Edd drove his black Sedan silently as he flew down the highway going an exact seventy five miles an hour, it had been a full day already and he couldn't say that it had been an easy one. He still couldn't quite accept that Ed was gone, out of all the Ed's he was the most level headed, and he accepted things for what they were... but this he couldn't. He could only imagine how Eddy was feeling right now and for that matter some of their other childhood friends. It was true that many of them disliked the them for the constant money schemes and the heck they caused sometimes. But after the summer where they went to live with Eddies brother after that scam that went wrong, everyone had started to like them. Guess it was funny when you realized that there were worse people out there, but I guess it was all a matter of perspective. Edd put his hand through his short but styled black hair, it brought back so many memories from back then, the one that seemed to pop out more then the others was his nickname sock head. He smiled when he remembered how everyone always wondered what was under that hat he always wore, was it so hard to believe that he had a normal head of hair under there? Okay well it wasn't exactly normal, truth be told the reason he had worn that hat so much was because of a particularly nasty scar he had received when he was a baby.

When he thought about it, a lot of the kids around Peach Creek always thought he was some sort of alien or something because of his freakish intelligence. So a scar like that would have only made them think that perhaps it was true. An that fact that he had to keep the spot shaved for so many years didn't help the fact. The whole ordeal was terrible to be honest, but hey what could you do? He was just glad that he was finally able to let hair grow over the wound and cover it up once and for all so he could get rid of that hat. Edd slowly looked at himself in the mirror for a second as he was sure Eddy was going to be surprised at how much he had changed. It had been a long ten years away, four of which he spent in college, everyday was a new definition of hell. The bullies were the worst part of college, even in an institution of higher learning there were still bullies. He was a pencil neck nerd, with advanced intelligence and no muscle to him, so naturally he was an easy target, although for all his intelligence he had not made that connection right off the start. He had spent two years being a punching bag before he finally got sick of it, even he could only take so much. That was what inspired him to start taking trips to the gym, and even some martial arts classes for self defense. Hard to believe but in his final year of college he had filled out incredibly so.

Hell he was like a whole other person to be technical, not only physically but mentally he felt powerful and he felt proud of himself more then he had ever been. Even more shocking was when he got into the field of police work, he had to be honest with himself, with his brains he could have been a renowned scientist who found the cure for cancer or something. But things had changed for him out in the city, there was so much bad out there, he wanted to help people but more in a way that suited his particular intelligence. Thus he applied to work in forensics, and needless to say with his ability of observing and deep thinking he excelled in it. In just a few years he had moved up from Forensics and became a very reputable Homicide Detective for the F.B.I. However in the end he felt like he just wasn't cut out to be in the F.B.I so he took a job with his local precinct so that he could get closer to the ground with his work, and try to make a bigger difference in the streets instead of high profile cases for the rich or otherwise. More then that though he had realized that he craved action, from how he grew up it sounds ludicrous, but truth was he had found a love for adrenaline rush, maybe because he spent so many years being the safe and cautious one. Ten years later here we was, driving back to his childhood home... to investigate the death of one of his beloved and closest friends.

Edd sighed heavily as the thought once again forced it ways into his mind, he just didn't understand how something like this could happen, not in Peach Creek where everyone knew each other and liked each other. It wasn't perfect but no one hated each other to that extent... but maybe he had to realize that things could change in ten years. He was no more versed in the current goings of Peach Creek then anyone else who didn't live there. In fact he had distanced himself from that town completely after his mother and father both passed away a couple years ago. It was hard to say how he felt now that this tragedy had happened, all the wasted years he could have gone and visited. But he had been so grief stricken by his parents passing that he had tried to force Peach Creek from his mind, maybe he would have succeeded but now it was impossible to do. Edd pulled his blinker with his hand as he pulled into the exit lane, the sign before read "Peach Creek Exit 158" pulling onto the ramp he got off the freeway and onto a back road that was surrounded by open land on each side with flowing green grass, some old barns here and there among the farm fields that used to be once upon a time. Back when he was a kid he had never quite realized how secluded Peach Creek was from the rest of the world, hell it was so far out there it was ridiculous to think about now.

