This chapter was quite fun to write - but I can promise you it's probably not 100% scientifically accurate. Nonetheless, it should hold some decent entertainment value. I hope you enjoy Day 3: Aroma/Teacher. The chapter probably fits more along the lines of 'aroma.'

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine. Yet.

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Mei looked up from the autopsy reports laid out in front of her when she heard a knock at the door. Alphonse was standing outside of her office, manila folder in hand.

"I let myself in the building," he chuckled, answering the unasked question. "I heard another victim of the killer was found, so I figured you'd be pretty busy.

She sighed. "Unfortunately, you're right, though her body hadn't arrived here yet. Most people think the autopsy is the worst part, but I disagree – the paperwork is. Dead bodies are in and out, but everything else can take hours." She grabbed the pages in front of her and made a small stack. "But you're here now, so I'm not going to going to bother with these until later. I assume you have the photographs?"

Alphonse nodded, walking into her office and placing the folder on her now clear desk. "Are you by yourself today?"

Mei shook her head. "No. Winry's in her office. We're expecting the 'delivery' in an hour or so. That means you might have to stick around for an autopsy if we don't finish with the photos in time."

He laughed. "Fine by me. I'm sure you can teach me a few things, anyway."

The Xingese woman smiled. "If that occurs, I'll see what I can do." She paused, the corners of her lips turning into a frown. "Did you come by yourself?"

Alphonse's grin faltered. "Yeah. Is that okay?"

Mei's eyes widened. "Oh, yes!" she said hastily. "If I'm honest, I'm pretty happy Edward didn't tag along. You're the superior Elric by all means. Winry, however..." She sighed. "I don't know what she sees in your brother. He's as arrogant as they come, but to each their own, I suppose." She studied Alphonse from the corner of her eye, pleased by the blush dusted on his cheeks. "Me? I prefer someone more sensitive. Kinder. But still has a mind of their own."

The blonde raised a brow at her words. "Is that so? I'll give you a call if I find someone that fits that description."

She smirked. "How kind of you. But tell me – what do you look for in a girl, Alphonse?"

"Hmm... Well, she has to be intelligent. And not willing to back down even when she's under pressure. But also empathetic – someone who understands what others are going through and knows how to comfort them."

"Oh, geez. Would you two stop your flirting already? I'm going to get diabetes from how sugary sweet you're being."

Both jumped and turned to see Winry standing in the doorway, a hand resting on her hip and a smirk on her face.

"We were not flirting," Mei retorted, ignoring the blush she knew was painted on her cheeks. "It was just..." She faltered, looking for the right words. "Playful banter?"

Winry snorted. "Right. Anyways." She handed a folder to the Xingese woman. "I just finished putting this report in the computer. Anything else you need me to do before I get started on the next set?"

"Actually," Mei said, standing from her desk, "it'd be great if you could help Alphonse and I go over the photos of Hughes' crime scene we received from Fuery. Two sets of eyes is great, but three is even better."

Her assistant shrugged. "Sure. Should we go down into the morgue?"

"If that's the place we're least likely to be interrupted, I'm fine with it," Alphonse said.

Mei chuckled. "Don't worry. There shouldn't be any bodies on the table."

"Good to know."

The three went down the stairs and into the slightly colder air of the morgue, where they laid the photographs out on the autopsy table.

"These are more than likely going to be our most valuable pictures," Mei said, moving the images of the fingerprint away from the rest. "We need to scan these as soon as we can. I know right now a large selection of prints are being added to the system, so I want to wait until they've finished in order to have a better chance of getting results."

"I'm going to be completely honest with you guys," Winry said, studying the photo of Hughes inside the phone booth. "There's no way Hughes could be propped up inside there like that of his own accord. Someone had to position him. And I'd bet money it was the killer."

"I wonder if the FBI thought to check his body for latent prints," Mei mused. "Of course, if our suspicions are correct and his murder investigation was somehow managed by a corrupt individual, then I doubt it was." She was tempted to bring up the idea of exhuming Hughes body, but decided against it. It was a bit early for her to suggest something quite that drastic.

"I could have Ed check to see if they did, if you want," Alphonse said. "He's at the FBI today. Riza needed his help with something. I told him to keep an eye out for Luxure and Neid. He said he'd also talk to Havoc and see if Luxure does have an alibi for three nights ago."

"No, don't bother. I don't want him to seem suspicious and then somehow get thrown under the bus. It's bad enough that I've started getting death threats – we don't need him to receive any as well."

Alphonse froze. "You've started getting what?!"

Mei rolled her eyes. "They're nothing. Just letters telling me to back off the case – or else. Ooh. I'm so terrified, in case you couldn't tell."

