DISCLAIMER: -is sleeping on the desk, curled into a little ball due to time constraints which have made it nearly impossible to sleep at regular times. A small sign rests by her hand- "I don't own FMA. You know that by now."
A/N: Okay, so I've been trying to make my chapters longer, but I guess that's not coming out so well. I apologize so very much for any out-of-character-ness displayed in any of the characters actions. (Especially Roy's) I've just been trying so hard to try and get this story to go somewhere and I definitely wanted to bring up the romantic aspect again. The romance will be back soon, but this chapter is mainly trying to get some things sorted out. (Trust me, I miss the romance too!) So again, I apologize. You really have no idea how badly I want this to work out! Thank you for reading and please review!
Chapter 7: The First Lead. RM.
"Yes, Havoc?" I said as the Lieutenant entered my office. "Can I help you?"
He was shortly followed by Breda, Falman and Fuery. Each of them were staring at me eagerly. I sighed and put down the report in my hand.
"What do you want now?"
They all exchanged sly glances and Havoc approached my desk. Something about the way they were acting made me a bit uneasy.
"Word on the street is that you took Hawkeye out last night," Havoc said, grinning.
"So what if I did?" I replied calmly. "What does it matter?"
I pretended to busy myself with another report. Havoc and the others continued to stare at me.
"Come on, chief, spill it." Havoc insisted. "How'd the date go? What was she wearing? How far did-"
"It wasn't a date," I said forcefully. "It was just dinner. I just thought she deserved a night out on the town."
Havoc raised an eyebrow and it was clear that he didn't believe a word I was saying. I avoided looking at him.
"Come on, Colonel..." he said. "Can't you tell us a little bit?"
"We had dinner," I told him bluntly. "There. Happy?"
"Come on, sir," Breda spoke up. "Something must have happened."
Yeah it did. I've lost my damn mind. I asked my Lieutenant to dinner. What was I thinking?
And...
And I almost kissed her. What the Hell was that all about?
Something just wasn't making much sense. First, Hughes tells me that he thinks I should go out with Hawkeye. Then, the next thing I know, I'm outside her apartment, tripping over my tongue and asking her to dinner.
Maybe I'm coming down with something...
"How do you even know about this?" I asked, irritated.
They all looked at each other and then back at me. I knew what was coming.
"Hughes," they said unanimously.
I knew it. But how he knew was beyond me. Hawkeye would never in a million years tell him. Did he had spies out watching me?
Knowing Maes, I wouldn't doubt it...
"Would you all just leave?" I asked them.
I didn't really 'ask', because I wasn't expecting an answer. I just wanted them out of my office!
Without another word, they left and I sighed deeply. I was much too tired to work on anything business related. A nap actually sounded really good.
"Roy?" a head peaked in my doorway and I sat up straight in my chair.
I relaxed when I realized that it was only Maes. He was lucky I didn't own a dart set or several of them would have quickly been embedded in his forehead.
"Hello Maes," I leaned back in my chair. "I've heard you've been talking about me..."
Maes smirked and sat down in a chair. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Havoc's already been here," I said dully. "Him and the rest of the motley crew."
Maes laughed. "I was just happy for you. Can you blame me? I mean, it took you long enough, didn't it?"
I rolled my eyes. Maes was my best friend, but he could be a right pain in the ass.
"Speaking of which," he said. "How did the little date go?"
"It was not a date!" I said heatedly. "It was just dinner!"
"And dancing..." Maes added.
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Did he really have people spying on me? Oh great, now I was going to be completely paranoid.
Maes looked up at me. "I was at the restaurant, Roy..."
"Oh..." I said, slightly embarrassed. "Why?"
"I was taking Gracia out to dinner. It was our anniversary," he explained. "We even brought Elysia along. She's gotten so-"
"Wait!" I interrupted. "You brought your daughter? You let her see what happened?"
Maes looked confused. "See what? All I saw were you two. Well, actually, Gracia saw you first and pointed you out. We left shortly after you started dancing. You seemed to be enjoying yourself..." His face fell. "Why? Did something happen?"
