Aaaand it's chapter nine! Also, does anybody else remember Karin? Or is it just me?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Nine: Proof of Existence

Roy muttered something incoherent as the phone rang, blinking and pulling himself out of the bed. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he reached over to the phone and lifted it to his ear.

"Roy Mustang speaking," he said, trying to sound as professional as possible while yawning.

"Mr Mustang, sir, there's somebody to see you at the front desk. A lady named, ah, Karin James?"

Roy's brow furrowed. "I don't know her. Did she say why she was here?"

Roy heard a hand placed over the phone, and then muffled chatter. After a moment, the receptionist was back on the line.

"She says she wants to talk to you about the Elrics."

"I'll see her." Roy said immediately. He put the phone down and grinned, turning to his barely awake roommate.

"Jean, we've got a lead. Wake the others up and meet me in the lobby."

Karin was a middle-aged woman, old before her time, with dark hair held back in a pretty blue rose clip. Roy greeted her with a handshake, trying to hide the fact that he was still half asleep.

"I heard that you wanted to know about the Elric brothers, to try and solve the murders... I can tell you this: they did exist."

Roy nodded. "How do you know?"

"I was their nurse when they were small. Here," she handed him a large book bound in faded blue fabric. "These are the only photographs left."

Roy flipped open the album and stared down at the page for a second. Two pairs of eyes looked back, and in their scrutiny he couldn't help but feel mildly disconcerted.

He turned back to Karin. "The only photographs left? What happened to the others?"

"They were burnt," she said. "Just before they moved here. I worked for them when they lived in Rush Valley, too... I don't know what happened. One day, the Professor came home in a panic. HE burnt all of his paperwork, all of the photographs- even the boys' birth certificates- and then they began packing up their things. He asked me to come with them, and, well, I had nowhere else to go, so I agreed." she broke off for a moment, glancing down at the open photo album in Roy's lap.

"He told me to act as though the Elric brothers never existed. Nobody was to know. The boys were happy enough with the arrangement- spending all their time in the library, only going out when there was nobody else around- but as far as everyone else was concerned, Edward and Alphonse Elric didn't exist. They even hid them from the other servants; only a handful of us knew... only those of us who had moved with them from Rush Valley."

Riza frowned. "Do you know why he hid them like that?"

Karin shook her head. "I'm afraid I have no idea."

"No matter, then. Can you tell us who else knew about the boys?"

Karin looked thoughtful. "The head butler... Majihal... but he's dead." she said, a grief-filled look crossing her face for a second. Roy raised an eyebrow. I'm willing to bet there's some history there, he thought, but that's probably not relevant. Probably.

"Maria Ross and Denny Broche; Maria cleaned their rooms, and Denny brought their meals to the library for them... oh, the library! The librarian was a woman named Sciezka Johnson, I'm sure she'd know, and then there was Tim Marcoh, he was their tutor. None of the others would've known, I don't think."

Riza nodded, scribbling down the names in a notepad she'd fished out of her jacket pocket. "And how many servants were employed in the mansion altogether?"

"Ah... let me see, there were ten maids in all... the cook, the butler, the librarian, the gardener... I would say about twenty, maybe twenty-five in all. Not very many for such a large house..."

"On the night they... on the night they died, were you at the mansion?"

She shook her head. "None of us were. It was not uncommon for Professor Elric to give us all a few days' leave now and then, so I thought nothing of it... but..."

"It's okay. There's no need to speak about it if it upsets you." said Riza gently. If she hadn't been there, it was unlikely to be of any importance anyway.

Karin nodded, and glanced up at the lobby clock.

"I'm sorry, but I really ought to be getting back to work. I've put my number in the front of the album if you have any other questions." she smiled weakly.

"Thank you very much, Karin. We really appreciate your help." The group bid her goodbye, and then, as one, they turned to the album.

The Elric brothers were sat next to each other in one of the huge armchairs they'd seen in the library, a book open on their laps; captured looking up at the camera with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.

"Well, I think we've officially answered 'did they exist?'" said Riza, drily.

Maes nodded. "Now all that's left is; 'why did someone try to make it look like they didn't?'"

A few days had passed since Karin's visit, and since then they had fallen into a state of ennui. Roy had retreated to a small local café to look over their findings when he was brought out of his concentration by Maes.

