I arrive at the city hall and try to make an appointment with the Mayor, I walk up to the secretary who seemed very occupied in the going on of the door man. “Excuse me ma’am” as I say this she seemed to jolt back to reality. 
“Ahem, apologies, how may I help you this fine morning Miss…?” she doesn’t bother looking up at me. 
“Alice Smith, I’m here to speak with Mr. Amos.'' As I said this, the secretary’s face went pale and her eyes shot straight up to meet my own. 
“Mi- Miss Smith! O- of course, do you have an appointment..?” 
“No ma’am but this is urgent, and shouldn’t take up too much of his time.”
“I-I’m sorry Miss, Mayor Amos is unavailable at the moment, i-if you wish to speak with him you’ll have to make an appointment.” she’s stumbling over her words so much I almost feel sorry for her. 
“I understand that but this is very important, it involves one of his previous co-workers Paul Smith.” and with that I hear a man’s voice from across the lobby. 
“Pardon me young lady, did you by chance say Paul Smith?” It was a man dressed in a sharp business suit, a bowler hat, along with a suitcase clutched in his hand, and a pocket watch in the other. 
“Yessir, that’s correct.” I didn’t know who this man was but judging by his demeanor and outfit he must have a high position in the town, and I was right. 
“Well young lady, correct me if I’m wrong but are you by chance Miss Alice? The name’s Conroy, Adam Conroy, head secretary of the city council." Before I could even confirm who I was, Mr. Conroy continued, “Your daddy was a good man, Miss Smith, as well as the rest of your family, a sad few days it's been with the recent news, I am truly sorry.” He took his hat and placed it on his heart, I glanced over at the woman secretary and she was just keeping her eyes down and quiet. 
“Thank you sir… but I’m not here to gain any sympathy, I’m simply here to speak with Mr. Amos.” 
“Why, you don’t waste any time, do you? I can appreciate that from a lady. But as Mrs. Blaze has stated, "Mayor Amos is a very busy man, even he is shaken by your family’s passing… who knew that a simple flu could take them like that..” This perked my interest, “the flu” I thought. This isn’t right, do the members of the city council not even know what truly happened? 
“The flu, so that’s what happend, that wasn’t mentioned in the letter I received, thank you sir, that’s all I needed to know for now.” As I turn to walk away I take one more look at the woman secretary “Mrs. Blaze'' but instead of the quiet and calm eyes I have seen this whole time, I am met with direct eye contact filled with a sense of strange passion, almost as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t utter a word. I finally go to check in to the hotel that I chose to stay at, I dare not stay in the same house my family perished in, but as I settled in to my temporary home I kept thinking to myself “That scene was no flu, unless they truly don’t know what happened, someone obviously doesn’t want me to find out what happened to my family.” But for now I must sleep. 
My second day back “home” and I am met with a note at the front desk-

“They are lying to you.” 
B31 - J.B.
So here is my answer, Mr. Conroy knows more than he lets on. J.B. possibly means this note was from Mr.s Blaze, but the J… obviously an initial, but not important. B31, the note was written on paper with the symbol of the motel I am staying at, could it maybe be a room number, this is one of the bigger motels, two floors. I ask the front desk woman and sure enough there is a room with the number B31 but no one has checked in, despite this I still choose to check. When I find the room I don’t find anything out of the ordinary, then I hear the sound of a radio on static, I go knock on the door but come to find it’s already cracked open, I carefully look carefully around the room making sure not to be seen by any possible danger. The coast seems clear but I am still suspicious of the radio, as I make my way deeper into the room I spot on the bed an open briefcase with all sorts of tools and clothing spewed out of it. I get closer to see that some of those “tools” are capable of bodily harm to others, possible murder, I don’t mess with any of it but only see it from afar. Then next thing I know I feel a presence almost as if the air in the room shifted towards the door, I quickly turn to face a lanky bald man crouching under the doorway. Weirdly enough he doesn’t move, and neither do I for a moment, he shuts the door all calm like and then looks towards the bed, then me. 

“You don’t look like a cleanin’ lady” his voice was surprisingly quiet and almost formal, like he was some nobleman. In fact once I got a better look at him he seemed very distinguished.