"We were ambushed," I told him. "A man at the bar. We believe he's been involved in the murders."
Maes sat up straighter. "Did you get him?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No. Riza was unarmed and there were too many people in that restaurant for me to perform Alchemy."
Maes stared at me, the corner of his mouth turned upward, showing the signs of a smile.
"What?" I asked him, not finding the situation at all humorous.
"Nothing," Maes answered, shaking it off.
"No, tell me..." I insisted.
"It's just..." Maes said, not looking at me. "You just called her 'Riza'. I-I thought it was interesting..."
I didn't do that, did I? Something wasn't right. What was happening to me? My astonishment must have leaked on to my face, because he laughed.
"You've changed, Roy," her said. "You may not notice it now, but you will soon."
I didn't know what he meant, and frankly, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. The scary thing was...
He was probably right.
"Anyway," Maes changed the subject. "What did this man look like?"
"His face was all scarred up-" I started.
"Scar?" he asked.
"No," I answered quickly. "Not Scar. He was older than Scar..."
A moment later, the door opened and Ed entered the room. I had been expecting him to drop in at one point in the day, but not so soon.
"You wanted to see me, Colonel?" he asked.
"I did?" I hadn't mentioned to anyone that I wanted to talk to anyone. "Oh that's right," I said hastily. "I did. Sit down, Ed..."
I could tell he was a bit caught off guard by my strange behavior, but I couldn't blame him. I was too! Instead of sitting, he remained standing in his spot.
"Ed," I began slowly. "The man from your dream, the one with the many scars, what else can you tell me about him?"
Ed grinned tauntingly. "I thought you said it was just a nightmare, sir..."
I looked at him seriously and he sat down next to Maes.
"He was old," he said. "Kind of like you, Colonel..."
"Ed..." I growled.
"His hair was dark," he continued. "Had a couple of gray spots, but that's all I can remember..."
"Do you think you could identify him if you ever saw him again?" I asked.
He nodded. "Probably."
"Good," I said. "We may need you later."
Looking smug as usual, he turned to me. "So, Colonel, what's this I hear about you and Lieutenant-"
The door opened before he could finish his sentence and we all turned to look at it. Hawkeye entered, staring at us curiously. It was obvious she had just entered the middle of a conversation.
"Oh, Edward..." she said, spotting him. "You're already here. Good. Lieutenant Hughes, you're wanted at the main office."
Maes stood and crossed toward the door. He winked at me before he left and glared at him. Ed looked back and forth between Hawkeye and I and cleared his throat.
"I have to get back to Al..." he said, standing quickly and heading for the door.
When he was gone, I picked up my pen and started writing out one of the reports. She crossed over to my desk and pulled it away from me.
"You have a visitor, sir..." she said.
A man appeared at the doorway a moment later. It took me a moment, but I recognized him as the man from the last murder site. I stood up hastily.
"Mr. Villa, I'd like you to meet Colonel Roy Mustang..." Hawkeye said professionally. "Colonel, this is Mr. Jacob Villa."
I shook his hand professionally and offered him the nearest chair. Hawkeye continued to stand in her usual place beside me. Mr. Villa seemed a bit unnerved.
"Thank you for coming to speak to me, Mr. Villa..." I said to him. "I know how difficult it must be for you."
"Thank you for letting me come, sir," he replied. "It has been difficult, not only for me, but for my daughter. I hope this won't take too long, because I've brought her along. They said they were going to leave her in the care of the Lieutenant Colonel. I do hope-"
Hawkeye and I glanced at each other. I smiled weakly. "Don't worry, Mr. Villa. Maes is great with children."
Mr. Villa nodded, though he still looked unsure. "I'm not sure how much help I'm going to be, sir." he said. "I don't know much about my wife's work at all. She was always very particular about it. No one was ever to know what she was working on."
"So, she never told you?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No and to be completely honest, I didn't care. I've never cared much for the military." he added quickly, "Begging your pardon, sir." he nodded in Hawkeye's direction. "Ma'am."
I understood. Not many people did care for the military, especially recently. "Did anyone else know about your wife's secret work."
