Chapter ten

Jean was finally done interviewing everyone inside the church and seriously felt like he needed some fresh air, aka a smoke. These people were relatively harmless, but they were very self-centered the whole lot of them. They hadn't got any real information about Solaris Bailey either.

Jean went up the stairs and out to the parking lot. He leant against the wall of the entrance and lit up his cigarette. It tasted heavenly. Breda was still downstairs interviewing the rest of them and Jean didn't envy him.

"DC Havoc, right?" a voice suddenly came to his right. Jean looked over at a man who was dressed in another set of black clothes, although this one was also wearing a black sleeveless jacket with white fur around the neck. The man was grinning smugly. "I heard you're looking for information on Solaris? Well, I'm the man you want to ask."

"And who are you?" Jean asked, pulling out his notebook. This man seemed to actually be willing to give him something.

"I'm Troy Patton and I know just how much Solaris was up to."

"I'm listening."

"I want something back. Look at it like an exchange of sorts."

Jean was really tired with people who did things this way. "How about I don't arrest you for withholding information concerning a murder investigation?" Jean suggested.

The man smirked.

"So she was a slut?" Breda asked while Havoc told his story.

"Yeah, apparently, if the money was good. She had a pretty high-class clientele. Apparently that was her way of 'achieving immortality'."

Roy looked over at Hawkeye. She seemed to be doing better since her little outburst earlier.

"Which would explain the reference to the seven deadly sins of man," she said. "Which could mean that the killer is going to kill again, sir."

"Which means that we have to solve this case quickly. We have a lead now, however. Good work, Havoc."

"Thanks, Boss."

"I guess it means that we should have another talk with Miss Rial. She probably knows more than she told us earlier. Do we have a place of work?"

"Apparently she works as a maid in some grand mansion right outside of town. Oh …" Breda said, reading off a piece of paper on his desk. "The owner is Yoki Yandell."

Roy cursed.

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked.

Roy sighed. "Sergeant Yoki Yandell is a dirty cop, but he always bribes his higher-ups so that they keep quiet about it. He's been rumoured to be running some kind of high class brothel as well. If Solaris Bailey was caught up in that, then this case is going to be a mess. If he's involved in our case, then Internal Affairs are going to be all over the place."

"So what do we do, sir?"

"We go and have a talk with Superintendent Grumman."

Roy knew that if IA was going to be involved with this, then there was really just one officer that he could work with. But that meant that he needed Grumman himself to request that Hughes came over from Central. There was no way that he'd be able to work with Kimblee again. That man was close to snap, but he was too good at what he did for anyone to fire him.

And so Roy went together with Hawkeye towards the office in question. Roy was wondering whether he should give her a kind of heads-up before meeting the man, but if she was already 'prejudiced' by Roy, then that would be bad too.

"So, Sergeant, do you know anything about Superintendent Grumman?"

"Yes, sir."

"So you know that even if he can be a bit eccentric, he's still a very fine officer." It wasn't a question, just so as to make it clear that it was a friendly pointer of sorts.

For some reason, Hawkeye smiled at that. "I know that very well, sir."

"Oh, good."

They reached the office door in question and Roy knocked twice, earning a "come in" from the old man.

Roy opened the door and walked inside, Hawkeye following behind him and closing the door.

"Ah, Mustang! What may I do for you and this charming young lady? Please, have a seat!"

Roy hadn't expected the man to be referring to their new recruit this way, but he knew that the old fox liked to joke a bit about pretty women in a pretty harmless fashion.

"Our current case may have connections to Yoki Yandell, sir. I'd like to ask you for a favour."

Grumman's smile disappeared rather quickly. "I see, and what would that favour be?"

"I'd like you to ask Central to send Maes Hughes from the IA branch over there to work with us."

"Instead of having Kimblee doing it?" The man looked up at him, still able to read his mind from when Roy had been working as his partner.

"Yes, sir."

"I'll see what I can do. Now, how are you two doing? Is your partnership working out?"