“I-I’m sorry sir I just noticed the door was cracked open and wanted to make sure everything was okay, I apologize for the intrusion.” I could barely tell what he was thinking, his eyes were covered up by spectacles reflecting off the sunlight from the window, and he kept his facial expressions very still.
“That’s awfully kind of ye ma’am but it’s not a young woman’s place to worry about such things, you don’t know about the dangers of the world, for all you know I could be a threat to you.” That was the first time I saw his face change expression. After saying those words a giant toothy grin sprouted from his face, his specs revealed his dark brown eyes squinting daggers at my own. He notices my body language and walks over to the bed, pulls out something from his pocket and sets it on the pile of clothing next to the briefcase. I catch a small glimmer of the object, almost like a locket? I didn’t want to be in here anymore so I made my way to the door.
“W-Well good day sir, again sorry of the intru-” my sentence is cut short once I get in full view of the locket, I spot a stylized S of the cover of the locket, then there was not mistaking it, this is the man, he murdered my family and stole my daddy’s locket. Without even thinking I grab the pistol from a hostler on his waist and point it at him.
“Where did you get that!?” I tried my best to be intimidating but deep down I was horrified.
“Now, now young Missy, let's just calm down and put the pistol down, a little thing like you have no idea how to use it.” without thinking again I aim and shoot the static radio finally shutting it up. It seemed to startle the man as well because he was stepping back towards the briefcase.
“DON’T MOVE!!” I point the gun at him again. As scared as I am I want some answers already and as far as I know this man is gonna finally give me some.
“Miss this has gone on long enough, now the people downstairs definitely heard that shot and surely have gotten a hold of the sheriff.” he’s trying to distract me while reaching for a weapon but before he can swing at me I go blank again and aim for his hand, with a second gunshot I hear the man scream in agony but before he gets too loud I shove a shirt in his mouth
“You hush now! I don’t care who you are, that locket doesn’t belong to you!” Before he can do anything I reach for the locket and open it, sure enough there was my family. This picture is the first time I have seen them since I left. I can feel myself getting emotional but I had no time for weakness.
“You dirty dirty RAT!!” I scream at him while he’s still trying to deal with the hole in his hand. “How could you have done this?? They were good people, GOOD PEOPLE TRYING TO LIVE GOOD LIVES!!” At this point, trying to hide my tears was useless. I am angry, tired, and grieving. I figured out who did it, now I just need the motive.
“I-It wasn’t just me..” he mutters while trying to wince away the pain. “I was.. I was hired to do it. I don’t ask questions, I just get the job and get the money. I did-didn’t know they had an extra child no one was supposed to know!” He kills for hire? He’s a hit-man?! Of all the dirty ways to live!
“Who hired you!”
“I can’t say. Client confidentiality.”
I point the gun at his other hand “I’ll do it! How you gonna do your job with holes in your hands huh?” He seems to finally get the message
“I can’t tell you exactly who, all I can tell you is that it was some from the city hall, the rest you must figure out on your own. Now leave me alone lady!!” My could feel my heart sinking into my stomach, someone from city hall? Who would do such a thing??
Now was not the time to ponder, I could hear commotion downstairs and I needed to get out of the room. Without saying a word to the man I take the locket and his pistol and escape before anyone made it up to the room.
I don’t think he ratted me out or anything because no one bothered to question me about the gunshot noises. While I got my answers, kinda, I felt this sort of pit in my stomach, is this guilt for what I did? No no of course not! That man was a murderer and he killed my own family, he deserved what he got! The more I question it the more sick I feel, but this was no time for weakness, I now have my biggest lead. Someone from the city council hired that man to wipe out my family without accounting for me, but who? The two secretaries don’t seem suspect, one of them did lead me to the truth, but the other lied about how they perished… maybe he doesn’t know the truth. Whatever the case, I need to find the culprit and get revenge, and I can start with Mrs. Blaze.

When I get to the city hall I am met by the guard that Mrs. Blaze was eyeing yesterday. “Good afternoon Miss Smith, truly sorry for your loss.” I was still shaken up about this morning’s event that I honestly was taken aback by his condolences
“Huh? OH! Uh thank you sir, it has been a hard couple of days.” I try to act normal but even I could tell I’m out of sorts.