"No, sir," he answered. "It was just the three of us in the house. And of course, Sophie's nanny as well."
"Nanny?" I said, suddenly interested.
"Yes," Mr. Villa said. "Rosemary and I worked very often, so we needed someone to stay at home with Sophie while we were gone. You certainly couldn't leave a five-year-old by herself."
"Did you ever have problems with your Nanny, Mr. Villa?" Hawkeye asked, staring intently at him.
He looked back at her. It was clear that he was debating on what he planned to say. Finally, he looked down at the floor. "Yes," he admitted. "We had problems with her shortly after hiring her. My wife came home one day to find that the Nanny had gone into her private office and was looking over her notes."
"Your wife kept her notes at home?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "She never left her work at the office. She said that she couldn't risk it."
"She didn't trust her co-workers?" Hawkeye blurted.
He stared at us, wide-eyed. It was obvious we were pelting him with several probing questions that he didn't have the answers to. I apologized and Mr. Villa hung his head.
"Don't worry about it, sir," he said. "I didn't really know anything about my wife now that I look back over the years. We never talked about work. She never talked about anything really. She was very quiet."
I noticed that Hawkeye's facial expression had softened. It looked like there was something about this situation that was deeply bothering her.
"Going back to the Nanny," I said. "What did your wife do after she found her snooping through her notes?"
"Oh, she told me that we had to fire her. Told her that she must have been a spy from another branch of the military trying to figure out her work," he answered, shaking his head slowly. "She never once trusted Julia after that..."
"Julia?" Hawkeye asked, breaking out of her silent stupor. "Was that her name?"
He nodded. "Yes. Julia Vasperez. Why do you ask?"
Neither Hawkeye nor I answered. I knew that she was thinking the exact same thing I was. The Nanny would have to be the prime suspect in this.
"Was Julia working the day of Rosemary's murder?" I asked.
"Yes," Mr. Villa narrowed his eyes. "Do you think Julia had something to do with this? Do you think she murdered-"
"We're not saying anything right now, Mr. Villa," I said, holding up my hand to quiet him. "But we are trying to get some of the facts straight."
"She was working the day, that Rosemary...well she..." he couldn't finish the sentence. I understood and told him to continue. "I had heard there had been an accident and hurried home quickly. She had just put Sophie down for a nap and was wondering why I was in such a hurry. I left before I could really explain what had happened."
"So, Julia still works for you?" I said, thinking we had hit yet another wall.
"Oh no," Mr. Villa answered quickly. "No, she stopped showing up. It must have spooked her or something..."
I leaned back in my chair, trying to fit the pieces together. "Why did you let Miss Vasperez continue working for you?"
"She begged me," he replied simply. "My wife never spoke to her, so I did all the business like stuff with her. I paid her and set her hours. She begged and begged that I didn't fire her. She said that she had nowhere else to go. I-I just couldn't let her go."
"Did she ever bring a friend over?" Hawkeye asked.
I gawked at her. That had been the same exact question I was about to ask. It was strange how working with someone for so long could make you start to think like them.
"Yes," he said, staring at the floor. It looked like he was trying to remember exactly who it was. "I don't believe she ever gave me her name, but she was certainly older. Her mid-twenties, maybe. She said that she was working with Julia on a project."
"How old was Julia?" I asked.
"What did she look like?" Hawkeye asked at the same time.
We looked at each and looked away quickly. Mr. Villa looked at each of us carefully. He narrowed his eyes again, unsure of which question to answer first.
"Julia was nineteen..." he said slowly. "And her friend was maybe twenty-five. Roughly your height, Miss..." he pointed to Hawkeye. "Red hair. Dark eyes. Strange mark on her neck. Kind of-"
"Mark?" I interrupted.
"Yeah," he nodded, stroking the side of his own neck. "Right along here. Looked like a snake of some sorts. I didn't get a good look. She left pretty quickly."
"Did Julia have any kind of marks like this?" Hawkeye asked curiously.
"On her ankle," he said. "It was an almost identical mark. I didn't notice it before her friend showed up."