"Olivia called. She says it'll be a couple of weeks before we can see them. It's a maximum security prison, after all, and we're not friends or relatives, so it's a bit tricky... technically we shouldn't be allowed to see them at all, you know, but Olivia's the one asking for us, and not many people say no to Olivia."

Roy shivered. "No, they certainly don't." he muttered. "A couple of weeks, huh?"

Maes nodded. "Yeah. But on the bright side, it'll give us some time to gather more information... speaking of which, we've found the librarian, Sciezka. She seems pretty eager to help out."

"That's great. So, we'll be seeing her sometime soon?"

"Yep, in... oh. In about ten minutes, actually."

Roy blinked with surprise. "Ten mi-?"

Maes cut him off. "Yup, so if we want to make it to the station in time, we should get going!"

The journey to the train station was short but unpleasant, as the weather took a sudden turn for the worse and chose to rain heavily. Roy was only too happy to accept the ticket-seller's offer to sit in the ticket booth for a while. The small space may have been cramped, but at least it was dry...

Still, they did not have long to wait. The train arrived barely minutes after they did, and it was easy to locate Sciezka in the sparse crowd.

"Mr Hughes- we spoke on the phone? I'm Sciezka Johnson. It's a pleasure to meet you." she shuffled the books she was carrying from one arm to the other, and extended a hand for him to shake.

"Thank you for coming- would you like me to take those for you? These are my colleagues- Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Kain Fuery, Jean Havoc, Vato Falman and Heymans Breda. Ah, shall we move this to somewhere a little less wet?"

They retreated into the warmth of the café Roy had so recently occupied, gladly shedding their wet coats and ordering hot drinks all around. Once seated, Sciezka gave them a rather frazzled smile.

"I'm sorry for coming at such short notice, but today's the only time off I'll be able to get for a little while, it's so busy lately - you're actually quite lucky you called this morning, I don't know when I'd have been able to make it otherwise."

"Not a problem at all. In fact, the sooner the better... so, you were a librarian at the mansion?"

Sciezka nodded. "Oh, yes. It was a wonderful library, you know, but a rather odd family... oh, they were very nice, of course," she added hastily. "A lovely couple, and the children were very well behaved, not to mention bright- but odd all the same."

"How so, Sciezka?" asked Roy.

She pushed her glasses up her nose before she spoke, a thoughtful frown creasing her brow.

"It was only since they moved here that things became strange... I moved with them from Rush Valley, you see, and back then there was nothing too much out of the ordinary; but one day the professor came home in a real tizzy. He burnt a lot of his things and packed everything else, and then they cleared out of there like they couldn't leave it behind quick enough."

She paused for a moment, biting her lip. "When we arrived here, he called me into his study and told me in a very grave tone that it was of the utmost importance that the boys be kept secret from everyone else. It was to be as if they didn't exist. Not long after that, the boys started studying more and more, and soon I found myself getting kicked out of the library for hours at a time so that they could do so in private."

Maes frowned. "Do you have any idea why they left Rush Valley? Or what the boys were studying?"

"Not at all," said Sciezka with a shake of her head. "But... well, but there were a great many alchemy books in that library, Mr Hughes. Books I've never seen anywhere else... I don't think I've ever seen a library quite like that one, and I don't think I ever will again, either."

"It is impressive," Maes agreed. "Did you keep in contact with any of the other employees- specifically, the ones from Rush Valley? We haven't been able to track them down..."

"Oh, yes," said Sciezka readily. "Dr Marcoh. Actually, he lives in Lior too... I'm sure he'd be happy to help you, and I'm sure he'd know more than I. He was the boys' tutor; here, let me give you his phone number."

She rummaged through her bag for a second in search of a notebook and pencil- once found, she scribbled down the number and passed the ripped-out page to Maes. "There," she smiled. "He's retired now, so I'm sure he'll have no problems finding time to speak to you. Do you need anything else?"

Roy looked thoughtful for a moment, and then shook his head. "No thank you, Sciezka, not at this time... is it okay if we call you, though, if we have any other questions?"

"Oh, of course!" answered Sciezka. "I've always wanted to know what happened... if there's anything I can do to help, please just ask."

"We will." Maes assured her. "Thank you very much for your time, Sciezka."