The townhouse came into view. It was a magnificent rustic building standing in the heart of the city. Previously used as a venue by the royalty to conduct important events, it could now be booked by any citizen as long as they didn't damage the property and were fine with paying a hefty fee for it. It was known as the 'City Palace'. That night it had been booked by the Judge to conduct the marriage of his only son. The building looked absolutely glamorous decorated in fresh flowers, fairy lights, fountains and expensive sculptures.

Riccard pulled up the in the massive parking lot. Giana climbed out of it wearing track pants, a nylon t-shirt and sports shoes. Riccard had a similar outfit on. The two had decided to put on some sports gear so they could easily make a dash for the exits just in case the situation escalated. They had spent the previous night studying the map of the entire property and chalking out an escape plan. There were, in total, four exits. Two of those were in the West and led straight into the thick woodlands which were to be avoided at all costs because it was really easy to get lost in them. The remaining two exits consisted of the main entrance in the North and the emergency exit in the South. Riccard and Giana had decided to only use those two.

'Why is the place so hot and crowded? How are we ever going to find the Guardians here?' Riccard looked around wearily.

'That is if they turn up here, Ricc.' Giana sighed. 'We did threaten them and all but maybe they are smart enough to figure out our motives. And remember how they instantly realised it was you texting them back when you received the letter? What if they find out about this too?'

Riccard ran his hand through his hair, 'I don't have an answer to that Gia. It's our best bet though, the closest we can get with whatever we have. Hash anyway seems really eager to shut the case and have us arrested. He's coming up with weird conlusions every single day.'

'Ma'am and sir,' a security guard dressed in a black uniform walked up to them, 'is there anything I can help you with?' He handed Giana a little form. 'I am assuming you are here for the Judge's son's wedding. You are required to fill this up before entering, it's just for extra seurity.'

'Which Ju...', Riccard couldn't complete the sentence as Giana grabbed his arm and pressed it hard.

'We'll do that. Thank you for the assistance!' Giana chimed in.

The two waited for the guard to turn around and leave.

'Shush Ricc,' Giana scolded in a hushed tone, 'they won't let us in if they come to know that we aren't here for the wedding. Stop being silly!'

'But how will we figure out which Judge? What if it's the one who's daughter they are suspecting got killed?'

'The guard's still not the right person to ask. I'll ask some of the ladies around here. You should text the Guardians and tell them that we are waiting at the location.'

Giana and Riccard went their ways, they had to get these little tasks done to get onto the final one and all they had was tonight.

Giana pushed through the crowds of people gathered around the entrance and headed straight for the main hall. She spotted a waitress scrambling around with a pile of dirty plates.

'Excuse me, can you please tell me where the restrooms are?' Giana was sure that she could spot someone there and bring up the Judge's daughter in a casual conversation with them.

'Take that left and then the first right.' The waitress pointed towards a narrow lobby.

Giana scurried down the lobby and stopped right in front of the ladies room. Its walls were covered in huge mirrors and it was spotlessly clean. The air freshner had a lovely lavender fragrance.

Giana stepped in and looked around. Some of the booths were busy. Now she just had to wait for the women to step out and then she would get hold of whichever of them was in a chirpy mood and seemed approachable. She turned on a faucet in the sink and pretended to wash her hands.

Very soon, a petite lady walked out of a booth. She was dressed in pink from top to bottom with a pair of goggles resting on her head. She spotted Giana, stared at her for a few seconds, mouthed some curses and walked out. There was no way that Giana was going to approach her for any information, she was stuck up and looked annoyed as it is. Her heels clicked as she trotted down the lobby.

Next, a plump woman emerged out of the second booth. She wore a sparkly outfit with too many frills. Thick glasses occupied most of her round face. She spotted Giana and gave a wide toothy grin. 'Hello there young girl, you must change quickly. Don't want to be the odd one out at the wedding because of your outfit, do you?'

'Hi and I just spilled something on my outfit so I guess I have to attend the wedding in this only.' Giana tried to make her lie as convincing as possible. This middle-aged woman was the perfect person to retrieve information from. Moreover, she seemed harmless and had a motherly aura about her.

'Aww... poor girl. It's alright, don't mind it if anyone says anything to you about it. You look gorgeous either way.' The woman smiled.

'I appreciate that. But honestly, the only thing I am concerned about right now is our welfare.'

'Why, what's wrong? Maybe I can help you out girl.' The woman's smile faded and she stepped closer to Giana.

'Have you not heard about the Judge's daughter who went missing. It's actually not just missing but an alleged murder.' Giana whispered.

'Oh girl... you know about that? Only the Judge's close associates are aware of it. But the wedding is still happening so that no one suspects that anything has gone wrong with the family.' The woman replied in a hushed tone.

Giana's mind began connecting the dots. So the Judge here was indeed the one who's daughter was involved with her case. Now she had to find out who this daughter exactly was and if she was even killed at all.

'So um... how are they planning to hide her absence? It's odd to not have the sister over at a brother's wedding?'

'They are just planning to get away with saying that she got tired after all the prepping and had other official work to do.'

'You seem to be a very close associate too, since you know a lot more than I do.' Giana had to make sure that the information she was receiving was correct.

'I am the nanny of the Judge's niece. I just happen to hear about everything even if I don't want to.' The woman giggled. 'Who are you to the family, dear?'

'Ahh... haha. I am an assistant at the daughter's office.' Giana was thankful that she could come up with a lie quickly.

