The Crunch of Tires

Warning, there is reference to rape and sex in this chapterNot the fluffiness kind, but the criminal kind.

Riza was scanning the database for DNA matches. Drat. They were turning up nothing. Riza sighed. She thought everyone was supposed to get their DNA scanned, but obviously, they missed some. Riza scanned the DNA into the computer and labeled it unknown. She smiled. Edward and Mustang would find a way, wither or not they wanted to do it together. They would end up finding the killer.

They always did.

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"What do you mean it's turned up a dead end?" Edward shouted at Mustang from across the desk. Mustang sighed. E even though Ed was nearing 30, he could be so childish. Mustang being in his late 30's, he had always scoffed at Edward's childness.

"I mean what I say Edward. It's a dead end, let it go." Mustang folded his hands together and rested his head upon them.

"Nothing is ever a dead end Mustang. You of all people should know that!" Edward slammed his hands on the table, glaring at Mustang. Then he started storming toward the door. Right before he closed the door shut behind him he turned. "I will find this killer Mustang. One way or another, justice will be served."

With that, Edward left. Mustang sighed again. Of course, he knew that there were no dead ends in police work. That is what the cold case file team was for, uncovering dead tracks. Mustang closed his eyes. What was he missing?

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Edward stormed down the busy hallway toward his office, when he turned into the cubicle, he found a curious Winry probing into his computer. He watched her slim figure bend over the keys as she played solitaire.

"You like card games?" He asked. He saw her visibly freeze up and turn a sheepish look on her face.

"I…uh… didn't mean to… seem like… I … was snooping or anything." She said while staring at the floor. Edward blushed slightly. She was too cute sometimes.

Edward laughed lightly. "I was just kidding Winry." He smiled at her, and she grinned back. Damn, she was cute. HE mentally shook himself; he had a case to solve. Instead of thinking about what was important, he was thinking about how to ask her out. Waste of brain energy.

"So how's the case going? I heard you guys had a DNA lead, you should get the killer now right?" Edward grimaced and Winry wondered if she had said something that upset him.

"No, the guy isn't filed, the DNA is invalid. That's why I need to talk to you." Edward held up a paper sketch of the details Winry gave that an artist drew up. "Does this look like the guy?"

Winry nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I can tell you where I see that guy too!" She smiled.

"WHAT?!?!?!" Edward held the paper right against Winry's face. "You're sure!?!?! You can pin this guy??" HE said disbelieving.

"Yeah, now that I see a picture of him, he looks almost exactly identical to the man who has been hanging around our… apartment building…" Winry slowed down as her eyes became wide with realization and terror. "He…was… plotting this…" She said slowly. She stood, but her knees buckled beneath her.

"What is it Winry?" Edward asked her hurriedly. Winry had just collapsed back into a severe case of shock. Edward assumed from his research that this person was a regular practitioner of burglary. Hell, it could have been the same person they had been trying to nail for weeks now. Anyways, the person had obviously been staking out their apartment building. However, what had caused Winry to go into shock like this?

Winry looked up at Edward with her terror filled eyes. "Edward… I don't think he was planning on just burglary." She said. She finally remembered that man's voice and his awful words before pushing Maria out the window.

"My my my, you're not as pretty as your roommate over there. Too bad she unconscious, she seemed very energetic. I would have loved to have her under my control." Maria fought against his bulking frame as he tried to push her towards the floor. "Ah, I see you have fight in you too. Too bad you can't scream, I'm sure you would've been a screamer."

He was winning; Winry could barely see the two forms struggling, as her consciousness was fading. All she saw was Maria's desperation. She was desperate not to be raped, to be intruded again. For Maria had an awful history that Winry had accidentally stumbled upon a few weeks ago.

Maria was a rape victim. The police had caught him, and he was in prison, but Maria had never had sex again. She just couldn't enjoy it. She was not going to be raped again. Never.

Winry saw her desperation climb as the window neared. Then she saw him give up and push, running out of the apartment before Winry heard the crunch of car metal and the sound of an alarm.

Winry woke to find herself back in the Hyatt hotel. She sat up and looked around, finding a troubled Edward sitting by the window at the far end. She croaked a greeting to him and he looked up and smiled at her.

"It was pretty terrible that night wasn't it?" Edward said. It must have been, because Winry had gone into an extreme case of shock that only happened when someone witnesses something bad.

