5. Havoc laughed. "Come off of it, Mustang. We're not going to investigate Matt! Obviously, you're just out to get him because you're jealous that he stole Riza away while you were gone!"
"If you had seen his expression, you would agree with me," Roy argued. "He's obviously in this somehow!"
"Yeah, right." Havoc continued to laugh. "Honestly, I can understand if you don't like him, but you don't have to pin him to a crime to get your point across!"
Roy frowned. Obviously, no one was going to believe him because they had some crazy idea that he had been out to get Matt from the start. He was going to have to look into Matt on his own without telling the others about it.
Roy flicked on his computer and typed Matthew O'Brien into the search engine. All that came up were ways to get in touch with him and about his past cases (the successful ones). He scanned them, trying to find something that would help him prove his case.
A Live Journal page for a girl named Kayla O'Brien caught his eye. She seemed to be talking about Matthew. They must be related! Roy clicked on the link.
…Matthew came over the other day to stay over. He hasn't stayed over since he moved out five years ago! Apparently his air conditioning broke in his house and he can't afford to fix it at the moment, so I had to share my room with him! It was SO annoying…
"He's tight on money," Roy laughed. "He probably already has a ton of unpaid bills piled up. There's a motive right there!"
"Tons of people are in tight financial situations," Breda, who had overheard, commented. "It doesn't mean they're going to steal a ton of alchemy research and hold it hostage."
Roy frowned. "You guys won't give me a chance until I drag him in and have him give you a confession!"
"Drag who in? Do you have a lead?" Riza stepped into the room, looking over the group curiously.
"It's nothing. The boys just won't listen to any of my suggestions until I give them some cold hard evidence. I was trying to think of people who were close to your father," Roy answered. "It has to be someone who knows about his research and where to find it."
"Obviously they don't know about the Lieutenant," Havoc pointed out in a loud voice directed towards Roy, "or they would have sent the letter to her in the first place!"
Roy frowned. "Maybe that's what they want us to think!"
The boys rolled their eyes.
"Hey, why don't the two of you work on thinking up some suspects together while we look over the clues?" Fuery proposed. "If anyone can think of who would do this to Mr. Hawkeye, it's you!"
Riza and Roy looked at each other briefly. "I guess that's a reasonable idea," Riza agreed. "The day's practically over, so let's go back to my place. Maybe looking through some old photo albums can bring back some memories that can lead to who may have done this."
Roy nodded and followed her out of the office. The car ride to her house was awkward and silent until Roy asked, "So, what did Matthew have to say about the case after I left?"
She shrugged. "Nothing much. I didn't want to get him too involved so that he doesn't have to worry too much. Luckily his job makes it so he doesn't get worried in situations like that and he thinks logically. He said that I'll probably have to take out the cash from the bank and start a loan or something…"
"Cash?" he verified. "Why would he say that?"
She laughed. "You must have lost your touch, Brigadier General. Obviously, the person holding the research isn't going to take a check! That's worth nothing to them!"
They pulled up in front of her apartment and she stopped the car. Roy turned to her, a serious look on his face. "We'll finish the case before the end of the week, so you don't have to worry about any of that."
His serious demeanor took Riza aback, but she smiled. "Thank you, Brigadier General, I'm sure you're right and that under any other circumstance I would believe that. It's just a little more difficult now that the case concerns me." She stepped out of the car and Roy followed her, heading to the door without another word.
They paused just before going up the stairs. On her doorstep was a small, cardboard box. Riza flashed a quick glance at Roy. "What do you suppose is inside of that? It can't be from the culprit, can it? They don't know about me!"
"Stay back," Roy ordered, rushing forward to the box. He knelt down in front of it, slowly lifting the box to reveal…
A leather briefcase with a note attached to it. Roy opened the briefcase, but all that was inside were documents about a court case. He scanned them, recognizing them and the briefcase as Matthew's.
"Lieutenant, come look at this!" he called.
She rushed forward and knelt down next to him, letting out a gasp. "It's Matthew's!"
"I came to that conclusion, too." He lifted the note and unfolded it, holding it out so they could both read it. Their eyes scanned the page, and once they had finished reading the small message, Riza let out another small gasp.
"Roy, they know about me!" she cried, not noticing she had called him by his first name, "and they've taken Matthew hostage!"