The younger Elric pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mei, why didn't you say something?"

"For one, I always get letters like that. It comes with the job. And I've only received one relating to the Maes Hughes case. Maybe twenty minutes before you arrived." She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a plastic bag with a crumpled envelope inside, smoothing it before she placed it on the table. "It basically says that if I keep working on the case, no good will come of it." Alphonse opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up to silence him. "This means we're closer to catching them than anyone else has gotten. They're paranoid."

"If you think Mei's going to give up then you're crazy, Al," Winry said, crossing her arms. "You thought I was stubborn? This girl's ten times worse."

Alphonse sighed. "Well, I was going to tell you to stop working on the case, but I guess that would be pretty pointless, huh?"

Mei smirked. "Yes. Yes it would." She glanced at the letter. "I'm tempted to burn it, but I want to check for prints. I've only handled it with gloves on in order to preserve them. If there are any, at least."

"I can dust it, if you want," Alphonse offered. "I brought a kit just in case."

"That'd be great!"

"Let me go get it from my car."

After he left, the two women returned their attention to the photographs in front of them.

"Alright," Mei said, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, "let's go over what we know so far. We've got a print that more than likely belongs to the killer."

"But what if it doesn't?" Winry suggested, playing the role of the devil's advocate – or perhaps a defense attorney. "What if it's from a careless officer at the scene?"

"It's true that we can't discount that possibility," Mei conceded, "but any decent officer would report his error and the photographs would likely either not have been taken at all or would not have been considered significant enough to have in detail or high quality." She studied a picture of Hughes' body. "It's also clear that it was more than likely the killer who propped his body up in such a way. FBI agents should know very well not to interfere with a crime scene."

Winry nodded. "Agreed." She picked up an image of a close up shot of Hughes' wounds. "He was stabbed six times, like all the other victims." She handed the photo to Mei, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Something about that seems off to me. Let's compare some different scenes. Give me a sec and I'll grab the files on all the other victims." She left the room, leaving Mei by herself.

The Xingese woman frowned as she examined the picture. Winry was right – something did seem off. But she couldn't place her finger on what.

Just then, Alphonse walked back into the room, cell phone to his ear. "Do you have any idea why they've started targeting him?" He paused, then rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. I get it. Send me a text once you've got more information. Have you come across Havoc yet?" He sighed, and Mei bit back a laugh at the expression of exasperation painted on his face. "Fine, Ed. Anyways, I have to hang up now – do not screw yourself over. Bye." He tapped the phone before tucking it into his pocket. "Sorry about that – he's such a hassle."

"Did he figure something out?" Mei asked curiously.

"Not exactly. But apparently Yoki is now under suspicion of stealing the autopsy report and Hughes murder because his accusation of an FBI agent is 'absolutely outrageous.' At least, that's what Mustang told Ed. But I bet the fact that he's an ex-convict isn't helping his case."

Mei's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?!" She massaged her temples. "See, that's why I will never work for the government in such a direct manner. They can never fathom the idea that there's a traitor in their ranks. They'll pin the crime on the first person they can."

"That's why Ed quit. He was sick of their games."

She sighed. "I get the feeling that things have been corrupt within the FBI for more years than we can count."

"Agreed."

"Anyways." She handed him the bag with the envelope in it. "You can dust this for prints now. Just be careful not to get it on anything else. It can be a pain to remove."

He nodded. "Roger that." He took the bag and moved to the side of the room just as Winry returned.

"Alright," she said, plunking the folders onto the table. "I'll read these aloud one at a time while you tell me if there are any strange inconsistencies with Hughes' case. Okay?"

"Got it," Mei said.

"First victim was a woman. Hazel Jones. 23 years old. Worked in a retail store. No criminal background. Both parents living. No significant other. No children."

And so they went on, with Winry going through each file as Mei mentally compared their cases to Hughes'. After a good forty five minutes or so, they got to the final folder.

"Most recent victim before Hughes was a male. Alex Jackson. 18 years old. Worked in a fast food restaurant. Fined for shoplifting at the age of 15. Parents divorced. No significant other. No children." Winry stopped. "Did anything seem off to you?"

"Quite a few things, actually," Mei said, crossing her arms over her chest. "For one, Hughes was easily the oldest victim we've had so far. A seven year age difference. He was also the only victim employed with the military – the rest all worked for minor establishments or didn't have a job at all."

"Easier prey, in other words," Winry noted.

"Exactly. Hughes was also the only one to die from a gunshot wound to the chest and not the head. Only one other victim was married with children like he was." Mei stared at her assistant, eyes heavy. "I'm getting the feeling that Hughes was the main target, Winry. I think the other victims were a sort of 'cover-up.'"