'Oh! Nice to meet you, it's surprising we haven't met before. I have been to the office a couple of times.' The woman made an attempt at recalling Giana's face.

'Same, actually. Never seen you at the house.' Giana hoped that the woman wouldn't go into details about it.

'Guess we were destined to meet here.'

'We sure were. So uh... about the daughter, I feel sorry for her. Do you think she was actually murdered?'

'You can't really tell with these people dear. They are involved with a lot of things behind the scenes. Being a Guardian of the law is not easy at all. But don't you worry, the security is high here. You are safe.' The woman beamed.

'It's not about me, it's the girl...' mumbled Giana, 'she might have lost her life.'

'Don't be upset girl, things happen. Maybe there's a family feud or something.' The woman patted Giana's back. 'Come, let's go attend the wedding.'

'Why don't you go ahead? I'll join soon, I'm just waiting for someone. Thank you for the little talk.' Giana did a little bow and strolled out of the restroom.

Among all the women that swayed around in pretty dresses, she did look very odd. Giana wished she was among them, carefree and enjoying the wedding, instead of being stuck trying to uncover secrets.

'Gia.' Riccard came up to her, panting heavily. 'We have lost contact with them.'

 'Um... I don't get you.' Giana shook herself out of her thoughts.

'The Guardians, Gia. We lost them. The number we were texting to no more exists.'

'Oh my... how! They were even supposed to hand me my inheritance. What happened to that?'

'I guess our plan drove them away. Shit!'

'Oof... that's one good lead gone down the drains.' Gia shook her head.

'Let's go back then. You don't want to get caught here.' Riccard said.

'No Ricc... I found out that this Judge is the one who we were looking for. I bet if we go and pry into the residential rooms in this townhouse, we'll find what we came looking for.'

'Wait!' Riccard exclaimed, 'For real? This seriously is the one?'

'Yes... yes. Now let's stop chatting and get to work. The residentials are on the first floor. Let's go!'

The duo paced across the hall towards the quieter end with the lifts. They spotted a storeroom around the corner and when no one was watching, Riccard slid open the curtain and they both stepped in. On a large hanger lined up with uniforms, they spotted a few dark grey baggy ones. Those were supposed to be worn by the cleaning staff. The two picked one each and slipped it over their head. The uniforms fit perfectly. That along with a bunch of toiletries completed their look. 

'That's it... now lets go visit the rooms and say that we are there to deliver these.' Giana held up a bag of the toiletries.

They reached the service lift and stood outside waiting for it to come down. Thankfully, it arrived soon and was empty. Out of the huge line of buttons on the wall, they pushed the one which read 'VIP' with the hope that it would be the floor where the Judge and his family had decided to put up.

The lift opened up to a splendid hall. Everything there was pricey and delicate, some were even gold plated. The only problem was that dressing up as service providers meant that they had to find the way around on their own since asking for help could make the people suspect them. Especially on the day of such a notable wedding, there was no scope for messing up.

Riccard spotted the 'Rooms' sign and they followed the little arrows placed in corners to indicate the way. A while later they reached a vast common seating area. The rooms around were much more spacious and spaced out. Now the challenge was to locate which one of those belonged to the Judge.

'How are we to find it?' Giana wailed, 'There's way too many rooms here.'

'Spot any clues you can Gia, we just need to be observant.' Riccard scanned the entire area.

 'I'm just going to sit here for a while. My legs are killing me.' Giana plopped onto a sofa, closed her eyes and rested her head on the soft cushion beside her. 

Riccard sat down on the wooden chair and looked around. After a few minutes, Giana's breathing slowed down and she fell into a deep slumber. People walked in and out of the rooms and the service lift but nothing they did hinted towards them being the Judge. 

Just as Riccard's eyelids were about to close, a laundry man walked in. He had a couple of black coats draped over his arm. They seemed pretty regular until a white collar fell from the man's pocket. He looked around nervously and quickly pushed it back in.

'Gia! Gia!' Riccard whispered into Giana's ear. 'Look at that! Looks like a Judge's uniform to me.' 

Giana shot her eyes open and followed Riccard's gaze.

'Ricc, Ricc, let's follow where he goes. That's got to belong to the Judge.' Giana got up and grabbed Riccard's hand dragging him along with her, as they followed the man.

The man halted at room number 100 and punched in the code. The door opened and he walked in.

'Quick! We need that code.' 

The two hurried up to the door and noticed the digits on the little display screen beside the door. It read, 6-6-4-1. 

'Oh dang! Gia! That's the...'

'The Guardian's phone number?'

'Yes, Gia! He has got to be the Guardian.'

'Oh shit Ricc! I see it now. He's the Guardian of the law. That's the exact words of the woman I spoke to downstairs. Guardian of the law!'

The laundry man walked out and was puzzled to see the two of them standing outside. 'Hi there!' He said awkwardly, 'Never seen you around before.'

'New recruits.' Giana smiled.

'And we came to tell you that the supervisor is looking for you downstairs...' Riccard read the name on the man's uniform, 'Jacob.'

'Oh God! I must go then, catch up with you later.' Jacob scampered away. 

Giana and Riccard stood there smiling. As soon as Jacob got out of sight, they punched in the code and entered the room. 

Beside the king-size bed there was a little shelf. It was piled with books of different sizes. And above the pile lay a photo frame. Riccard picked it up carefully. 

'See... that's most likely the daughter.' He handed Giana the frame. 

'Oh yeah, she looks really sweet.' