They were found in a shabby, old alley in downtown Chicago. I have been searching for my parent’s killer ever since the police found them nineteen years ago. I have given everything to find the reason they were killed and who killed them. I gave up my job, my home, and my life. The only thing I did not give up for them was my love, Darin.
Darin and I met two years ago when I was twenty five years old. Ever since I met him I have trusted him with my life and he has also helped me with finding out more about my parent’s deaths. The one thing that Darin does not know about me is that I am in the Witness Protection Program. My real name is Elizabeth Sharpe, but Darin knows me as Jules Carter. I have been in the Witness Protection Program ever since I had become an orphan. Also since then I have become a new woman. A woman who is strong, a woman who is determined, and a woman who had just discovered some new information about a police investigation that occurred nineteen years ago… about my parent’s investigation.
“Darin?” I asked.
“Yeah, Jules?”
“Listen to this,” I replied. “I found it the other day online. It’s about this mob here in Chicago. Apparently they’ve killed hundreds of people for different things.”
“Have they ever been caught?” he interrupted.
“I don’t think so; they are really good in a bad kind of way I guess. Anyways, it says here that some people believe that there is information on them somewhere around here that could put an end to them forever.”
“Really? Well, what does this have to do with your parent’s?”
“I just have this feeling that they killed them, that this mob killed my parents.”
Darin questioned, “What makes you think that? I mean, do you even have any proof, any reason to think that?”
“I didn’t know at first. So, I looked up some more stuff about them and found out that they leave some kind of mark every time they kill someone, but nobody knows exactly what it looks like or what it means. That’s when I remembered that the police discovered a symbol at the scene of where my mom and dad were killed. I, I have to go.”
“Go where?” Darin asked observantly.
“To that alley, the one where they were found.” I explained abruptly. “Even if I don’t find anything, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not Darin?”
“Just, because.”
“Well, I’m sorry. But, I’m going, I must.”
When I left Darin’s apartment he seemed pretty mad. It didn’t matter, though. I was going back to that alley even if it killed me. As I pulled up to the “crime scene” the brightness of the sun was slowly fading, slowly turning dark. I walked through the road that was in the middle of two old buildings. In doing this, I noticed it. The mark that somewhat looked familiar to me, but my mind could not fathom how. I began to look closely at the symbol when I noticed a loose brick in the wall. I didn’t think much of it until I rubbed my hand over it and the brick moved a little more. When this happened, a tousled piece of paper fell out, a note.
I cautiously picked up the letter and opened it. I was astounded after reading it! It contained the information about the mob I had read about earlier. The information my parents had had, and the information the mob did not want revealed.
When I turned around to head back to my car, I turned around to the barrel of a revolver near my head. The man that held the gun had tan skin and dark, rustled hair. On the knuckle of his right hand was the sign I had not long ago seen on the dark brick wall.
The man’s face was familiar. This man was in the mob that murdered my parents, he was the man I had known for years, the man I told everything to, the man I loved, and the man who killed me.

Darin.