"Yeah, but if it's alright with you, I don't feel like talking about it." She hugged her knees to her chest to think. She had trained herself to think clearly in pressing situations, and she had to concentrate to numb herself.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Winry. You got to talk about it sooner or later, or it will just eat away at you." He smiled at her. "I'm not saying now. However, sometime soon, and I don't care to whom. Just that you do it." He nodded at her for her confirmation. Winry nodded slowly. She trusted Edward. Just not as much as should have.

Edward shoved his hands into his pockets. "Mustang has a lead, but he wants you to come with me, so you can identify the guy if you see him." Edward sighed. "So it's up to you. It would be a big help if you can, but if it is too emotionally stress-"

"I'll do it!" Winry said, cutting Edward off. He looked at her.

"Are you su-?"

"I said I'll do it." Winry fixed Edward with an extreme glare and Edward grinned.

"Great!"

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Winry never thought she would be part of a stake out. She was situated between an irritated and bored Edward and an attentive Mustang. She was guessing Edward's irritation was stemming from being in such close quarters with Mustang. Riza had gone ahead to set up her equipment with some other subordinates of Mustangs. A blond man by the name of Jean Havoc was waiting in an empty apartment next to the assumed target. Another man, his name was Cain Furery, was the controls, and he was on the roof across the street from the building with Riza. Two other men, Winry could only remember Breda and Fallman were under some streetlamps.

A woman had reported earlier that day that a man was spending a lot of time outside of her apartment building, and she noticed that he looked up into her windows a lot too. Winry had confirmed that this was identical to the treatment she had received prior to the break in. Mustang had taken action and was performing a stakeout. Lucky none of these people had families that cared if they were home late.

Mustang smiled. The only one besides him that had found his other half was Hughes, and he was the Court Marshall in charge of top investigations in Albany. He was transferred there because he wanted a quieter environment for his daughter and wife. Mustang believed that Hughes had a lack of things to do, because he always had time to call mustang and brag about his "little angel." Nice and insane, that was Hughes to a tee.

Furey's voice crackled across the radar. "We're seeing a suspicious person approaching the street. I can tell he has a gun on him, and he is carrying a large duffel bag. A large hockey equipment bag is what it looks like."

Mustang thought hard. A hockey bag? Why would a regular person be carrying a hockey bag? "Time to strike. The time to approach is now." Edward was zeroing in on the target, and then gave the binoculars to Winry.

Winry focused, and saw the man. There was no mistake. He was their culprit. Winry nodded to give her consent, and Edward and Mustang stepped out of the car. Mustang left the keys in the ignition, seeing, as this would not take long.

"Hey!" He said to the man. The man stopped as he was about to open the door to the apartments. "I'd like to take you down to Police HQ for some questioning." Mustang held up his cuffs. "So, if you would like to cooperate…" Mustang trailed off. However, something had gone wrong, terribly wrong.

For the burglar did not work alone.

The roar of a car engine behind them made Edward and Mustang turn. Someone was stealing their car! Edward saw Winry's terrified face in the windshield before the car turned into the street.

"WINRY!!! NO!!!!!!" Edward yelled as he ran toward the speeding car.

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Everything seemed to go into a slow motion action film to Riza. She saw the police car turn out onto the street, and Edward running toward it along with the killer. The door popped open, and the killer knocked Edward in front of the vehicle. Then the car tore off, leaving a different kind of sickening crunch behind.

Edward's body lied on the cold pavement and Mustang yelled for paramedics. Riza turned and carefully shot holes in the tires and as the culprits got out, she shot them in the legs and feet. They would not be getting up anytime soon, she made sure of that.

Riza sighed as the men were breached by back up police and as they raised their hands into the air. A police officer helped Winry out of the car, and unbound her wrists and body. As soon as she was free, she ran over to Mustang. Riza was sure Edward was dead; until she saw his eyes open in furious irritation.

Mustang had just made some comment on his height.

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Okay, so some of you may be thinking, "It's only the third chapter! Moreover, you have caught the killers already. In addition, you don't make Edward go get a kidnapped Winry? You idiot!!! You're missing great plot points that are tried and true!"

Oh, and I also could of drawn out Winry's realization out way longer, but the phrase that gets me is the tried and true. I want to try something different, and I didn't really want to draw out something very long, because I thought I was bound to go wrong somewhere if I did that.

Don't worry, there is plenty of action and mystery and police Edward coming your way, but I had gotten a very interesting review that had inspired Edward's car crash. Someone had asked if his limbs were going to be replaced, and, even though I had not planned on it, after reading the review I had to!

I love this chapter, but now I must go!

-The Intelligent Alchemist