The blonde woman cursed under her breath. "I can't believe it. Who would kill dozens of people just to make it seem like the death of one person was a coincidence?"

"More than you'd think," Alphonse said from the side of the room. "And I hate to interrupt your discussion, but I managed to salvage a partial print from this envelope. I want to compare it to the print from the crime scene. Do you have –"

"Right over there," Winry interrupted, gesturing the computer behind her. "Use that."

He nodded. "Thanks."

Mei handed him one of the crisper photos of the fingerprint. "Have fun with that. I hate matching up prints. Too time-consuming."

He chuckled at the expression of disgust on her face. "Then you're lucky I'm here."

Winry and Mei returned their attention to the photographs laid out on the table.

"There really is something off about this photo," the Xingese doctor muttered, placing her finger on the close up of Hughes' stab wounds. "But like you said – I can't put my finger on what."

"I know what you need," Winry chuckled. "A nice cold bottle of water. It'll clear your mind. I'll go get them."

"Thanks, Winry."

"Just doing my job. Al? You want one, too?"

"Yes, thank you."

At that, the blonde left the room.

The air grew silent as Alphonse continued to compare the prints while Mei racked her brain to figure out what was so wrong with the photo of Hughes' stab wounds. Like the other victims, there were six. That wasn't unusual. They were all within a few inches of each other, which was a bit odd, but not completely unheard of. The blood was partially clotted around some and oozing around others.

Her eyes widened. The blood. The blood should not have been clotting if all the wounds were postmortem!

Mei picked the photo up and looked as carefully as she could. "I can't believe it..." Three of the six wounds had blood clotting on the edges. That meant they were premortem. And based on how much blood was clotted, she'd approximate that they had been caused about thirty or so minutes before his death, though she couldn't say for certain without the body.

And now that she was looking for it, those three wounds also had a slightly different shape than the others. That implied that they were caused by a different weapon. Albeit a similar one to whatever stabbed him the final three times.

"Alphonse," she said slowly, placing down the photograph, "do you think we can get a court order to exhume Hughes' body?"

Alphonse turned around, eyebrow raised. "You want to exhume his body? Why?"

"I have reason to believe that three of Hughes' wounds were premortem instead of postmortem, despite what we were told," Mei explained. "I don't think Riza was lying to us when she said all six wounds were made after his death – I think she was purposely misinformed by someone above. The only problem is that I can't confirm this unless I have his body. I hate to phrase it like this, but he's only been in the ground a few days – he should still be in decent condition."

"Well, we can definitely try," he said. "I can call Ed and tell him to get one for the sake of convenience."

"That would be much appreciated. Thank you."

"No problem." Alphonse took his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number. "Ed?" He blinked in surprise. "Yeah, sure. One sec." He moved the phone from his ear and held it out to Mei. "Ed has Havoc on the line for you. He was just about to call."

Mei hesitated but accepted the phone. "Hello?"

"Doctor Chang. How've you been? It's not like we saw each other yesterday or anything."

She rolled her eyes, recognizing the voice of Jean Havoc. "I'm fine. And yourself?"

"I'm great. Tell me, Doctor – have you gotten with Alphonse yet?"

She turned bright red at his words. "I fail to see how that is relevant, sir. Why did you need to speak to me?"

"Edward said that you had some questions for me. I'm on break right now, so I figured I'd give you a call."

She opened her mouth before snapping it shut. "Right. I'd almost forgotten. You said you were with your girlfriend Luxure three nights ago for the entire time, correct?"

"Uh... Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you completely sure? Would you be able to confirm this in court?"

"Why do you need to know? Has she done something wrong?"

Mei hesitated. No, the woman hadn't done anything wrong – and that was the problem. She had no proof whatsoever that Luxure had been involved with stealing her autopsy report, much less Hughes' death. "Not that we're aware of. But she considered a suspect in a current investigation."

"What investigation? Are you conducting it yourself?"

"At the moment I am not at liberty to disclose that information."

"I'm going to be honest with you, Doctor – I don't like being kept out of the know."

Mei winced. "I understand, sir. But surely you realize why you must be."

On the other end of the line Havoc sighed. "Luxure and I were together the entire time three nights ago, okay? So she's got an alibi – which I assume is what you were checking for."

Mei's heart sank at those words. "I see. Thank you. That was all I needed to know."

"Glad I was able to help."

She slowly handed the phone back to Alphonse, who noticed the distraught look on her face. He said a few words of his own to Havoc and Edward – including asking him to obtain a court order – before hanging up.

"Mei?" he asked, golden eyes filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

She sighed. "I don't understand. How can she have an alibi?!"