Edd looked over and saw an old sign at the side of the road, it was rather corroded by now but it was still easy to read "Peach Creek 10 Miles". Slowly pulling his vehicle over to the side of the ride, he turned the engine off as he opened the door and got out. His black timberland boots crunched in the dry dirt as he closed the door and took a deep breath of the country air. He removed the pair of sunglasses from his face as he looked at the fields he had not seen in years, once upon a time he had gone through these fields on foot with Ed and Eddy. Fleeing for there lives after that terrible scam, at the time he had thought it was the worst moment of his entire life, but now he couldn't help but smile about it, considering where life had taken him in the end. Edd leaned against the front of his Sedan as he took a couple moments to look at the land around him, when he heard a distant motor he leaned up as he looked down the road aways, a truck was making its way in his direction heading to Peach Creek it seemed. When it got close enough it was a beat up old pick up truck that looked like it had seen better days, it came to a slow halt as the window rolled down. A relatively young man was behind the steering wheel, his hair was a a dark shade of black and a goatee on his face, his skin looked pretty tanned as well as muscular from first site.

"Hiya mister, you having some engine trouble? Got some jumper cables and tools in the back if you need some help."'

Edd smiled as he placed the sunglasses back on his face an walked up to the window of the truck and looked at the man.

"No its okay my vehicle is fine, was just getting out and stretching my legs a little bit, been a rather long ride down here."

The young man nodded as he gave a friendly smile back, something seemed terribly familiar about him, like Edd had meant this man before. It was nagging at the back of his mind, but for all he knew he could know this man he was after all heading to Peach Creek.

"So you heading to Peach Creek or just passin through? We don't get too many new comers around here now an days. An with all the commotion there been in town about the suicide... well ya know what I mean I am sure."

"Heading into town actually, I used to live here when I was a kid, was coming to visit the old place maybe say hi to some old friends. What do you mean suicide? What happened?"

Edd felt a bit bad about lieing about his real reason for coming to Peach Creek but perhaps it was best for now to just keep his reason for coming, especially if this is in fact murder and not suicide.

"Well's you see this fella named Ed, a guy I knew as a child he done killed himself, the reports are sketchy at best but it's said he threw a toaster in his bath water and electrocuted himself to death. Its been a hard couple oh days, so you picked a terrible time to come visit ere. The whole town is in mourning really, some worse then others. I was on my way back picking some flowers in the field for the funeral, them daisy's out here was always his favorite."

Edd nodded as he looked in the back of the truck an saw whole bunch of large daises and a couple muddy shovels. He couldn't help but feel sad hearing what had happened, it was still not all that settled in his mind yet that Ed was gone an now it just seemed so much worse.

"Well stranger if you are not in need of help, I should get back ta town, but hey if you need some help with something automotive give me a call I can fix almost anything."

The man handed a rather dirty card to Edd as he waved and drove off disappearing down the road, Edd waved back as he slowly looked down at the card which read:

Ralph Gajević

Automotive Repairs

Ralph's Garage

4367 Oak Drive

(896) 657-8365

Edd looked back up quickly as he couldn't believe that man was Ralph from when he was a kid, he had changed so much over the years, even his accent it was unbelievable. Edd took the card an placed it in the pocket of his black summer jacket and looked around one last time before hopping back into his Sedan and getting back on the road. It seemed that he couldn't hold it off any longer, it was time to return home. No more then twenty minutes later Edd found himself looking at streets that were like blasts from the past. Although it looked as if a lot of new stores had been added over the years, but the amount of people seemed the same as it was before. As Edd drove down main street he saw the old movies theater however it seemed to be closed now, across from that was old electronics store where he used to buy all his microscopes and other items that once upon a time were his life. As he continued down the street he saw a couple people here and there, some he recognized and a lot he didn't, it really did seem that things had changed around here. However his nostalgia was short lived for now when he pulled into the parking lot of the local Peach Creek Police Department. Putting the Sedan in park in one of the numerous spots, he felt his heart beat quicken, this was it where he would meet with his old friend, and honestly he didn't think he was quite ready for it.

But he didn't want to delay any longer then he had too, he was only able to convince his Lieutenant to give him a week to investigate this possible murder, so either he had to prove this wasn't suicide or he had to get to the bottom of this by then. Turning off the ignition Edd grabbed his black case and slid out of the car. Making his way through the small parking lot he entered the precinct as he walked up to the front desk where an older man with graying hair and a slightly long beard was looking at papers in front of him. He looked up almost casually as he spoke in a rough but scratchy voice:

"Help you?"

