you ever asked him.
Edward walked up to Mustang and his wife Riza Hawkeye who were talking to a young blond girl. Her hair was up in a ponytail and it looked like she was tired. Mustang raised his eyes and slightly nodded his head acknowledging Edward's presence. Roy and Riza had gotten married the previous year, after Roy had bugged her about it for 3 years. Edward had always poked fun at Roy, but Roy had always slapped Edward's single life in Edward's face. Edward had not had time for a date in 6 months, and Roy had always taken pleasure out of that fact.
"Good morning Mr. Elric. Do you want some coffee?" Hawkeye said, not even glancing at Edward. He really hated that talent.
"Yeah. Sounds good." Hawkeye handed him a cup of coffee that had steam rolling off the top of the cup. "Thanks."
"Well, that's it for now. Thank you for cooperating." Mustang said to the girl. She nodded quickly and turned to look at Edward. Her eyes went over him once, seeing if he was police coming to arrest her. After her assessment, her eyes went to the pavement. She clutched the flannel blanket closer to her body, as if she was cold. Seeing it was the middle of July, Edward did not see how she was cold. She was probably in shock.
As a fellow officer took her away, Edward went up to Mustang. "Who was she?" He asked.
"Our key eyewitness. She was in the apartment with her roommate when a strange person burst in the room and knocked her out, but not before she saw him struggle with her roommate. He had navigated her toward the window and pushed her out. The guy also stole valuable items, so I assume it was a robbery gone wrong." Mustang shook his head, "I hate to say it, but I like the guilty robbers. Makes it a lot easier to get them to fess up than cold-blooded killers."
Edward nodded in agreement. "Interesting. So what was her name then?"
Mustang looked at his papers. "Winry Rockbell. Her roommate was Maria Ross." Edward glanced toward the car with the body implanted on the roof. Her eyes were closed, and there was blood pooling in the bottom of the small indent. Sick.
"I'm going up to the apartment. Does anyone have a recorded account of what was stolen?" Edward asked.
"That's what she's doing right now. I feel terrible for making her do it, but it's now or never." Mustang rubbed his hand through his hair. "Sometimes I really hate my job."
"Hey, I still have clean-up duty. Consider yourself lucky." Edward walked up the stairs and saw police standing in front of a door. He assumed he had the right apartment. He walked in where Winry was making another statement. While she was finishing up, he walked around the apartment. He saw where the struggle had taken place and he reenacted the movement of feet. The man had practically danced with her trying to kill her, finally deciding to push her out the window. He must have panicked and pushed her without a moment hesitation. Edward paused. Sick.
The police officer finished her statement and Edward walked toward her. She glanced at him and opened up her mouth a little bit. Then she shut it and waited for him to speak.
"Hi, I'm Detective Elric. I'll be investigating your case." He said to her. She offered a shadow of a smile, but dropped it quickly.
"I'm Winry. Winry Rockbell." She said. She offered her hand and he shook it. Surprisingly her grip was strong, defying the empty look in her eyes. After his hand touched hers though, a light grew in her eyes, and some color returned to her cheeks. Tears welled up in her eyes and Edward panicked. She was coming out of shock and she was realizing her friend had died.
Before Edward could back away, she grabbed Edward around the waist. Realizing she just needed comfort he hugged her back. He did not know why she was hugging him of all people, but he realized he was the most human of all the police in the room. She started sobbing into his shirt and he rolled his eyes. The salt water would ruin the shirt he was wearing. He would have to buy a new one.
"Sorry." She sniffled pitifully. "It's just… my friend… my roommate… she's… she's…" Moreover, a whole new wave of tears erupted from her eyes.
Edward patted her back thoughtfully. "It's okay. Just let it out." She stepped back from him, slowly coming out of his arms.
"I'm sorry; I don't know what got into me." She said. She turned to go to her room and Edward stopped her.
"Uh, where do you think you're going?" Edward said sarcastically.
"Back to bed?" She said to him. She raised her eyebrows in a look that said 'duh!' Edward sighed.
"You can't go back to bed here. I will take you to a hotel. The police are confiscating everything here, looking for clues and what not. You can take some personal effects with you, but I have to check them over first, kay?" He gripped her shoulder and raised his eyebrows, waiting for understanding.
"Okay." Winry looked down then up into Edwards eyes. 'Her eyes are so blue!' He thought. He had never seen more blue eyes than that. Her eyes spoke of innocence to him, and he smiled. After Winry was gone for a couple of minutes, she returned with a duffel bag and a police officer.
"I already checked through her bag. Nothing dangerous or conspicuous." The officer handed the duffel bag to Edward and Edward motioned for Winry to follow him. He led her to his mini cooper and told her to get in as he threw her bag in the trunk.
As they drove to a hotel Winry commented on his car. "Its very nice." She said. Edward smirked.
"You think so? Alphonse said it was girly when I bought it." Edward turned on the radio and turned it down softly. "You can pick out a station that you like. I don't care."
Winry reached for the dial and turned it to some classical piano music. She smiled slowly and leaned back into her seat. 'Alphonse?' Winry did not know whom he was referring too, but she decided it really wasn't her business. Edward smiled again, and he wondered what she did for a living.
However, he did not ask. After all, she was still recovering from seeing a murder.
After he dropped her off and checked her in to a plush Hyatt hotel, he called Mustang to confirm he could go home.
"Yeah, go ahead. We're pretty much done here." Mustang's gravelly voice seeped over the phone line.
When he got home, Alphonse was making coffee. He smiled at Edwards worn out appearance and laughed.
"Was it a long night?" He asked as he handed a cup of coffee to Edward.
"Too long. It's another murder." He sighed as he sat down at the kitchen table. Alphonse was an architect, and he had gotten up to go to work. Edward had lived in the apartment ever since getting out of college. Alphonse soon joined him after getting his degree. The brothers resided harmoniously in the spacious 4-bedroom apartment.
"Another one? Where?" Alphonse pried as he sat down across from Edward.
"Above a coffee shop apparently." Edward sighed. He just felt like getting back into bed, not laying out the case for Alphonse. It had been a long night.
Seemingly understanding what Edward was really after Alphonse volunteered his own information. "You can go back to bed now if you want. I'm heading off to work in a couple of minutes, and you look like you need some sleep."
Edward looked at him gratefully. "Thanks. I'll make sure to return the favor."
Alphonse smiled. "No problem. Are you planning on going with me to the Hughe's this weekend?" Edward looked up in surprise.
"Why?" He did not feel like making a trip to Albany this weekend for no reason other than to visit.
"Its Elicia's birthday brother. Your birthday is this weekend too." Alphonse pointed out. Edward was turning 30, and he had not had a steady girlfriend for 3 years. It was time for Edward to make some free time.
"Oh, yeah. I'll see about it." Edward was not actually planning to go, but he did not feel like breaking that to Al. Moreover, it was only Monday; he had time to think it over. Right next to the murder of Maria Ross.
It was going to be one long week.
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I am still writing my other Full Metal Story, but I have friends who have not finished watching Full Metal and they want to read some of my fan fiction. Seeing, as I do not want to give anything away, I feel bad. Therefore, this is for them. I would appreciate any feedback, and I will make sure to thank you personally. I try to do that as often as possible.
Talk to you soon!
-The Intelligent Alchemist