Chapter 2

Mr. Elric

Winry was staring at the ceiling, wondering what the police were going to do with Maria's body. She had been up all night contemplating what had happened. Being upset that her roommate had been pushed, she thought that she should have been feeling more remorse. Funny, she could not feel sad enough to cry. Just hollow and it was a weird feeling. All she could think about was that Maria had always said she wanted to be cremated.

Then Winry's cell phone rang. It was Sheska, and Winry was glad to hear from her.

"Hi." Winry croaked into the phone. It was 8 am, and she had been up all night.

"Hi. I heard about what happened. I am sorry. Where are you? "Sheska quiet voice went through the phone cord effortlessly, and Winry relaxed. Someone cared for her.

"I'm at a hotel." Winry gave Sheska the hotel name and room number, and Sheska said she would be there in a little bit.

After hanging up the phone, Winry looked around the room. Seeing the TV, she flipped it on, flipping the channels for something brainless. She found an episode of SpongeBob, and she sank into the pillows on the bed. Twenty minutes later, she was sleeping peacefully until the phone rang.

"Hello?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes. Glancing at the clock, it said [12:00. She had been sleeping for 4 hours.

"Hello, this is Detective Mustang. I'm calling to check on you and see if you are up to coming down to the station this afternoon." Winry groaned silently. Damn, she did not feel like it, but she decided to make his job easier.

"Sure. But I don't have a vehicle."

"That's fine. Detective Elric will pick you up in an hour." And Mustang hung up promptly. Winry faintly recalled a handsome, stern blond face come to mind. Detective Edward Elric, that was his name.

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The familiar ringtone sounded through the bedroom as Edward blindly reached for his phone. He was still half-asleep when he grunted into the phone to signify that he had answered.

"Edward. Mustang here, I need you to escort Ms. Rockbell to the station. Her vehicle is in the compound and she needs a ride." Edward groaned. "Shut up. This is part of your job. Besides, I need you down here to look at the evidence. Looks like the guy left some DNA."

Edward jolted. DNA? YES! A lead, what a thing to wake up to. Edward immediately brightened and inquired further.

"Well it looks like there was blood under Ms. Ross's fingernails, probably from her scratching him. In addition, a fork is missing. There are blood droplets leading from the apartment down the stairs. I'm thinking he got stabbed by the fork."

Ouch. That was Edwards only thought.

"So if you could come down to the station, we'd appreciate it."

"Yeah, I'm coming."

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When Edward knocked on the door of Winry's hotel room, he noticed the nice hallway of the hotel. It was dark last night, and he was half-asleep so he had not noticed. Then Winry opened the door. She was wearing a white tank top, with a black sweater that zipped up only halfway, and a black skirt that fell to mid-thigh with flip-flops. Her hair was up in a casual ponytail, and she looked refreshed. Seeing as how she was at her worst the last time he had seen her, she looked good today. Edward managed to keep his eyes off her body and tell her to go ahead. After her back was turned, he quickly swept his gaze over her curvy figure.

After the pair was in the car, the ride was silent. Edward was antsy. He was good with silence, but for some reason, this was bothering him.

"Uh, what do you do for a living Ms. Rockbell?" He asked, slightly stuttering at the beginning.

"Huh?" The question caught Winry off guard and she tipped her head slightly?

"What do you do for a living?" Edward asked again, a little more forcefully.

"Me?" She asked. Edward nodded and she paused. "I'm an engineer."

"Ah." She was paid well, that explained the nice apartment. The kind of apartment she had called for at least $2000 a month and how she decorated it was quite lavish.

"How old are you Mr. Elric? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm 29. You can call me Edward. How old are you?"

"Oh. I'm 29 also." Edward smiled from the steering wheel and Winry did not miss it. She was a highly respected Engineer and she was proud of her work. She was actually working on a special project for fake limbs. It was almost done, and it was perfect. She would not be surprised if people started cutting off their arms and legs just for her work. She called it auto mail, but she was trying to come up with a catchier name.

"Hm. Interesting." Edward muttered as they pulled into the police station. They got out and went through the doors. Moreover, they found chaos lurking inside. Winry stepped back in alarm, but Edward pushed through, grabbing her arm.

'His hand is quite warm.' Winry noticed as Edward pulled her through the mass of people crowding the too small station. Then he pushed open a door with the words "Detective offices" on the front, and suddenly, the noise went down immediately. Mostly there were noises of fax machines and people talking, not shouting and phones and blurs of people.

Edward walked to a cubicle and sat Winry down in a chair. "I'll be right back. Don't move." He said quickly and took off.

"Pff. Whatever." Winry scoffed and crossed her arms. She hated being kept waiting. After Edward strode out of the tiny cubicle, Winry looked closely at her surroundings. A flat screen computer sat in the corner quietly humming. Tacks held up drawings that looked like the artist was two. She smiled at the picture, which depicted a blond haired man with a braid, and a man with shorter blond hair holding the hands of a little blond girl.

"That Elicia's. She is my good friend's daughter. The man that is on the other side is my brother."

"You have a brother?" Winry was surprised. Edward just seemed like he was an only child.

"Yeah, we live together." He said absentminded as he searched his desk for something. Winry saw the tight muscles in his back and blurted out something that she instantly regretted.

"Do you work out?" She clapped her hand over her mouth as she started blushing.

Edward looked at her strangely then laughed at her reaction. "Yeah I do." He said returning to his paperwork. "I swim and run a lot."

Winry always had this thing for guys who were buffed. In her field of work, a muscular back meant you were a hard worker. In addition, she loved hard workers, it said a lot about their character.

"We have to go see Mustang now." Winry saw a slight scowl on his face before he started walking out of the cubicle. Winry giggled to herself. Mustang was kind to her last night, but obviously, he and Edward had some sort of man war going on between them.

When she stepped into Mustang's office it was slightly more spacious than Edwards was, but it was more cramped thanks to all the folders laying everywhere. Winry could not even find a place to sit.

"Mustang here's Winry, I'm going to go down to the lab and examine that DNA sample."

Mustang nodded, but Winry was sad to see him go. She felt safest with him, and now that she was alone, she felt herself clam up. Then Riza walked in.

"Ms. Rockbell, this is my wife, Riza. She'll be doing your questioning today." Riza walked over, placed a hand on Mustang's back, and smiled at him. Winry could see Mustang relaxed under her hand. She smiled at Winry and motioned for her to follow her.

The two blonds entered a quiet room, with a steel table at its center. The room was bare, and it only had two chairs. Riza sat in one, and Winry sat in the other. Then the questioning began again.

Winry felt herself giving automatic answers, but she knew this is what Riza wanted. It was to prove that Winry was innocent, and seeing if she ever let something slip. In addition, her answers were to stay the same as they were last night. It was simple, all because Winry never lied, a trait of which she was very proud.

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Edward looked closer into the lens of the telescope. The DNA readings had come out clear, and now the research department was searching their data base. Edward had stayed behind, caught up in the complexities of the DNA, amazed by how it could indentify you so quickly.

Little did he know that not all was what it seemed?

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A very happy birthday to one special girl. (You know who you are) this is a gift to you!!!

Sorry about the wait, I had a lot of stuff going on, and it is hard to balance your time.