"Yes I am here to see Officer Thompson, I am Detective Edwards from the Chicago Precinct."

Edd removed his badge from his pocket and showed it to the man at the window, he took it and looked at idly almost as if it didn't really matter if he had a badge or not in the first place. Handing it back he simply buzzed the door into the precinct and went back to his paper work speaking blandly:

"Officer Skipper is in the back at his desk, can't miss him, last desk in the back on the right."

Edd merely nodded as he re pocketed his badge and made his way through the door. He couldn't believe someone had just used the name Skipper to refer to Eddy, he remembered how embarrassed he was when the other kids found out about it and made front of him for what seemed liked forever. His heart was beating even faster now that he was only mere steps from seeing his old friend again for the first time. Making his way to the back however the specified desk was empty of anyone, figuring Eddy had stepped out he stood their quietly as he looked at the items on Eddy's desk. It was filled with what appeared to be reports, broken pencils, and bits and pieces of what appeared to be broken jaw breakers. Reaching forward Edd picked up a framed picture and looked at it, his expression becoming sad, it was a picture of him, Eddy, Ed and the gang.

"Hey buddy mind telling me why your touching my things..."

A medium pitched voice spoke behind him as he slowly set the picture down, he would know that voice anywhere. Slowly turning standing behind him was his oldest friend Eddy. He was short still probably 5,1", his black hair was cut short enough that it was just peach fuzz, and he had a five o clock shadow covering his face and a blue unpressed police officers uniform covering his seemingly toned body. His eye's were also red, very red like he had not slept for a long long time. Edd smiled but sadly at his old friend as he spoke.

"Eddy it's been so long, you don't look like you changed all that much Skipper."

Eddy's eye's seemed to widen as he got in a good look at Edd up and down, almost as if what he was seeing was all in disbelief. A small smile seemed to come to him, slowly but a smile none the less as the head shorter man came up and gave him a tight hug. Edd smiled as he returned the hug to his old friend, they were like that for a couple moments before Eddy finally released the hug.

"Thank you coming Double D you can't imagine how much it means, especially right now, it has been a hard three days around here. Please sit."

Edd took chair that was leaning against the window and took a seat as Eddy slumped behind his desk, very much like he used to do at school, it seemed that hadn't changed or maybe he just didn't care to sit proper now.

"I almost didn't recognize you sock head, or rather it seems you have gotten rid of the infernal black cap you wore twenty-four seven. Never realized you would look so much better without it. I have to ask where that pencil thin boy went to because you definitively have been hitting the gym. Looks like you finally took my advice, only tried to tell you for years."

Edd smiled even though Eddy was not his normal self he could tell that right off the back. He almost seemed to be trying to make conversation just for the sake of it.

"Gone but not forgotten Eddy, you could say that the world tends to change a man after awhile. Guess I never imagined I would be a homicide detective, and you I would never have seen you as a police officer, always pegged you as one of those get rich quick guys who try to sell time share and such. You gotta admit you had a knack for talking everyone into doing stupid things. You failed a lot of times but you had a silver tongue on you. Its amazing how quick things can change Eddy, how we have changed, its almost like looking at a alternate dimension."

"Yeah its definitely you Double D, you were always one for big words and looking at things in a weird way. I wish our reunion could have been under different circumstances, I truly do, and I wish even more you could have seen Ed before... all this. He hadn't found brains, but he was the nicest and biggest lug you ever would have known, even more so. Its why I just can't understand why anyone would want to do this to him..."

A couple tears flowed down Eddy's cheeks as he quickly wiped them away, Edd felt sad for his friend and for Ed. But he knew that he couldn't get emotionally attached in this kind of case, he had to keep a clear mind and perspective. Reaching his hand across the desk he grasped Eddy's should and squeezed making him look him in the eye's.

"Were gonna get down to the bottom of this Eddy, me and you and whoever has done this if that is the case will know justice. I promise you that Eddy, not just for you or for me, but for Ed because he deserves at least that much."

Eddy slowly put his hand over Edd's and nodded smiling again sadly but a smile none the less. It was gonna be a tough road ahead, but Edd was ready to walk it.

"I am going to need to see the... body Eddy and then the crime scene."