“Uhh yesm’ the travesty hangs on all our shoulders, you stay safe not ma’am. If you need anything at all you let the people know, we all knew yer Pa and promise to honor his last daughter.” As sweet as this all was, and it truly was, I was already clearly focused on a different situation.
“Of course sir, thank you sir.” I rush past him into the lobby and over to the main desk.
“Mrs. Blaze?” No one was there at first but after I ring the bell I hear shuffling in the room behind the desk. Out comes that tiny little secretary carrying what seemed to be a mountain of papers and files. “Mrs. Blaze.. Are you alright? Can I help you with anything?”
“Oh nooo just fine!” She clearly didn’t know it was me because once she set the papers down and took a second to look, her face turns pale and her voice goes back to that sheepish little tone. “Oh! It’s you.. Miss. Smith, to what do I owe the pleasure..?” I wasn’t about to play another game of sweet talk so I just hand her the note and get straight to the point.
“Mrs. Blaze, did you write this note? It has a very concerning message on it and all I want is the truth.” As soon as I set the paper down on the desk I am met with the same gaze from yesterday, no longer is there a tiny, doe-eyed secretary in front of me, but a serious, passionate woman who knows what’s going on around here. “There she is,” I think to myself.
“Now Miss Smith, I believe what you're looking for is in the back here, care to follow me? It’ll be quicker than fetching it for you.” She was clearly trying to play the role of “doing her job”. I follow her into the room behind the desk and she closes the door right behind me.
“Listen, Miss Smith-'' she starts “There are some cold and dark secrets loomin’ about this building, yes I did write you that note, and yes They are lying to you. I’m assuming you got the point from the note just fine?” Despite her change in demeanor she is still using her “front desk” dialect.
“Yes I got it loud and clear, he seemed like a… horrible horrible man.” The realization of what I have done is finally kicking in and the pit in my stomach is becoming much bigger.
“So you are fully aware of the situation?” I nod my head.
“I know that the person who hired that monster is a part of the council. But I don’t know who exactly.. That’s why I’m here once again.”
“I assumed you’d come back.”
“So you know?” I almost sound desperate.
“Unfortunately no… but what I can tell you is that they are all suspects. Are you aware of the position your father held here when he was alive?” That question made me realize that I in fact don’t know what my father did. Mrs. Blaze took my silence as the answer.

“He was stand in mayor whenever Mr. Amos wasn’t present, think of it as almost a vice president, it wasn’t typically required but due to the formation of the town and not enough hands, the vice supervisor decided to have a second pair of hands. This worked for a while, but of course Mr. Smith and Mr. Amos we're not the same person and their views differed from time to time. These… disagreements caused many stirs among the council and sometimes ended in arguments that only the Vice Supervisor could fix. Every member of the council had some sort of vendetta against your father, and only one of them acted on it.”
Every member had a motive… lucky my list of suspects narrowed rather quickly but I still felt stuck.
“Miss Smith I’ve tried myself, but as far as I know anyone who is innocent genuinely thinks your family fell to the flu, while the culprit is playing dumb to blend in.”
“I guess it’s up to me to avenge my family then huh.”
“Miss?” Her serious expression was slowly fading.
“How do I get closer to them? I could get a job here can’t I?” Mrs. Blaze let out a boisterous laugh out of nowhere, nearly blowing our cover.
“Now Missy I understand why you’d think that but women can’t work in the city hall, that's utterly preposterous, they’d never allow it!” I sat there genuinely confused and Mrs. Blaze could tell. “Oh, well I guess I’m the exception… I’m the niece of the head secretary Mr. Conroy. So they kinda gave me the front desk job out of pity, but that was it nothing more.”
I stand there running around in my own mind, how am I going to get under the councilman's noses? Whatever the case, I couldn't figure it out in the supply closet. Mrs. Blaze leads me out handing me a random folder with papers inside.
“There you go darlin’ all the financial decisions made upon your family property!” She’s back to playing her part. I take the paper.
“Thank you Mrs. Blaze.”
“Jennifer, it’s Jennifer Blaze, you can call me Jennie if you like. If you need anything else Miss Smith you know where to find me.”
“Well if that’s the case you may call me Alice, have a good rest of your day Miss Jennie.” I take my leave with a new goal, make it into the city council. It’s darker than it was when I arrived at city hall, how long was I in there? As I’m thinking to myself I bump into this man, he seems in a hurry.