I opened my mouth to speak, but there was a knock at the door. "Come in," I said loudly.
The door opened and Maes entered, carrying a young girl with long brown hair. He smiled as she played with his glasses. Mr. Villa stood up.
"Is that all you needed, Colonel?" he asked.
"Do you know any way we can contact Miss Vasperez?" I asked.
"I have her number..." He pulled out his wallet and showed me a small piece of paper. "You can keep it. I don't imagine I'll be needing it anymore."
I nodded. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Villa."
He turned to Maes and his daughter. Reluctantly, she let go of him and held onto the arm of her Father. Maes ruffled her hair and looked up at me. I smiled feebly and Mr. Villa started out the door.
"Bye-Bye Mistah Hughes..." Sophie said, looking back over her Father's shoulder and waving at Maes.
He waved back. "Bye-Bye Sophie!"
When the door closed, Maes turned back to us. He was still smiling, though it wasn't as cheerful as it had been moments before.
"Cute kid," he said. "Tragic, really. Did you learn anything?"
I nodded and waved the piece of paper, containing Julia Vasperez's phone number. "We may well have ourselves a suspect. The Nanny. Friend of hers matches the description of the women Ed faced in the back alley."
"Hmm..." Maes started. "You got info on the Nanny too?"
"Did you learn something, Hughes?" Hawkeye said, eyeing him suspiciously.
"You know," Maes said, sitting down in a chair. "That's one of the things I love about kids. They're so innocent. And they remember everything."
"Explain," I ordered, still standing.
"Sophie mentioned that her Nanny arrived early the day Mommy disappeared," he said, not blinking. "She also told Sophie that her Mommy wouldn't be coming home that night, because there had been an accident."
"So?" I asked, not seeing where he was going with this.
"I asked her when she had said this, and Sophie said that it was early in the morning. Before her first nap. Her first nap is around lunch time." Maes continued. "Mrs. Villa was discovered-"
"In the afternoon..." I said slowly.
Maes nodded. "Looks like Nanny had something hidden up her sleeve..."
I turned to my phone and picked it up. I dialed the number on the piece of paper and waited patiently. I could feel them watching me carefully.
A strange voice answered on the other end of the line. "Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Julia Vasperez, please?" I asked.
"Julia who?" the man asked.
"Vasperez. I was told I could reach her at this number," I explained.
The man on the other end fell silent for a moment. "Hmmm...Vasperez. Vasperez. Ah yes, the young one. Yeah, she's not here anymore. She disappeared not too long ago."
I frowned. "Do you know where she is?"
"Nah," the man answered. "She didn't leave a note or nothin'. Looks like she didn't even pay her last rent bill either..."
"Did she have any family nearby?" I was fishing around for the tiniest bit of evidence. "Or friends that she hung out with?"
"Not that I remember," he said. "Very strange girl. Used to do strange things in her apartment. Almost sounded like spells or somethin'. Lots of weird smells comin' from that part of the buildin'."
"Did you ever see where she bought her supplies?" I said, getting a sudden idea.
"Ehhh..." he thought. "There's that place nearby that's into that kind of stuff. Zami's...Zarma's...somethin' like that..."
"Zara's!" a woman said in the background.
"Zara's! Yeah, that's it." he said. "Knew it began with a Z."
"Zara's..." I muttered under my breath. I had heard of the place once before. It sold cheap knock-off items for people who wanted to pretend they were doing Alchemy. "Thank you, sir."
I hung up the phone and turned back to the others. They were wearing identical looks of defeat.
"No luck, sir?" Hawkeye asked, sounding a bit tense.
I turned to look out the window as the car containing Mr. Villa and his daughter pulled away.
"Not quite, Hawkeye. It looks like our Nanny's on the run," I said slowly. "And we're going shopping..."
A/N: -massages sore wrist- Okay so that's the end of that chapter. I'll have the next one up soon...I hope. It might have to be Friday, cause I'm quite busy tomorrow. (Job interview and such! Wish me luck! Not really...I'm uuber superstitious!) But please keep reading and REVIEW! Thanks a lot!