"Very good so far, sir," Roy said, looking over at Hawkeye.

"And what's your opinion of East City, young lady?" Grumman asked, smiling at her.

"It's a very pretty city, although I am mostly busy with settling in with the boys."

"Of course. Is there a chance I can get to meet them soon?"

Roy had certainly not expected that kind of question. "Do you know each other?" he asked, confused, looking between the two.

At that, Grumman laughed heartily. "I'm surprised you haven't told him," he told her.

"I thought it would be better to wait until I'd got to know my co-workers," Hawkeye answered. "Otherwise there may be people who would be prejudiced against me."

"I see, although I still think that Mustang deserves to know. Especially now that we've confused him." He chuckled. He was clearly enjoying leaving Roy so curious. "Riza's my granddaughter," he told him, his voice softening.

Roy had certainly not expected that one. "So that whole conversation where I had to convince you to employ her as the new DS?"

Grumman chuckled again. "I was merely letting you decide which partner you wanted."

There was a knock on the door and Havoc peeked his head inside. "Uhm, Riza, it's Alphonse on the phone, apparently Edward's been injured."

Roy felt his stomach clench.

Riza was out of her chair immediately and jogged towards the office, leaving Havoc behind her in the corridor. She went straight over to the phone and picked it up.

"Alphonse? What's happened?" she asked urgently.

"Riza? Brother fell and his arm looks broken, what do I do?" He sounded scared and near tears.

"I'll be there as quickly as I can, Al. There's an ice pack in the freezer in the second drawer, you should wrap it in one of the kitchen towels and put it on his arm to reduce the swelling." Riza knew that Alphonse would have told her if it had been an open fracture or if Ed had had any other injuries, so she didn't ask him.

"O-okay. I'll do that."

"I'll be home as soon as I can, Al."

"Thank you, Riza." Al hung up the phone.

She turned around, cursing inwardly. Edward would be thoroughly miserable with his only arm now broken, but right now she just needed to get Edward to the local A&E. She strode quickly back through the corridors and met Mustang halfway back to her grandfather's office.

"What's happened?" he asked, looking worried.

"Edward fell and Al thinks his arm is broken, do you think you could drive us?" Riza needed some help right now and she really couldn't ask any of the others to drive because they would probably just scare Ed and Al since they didn't know them.

"Of course, let's go."

"Thank you, sir," Riza said and she meant it. This was a really bad time for something like this to happen, and it would slow down the investigation quite a lot.

And Ed was alone with Al and a broken arm.

They walked through the station quickly and were soon driving back to the flat. Riza felt her nervousness rise as they drove and she practically threw the door open as she strode inside the flat.

"Boys?!" She stared desperately around her.

"In here." Alphonse said, his voice indicating that they were on the couch.

She jogged over, finding Al standing in front of his brother who was clearly in pain where he sat. Ed's arm was lying on a pillow on his lap, covered by an ice pack that had been wrapped in a towel per her instructions. Riza went over to them and gently lifted it away, earning a little yelp from Ed.

"I'm sorry, I just need to se how bad it is," Riza said, studying the arm. It was clearly broken about midway between the wrist and the elbow and was looking quite sickening because of the way it suddenly bended slightly.

"Okay, we're going to A&E, DCI Mustang is driving us," Riza said. She went over to the wardrobe in the hallway and found one of her shawls. She then went back to the boys and gently got the shawl under his arm as Ed hissed with pain. "I'm sorry, Edward, I'm just making you a sling, okay?"

"Mhm." He looked scared and Riza gently moved his arm earning another yelp and then tied the shawl around his neck.

"There, all done, Ed, you're doing really good."

She removed the pillow as Ed stood up while Al supported him. Ed flinched every time he moved his arm, but he seemed adamant not to cry, even if he looked highly frightened. Riza was carrying their jackets and Alphonse helped Ed inside the car, still looking like he wanted to cry. With the boys in the back seat, she sat herself up front, stressed out. With both of Ed's arms now out of commission, he was not going to be happy for the next few months.