“Pardon me Miss.” He says as he tips his hat, he had very kind eyes, and as he was about to leave he dropped a handkerchief of some kind. I go to pick it up but before I could return it he seemed to have disappeared. While I am still trying to figure out how I’m going to get into the council I stumble on a bar that seems to be pretty active, how long was I in city hall? As I’m about to walk past I hear a voice, the voice of a singer, a female singer. The second I heard her voice I was immediately enrapt in how it made me feel, it’s like an addiction, I felt like I was committing a sin just listening but all I wanted was more.
I follow the voice into the bar and I am met with a crowd of drunken men swaying like trees in the wind and howling like wolves, but even above all the commotion I could still hear that siren-like voice. I finally make it to the origin of the singing voice and upon gazing I see a woman dressed in the most peculiar of clothing, wine-red cloth draping off her body, a Victorian corset wrapping her tight along with a short black blouse to cover her chest, which even then seemed a little exposed, and a long luxurious velvet dress flowing like wine with her dancing. She is astounding in beauty as well as charming, and yet when I look at her face something seems almost familiar, like I have seen her somewhere, but the only lady I’ve interacted with since I got here was Jennie Blaze. I wait until she’s done with the show and follow her backstage. I walk back to where she seemed to be changing, no one really stopped me,
“Ahem, excuse me miss-” she turns around from applying… more makeup? “Sorry for the intrusion. I was wondering if I could speak with you?” She looks at me through the mirror.
“What can I do for you dear, make it quick I have to get out of here soon.” She certainly was rushing, and yet it seemed as if her face was transforming.
“Yes of course, it just seems like I might’ve seen you before and I couldn’t place where it might’ve been.”
“That’s a peculiar little notion now isn’t it.” She looks at my hand which I was just now realizing still held the handkerchief that the man dropped. “If you don’t mind I’d like that back now.” She reaches for it and in that moment it clicked.
“Wait a minute… you’re the man I saw on the street!” She jolts back out of surprise
“Firstly, not so loud! Secondly… between you and me yes that was I you met on the street, a woman with my level of ‘attraction’ must keep herself hidden in public.” Once again a realization sprung into my mind with incredible force I almost stumbled.
“Miss, if you would be kind please teach me your secrets! If I can learn how to blend in like a man I might finally be able to finish my business here!” I realized my explanation might’ve been a stretch but at this point I was desperate, and strangely enough she agreed to help.
“Hmm, quite strange but a woman always has her secrets and motivations, who am I to judge. In any case it’s quite simple, just a bit of ‘makeup’ and baggy clothing and you’re all set dear.” She shows me the ropes and I catch on quite quickly, in only a short time I was staring at a completely different person in the mirror. With this I could finally get into the city hall and under the council’s nose, finally able to put this whole mess to rest.

“You look positively handsome, like a story book character!” The singer seemed quite taken aback by my appearance, just as was I. “Now remember dear you must play the part for as long as you have this veil on, you must stick to the role of a man, which honestly in this day and age shouldn’t be too hard.” She says with a giggle and wink.
I’m about to leave when I remember I don’t even know her name. “My name is Alice Smith, might I know yours?”
“Violet, Violet Primrose. But in this body you can refer to me as Victor Premir.”
“Thank you so much for helping me, your kindness shall not be forgiven.” Now that I had a disguise, all I had to do was get a job. Which was easy to do. I ended up getting placed right under the Mayor as his assistant, because of this I was able to discover a lot about almost anyone in the town. But I only need to focus on three people, the Secretary, Treasurer, and the Mayor. These were my three main suspects that I have to investigate if I wish to avenge my family.

Mayor Amos seems like an understanding fellow, he likes to get personal with the people within the town, which I can respect from a politician. Adam Conroy is really in tune with his position as head secretary, he is very punctual and always on time, he doesn’t like it if others around him, especially his coworkers, don’t take the job seriously. Now the treasurer, Mr. Thomas Sterling, he is a peculiar man, one would barely ever see him. According to Jennie Blaze, he keeps himself  cooped up in his office all through the day and sometimes late at night, this stuck out to me as strange behavior, very strange. As I worked more at city hall I found more and more ties for each person relating to why they would want to hire a hit-man against my father, but it was Mr. Sterling that kept sticking out to me. I've been working under the mayor for about a month and I have never even met the man. The only reason I know his name is because of any official documents that need to be taken to his office, which even then I’d leave in a basket. I needed a reason to get in there but what?