"Keep in mind that you never had solid reason to suspect her," Alphonse said. "I hate to be that person, but a gut feeling is useless in court."

"I know," she muttered. "But I was so sure! I thought –"

She was interrupted by Winry's return. "Sorry it took me so long," the blonde apologized. "Someone called your office, Mei. Apparently the body we're expecting has been delayed. It won't come until tomorrow or the day after. Which is a pain – I hope they preserve it properly." She put two water bottles down and kept one for herself. "Here you go."

Alphonse accepted the bottle while Mei picked hers up rather distractedly, her mind still trying to wrap itself around the fact that her instinct had been wrong. There was just nothing she could do. She seriously doubted Havoc had lied to her, which meant someone else must have been driving the getaway van.

But who?

The Xingese woman was brought out of her thoughts when the bitter smell of almonds hit her nose. "What the?!" she muttered, eyes wide. Surely that wasn't what she thought it was. She looked around, trying to determine where the smell was coming from.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Alphonse had opened his water bottle. She and Winry had not.

"Wait!" she shouted, stepping towards him in an attempt to grab the bottle before he could put it to his lips. "Don't drink that!"

Alphonse froze, the water halfway to his mouth. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Trust me," was her response. "You don't want that in your system. Give me the bottle."

He hesitated for only a moment before handing it over to her.

As carefully as she could, Mei wafted the scent from the bottle and smelled it. "I knew it," she muttered, glaring at the water as if it had insulted her.

"Knew what?" Winry asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "Mei, what are you going on about?"

"This is not water," Mei said, holding up Alphonse's bottle. "Or at least not entirely. It's contaminated with cyanide. I can smell it."

"Really?" Alphonse said, brow raised. "What does it smell like to you? Because I can't smell anything."

"Almonds," she replied grimly. "And the ability to smell cyanide is a sex-linked recessive trait contained in only thirty to forty percent of the population. So I can't say I'm surprised you can't detect the scent. I'm unfortunately in the percentage that can. But it comes in handy in certain situations – such as this one. If you had ingested this water, Alphonse, you would be dead or dying right now."

His face grew pale. "Lovely."

"Thanks for that image, Mei," Winry grumbled. "I don't think I'll ever be able to drink water again."

"I'd certainly advise not to drink from the bottle you're holding," Mei instructed. "In fact, I'd like to dispose of all the water bottles in the building. Do you know who might have brought them?"

Winry shrugged. "Nope. People bring in drinks all the time."

"That means they could have been planted," Alphonse added. "You should take those threats you're getting seriously, Mei. I'm willing to bet this was an attempt on your life."

Mei frowned. "Perhaps. But it was one bound to fail. Whoever did this clearly wasn't aware I can smell cyanide."

Winry snorted. "Mei, I wasn't even aware you could do that."

"Well, I never saw the need to bring it up."

"You're missing the point, Mei." Alphonse ran a hand through his golden hair. "Someone tried to kill you. And you're dismissing it like it's nothing!"

"Because it is nothing!" Mei protested. "Cyanide is a cowardly attempt at trying to kill someone. I'll start to worry when there's a gun pointed at my head, okay?" She didn't want to keep this argument up. "Anyways – was the print on the envelope a match of the one at the crime scene?"

Alphonse looked as if he wasn't done insisting she was in danger, but chose to relent with a sigh. "Yes. It was."

Mei grinned. "Really? Yes! Now all we need is a court order to exhume Hughes' body. I know we can catch the killer. I just know it." She paused, a frown falling on her lips. "Wait. I want to talk to Hughes' wife. Gracia. I want to ask her permission."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Winry asked. "A court order's all you need."

"By law, maybe," Mei said, "but it wouldn't feel right to me not getting her permission."

"I have to agree with you there," Alphonse mused. "Getting her permission is the right thing to do."

"I'll go tomorrow," Mei decided. "I'll take an early train so I miss as little work as possible." She chuckled. "I don't want to leave everything to you again, Winry."

"I'll come, too," the younger Elric added. "You're going to want an officer with you."

"I think you just want to hang out with her, don't you, Al?" Winry smirked.

"I'd hope he does," Mei said honestly. "I've grown rather fond of his company."

"Great," Winry said, ignoring Alphonse's sputtered protests. "I hereby assign Al to be your bodyguard, Mei. I'd be beyond enraged if you died and left me to take over your position. Understand?"

Mei laughed. "Of course." She winked at Alphonse. "Meet you at the station for five, alright?"

Alphonse simply sighed, wondering what on Earth he was getting himself into.

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I didn't really address the prompt until near the end. Whoops. Even so, I'm mostly satisfied. I hope you return tomorrow for Day 4: Hair/Travel!