New chapter. Not much to say today, so I'll get on with it. Let's roll.

Discalimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Four: the Shadier Dealings of the Professor

After Maes had snapped a few photographs of the portrait in the library and Roy had borrowed some of the more interesting books, they left the library and continued to the room next door- Professor Hoenheim's study.

The study was a fairly small room, and Roy imagined it could've been described as cosy once. The window was wide, with a view over the ornamental pond, and at the foot of the hill you could see Rizembul, nestled in the curve of the river. The walls were panelled golden-brown wood, a moth-eaten rug covered the floor and a large desk was opposite the window. Trisha Elric smiled warmly down at them from a photograph on the wall.

Roy pulled the chair from behind the desk and sat himself in it, sending clouds of dust in the air. Fuery sneezed.

"Bless you," Roy said mechanically, tugging open the desk drawers. They were stiff, and it took a bit of work, but finally it came open and Roy set about investigating their contents. Finally he found something of interest.

"Would you look at this," he raised an eyebrow. "A journal. Jackpot."

"A journal, huh? Hopefully we'll get an insight into who would want to kill him. Look at the most recent entry, Roy."

"If you can call seven years ago recent. Alright, here it is... I think we shall have to leave the house and go into hiding. They know I don't plan to do what I promised. I have told Trisha and the boys. We will not bring anything more than we need, and we shall need to keep the boys hidden."

Riza frowned. "So, he was hiding the boys..."

Maes nodded. "It sounds like he agreed to something and backed out at the last minute- look back a bit further, Roy."

Roy flipped a couple of pages and read out another entry. "They are no longer asking politely, and have started threatening me. But what can I do? I cannot allow them to have what they want..."

Maes wrinkled his brow. "But what did they want? Pass that here, would you?"

Roy passed him the journal, and he immediately began flipping through it, scanning each page as quickly as possible.

"Okay... here we are, this looks promising. He says- they have been asking for something, he's been saying no- next entry, they ask again, trying to pressure him- they start threatening- okay, he promises to give them what they want, but has no intention of doing so... and then there's the last entry." he frowned. "Do you know, the last entry is the only one where he openly says he has kids?"

Breda raised an eyebrow. "That's... odd."

"No kidding. And what exactly did these people want? Why wouldn't he give it to them?"

Jena sighed. "More questions we don't know the answers to, huh? This is getting more complicated every minute..."

Maes grinned. "Yeah, but who would've guessed he was dealing with a bunch of criminals? And we've finally found our motive. The Elrics were killed because Hoenheim attempted to double cross these people."

Falman nodded. "Yes... but we still don't know what it was they wanted, or why he refused to give it to them..."

"And what the hell was going on with those boys?" asked Jean.

"I think they're the key," said Riza, frowning slightly. "The Elric brothers... why would they keep their children hidden away from the world?"

"They could just be worried about Them, whoever They are. Maybe he thinks if they're kept out of the way, they won't hurt them?"

Roy shook his head. "I don't think they were hiding them from... whoever was threatening them. If that was the case they'd have gone to the police. They were hiding these kids from everyone."

"Maybe they didn't go to the cops because Hoenheim had done something illegal?"

"Possible," Roy nodded. "If that was the case, he wouldn't want the police involved. But with the safety of their children at stake..."

"Desperate criminals do desperate things." shrugged Breda.

"Which do you think is stronger, parental instinct or the instinct for self-preservation?" asked Riza.

"Well, it'd have to be something pretty big to risk his kids over, yeah..." said Breda.

"Would Trisha stand for that? She went back to the house, knowing there was a murderer there, to save her children. Would she put them at risk to keep her hubby out of jail?"

"Ah," Breda nodded. "Alright, good point- but before she risked her life to save them, she ran away. She only remembered them after she reached Rizembul."

"Panic," reasoned Jean. "Sometimes when you're scared enough, you forget everything but getting out. It was only once her mind started working properly that she realised her children were in danger."

"But motherly instinct..."

"Just because she's a mum doesn't mean she's perfect!"

Fuery piped up. "I don't think we've enough evidence to point fingers either way," he said, "and we won't get it by standing round arguing. Besides," he added in a quieter voice, glancing around, "this place is eerie. Doesn't it feel really... really..." he floundered for the right word.

"Empty," said Jean, nodding slightly.

"It is kind of creepy." agreed Breda.

Fuery bit his lip. "...Lifeless. That's the word."

The group stood in awkward silence for a moment. Now that the thought had been voiced, it was suddenly more noticeable, and each one of them was uncomfortably aware of the great empty house around them , the abandoned bedrooms and dusty library, the unstocked kitchen and the wild, untended gardens.

Roy was the one to break the silence.

"Let's go," he said. "We'll take the journal with us. Maybe we'll figure something out later."

They left quickly, and the Elric mansion was once again empty.