When I couldn’t find a reason I decided the easiest way to make it into the room was to wait until closing and just break into there myself. I did just that, once everyone left for the night I made my way to the treasures office and found, weirdly enough, that it was unlocked. I get inside and start looking for any documents related to each member of the council, every financial decision made by each member, business wise as well as personal, but nothing hinted towards any sort of hiring a hit-man, probably not something you’d want on record. I’m about to give up and think of a new plan until I see the title “Chairman Supervisor, Eric King”. 
The senior supervisor, the one man who has power above the mayor, this was my final chance to find anything. I skim through the file taking account of anything suspicious, what I found were a bunch of unnecessary business decisions, in which it seemed he forwarded them to Paul Smith’s accou- my father? Why would these decisions be pinned onto my father? As I have these questions in my head I spot what I was looking for. On a date that fell two days before the day of my family’s passing, labeled “REDACTED” and once again forwarded under my father’s name. 
All these clues led to one thing, It had to have been Mr. King who hired that hit man. I grab the rest of the paperwork from the file and attempt to make my escape Until I hear a click behind me. “Well well well, Mr. Veil, What do we have here?” It was the senior supervisor, he was holding me at gunpoint and blocking my way out of the room. I try my best to keep up my disguise which also included my voice but I was so shaken from all this he could probably see right through me. 
“Mr. King, I was retrieving these files for Mr. Amos in order for him to go over them tomorrow.” 
“I find that hard to believe, we have a treasurer for a reason. Now you can either hand that file over and leave without a job, or I’ll have to take it by force.” 
“I’m afraid I can’t do that Mr. King. I’m going to need this and take it to the sheriff.” All of a sudden I remember the small pistol I've carried on me since that day with the hit-man. 
Almost like out of a story, time itself felt as if it were standing still. With a quick movement of the arm I reach for my pistol and fire! So does Mr. King, I stand there with the gunshots still ringing in my ear, then I see Mr. King go down. 
“You won’t get away with this! Once the rest of the council finds out what you've done you’ll be hung!” 
“Not quite Mr. Veil, I am in control of them all. One simple wave of my hand and this interaction can disappear.” I couldn’t deal with any of this anymore. I remove my wig and ask him one simple question. 
“Why? Why would you do this? All he did was his job.”
“He nearly drove the town into economic debt!! His decisions set this town back so much we still haven't completed purchasing this land!”
“Even so, why target a whole family!?” 
“My dear they were simply collateral damage.” He lets out a toothy grin almost similar to that of the hit man. I had it, I was tired of the deceit and pretending I've had to endure, I wanted this man gone. But something inside me was keeping me from finishing the job. I just decide to leave without doing anything, 
“Have a goodnight Mr. King.”
4 Years Later 
It has been awhile since my time in California, I have returned to Virginia and decided to continue studying law, returning to the life I had… before all this. Although one thing has changed, with the Smith family gone I found it unnecessary to play the part of Alice, so I decided to shed that skin. Alice Smith died back in California, in her life she had two loving parents and was the middle sibling of two wonderful sisters, she moved to Virginia to study law in order to follow in her father’s footsteps and make her family proud, but soon after hearing about her family’s passing, she too fell to the same sickness after visiting home one last time.I found that my new appearance made life just a bit easier, I was able to find jobs and proper schooling, and no one bothered me late at night, I thank Mrs. Primrose all the time for introducing me to this neat little trick. I have chosen to become a detective of sorts, working alongside the sheriff's department to ensure no one has to experience what Miss Alice Smith endured in California rest her soul. 
I’m off to a new assignment, a robbery in the noble parts of Virginia, once I arrive it is quite the scene. I make my way up to the Sheriff who is talking to the lady of the house. 
“Good Morning madam, terribly sorry about your home but we will do everything in our power to find the culprit.”
“Why thank you detective, might I know your name?” 
“Veil ma’am. Detective Alicestor Veil, at your service.”

The End.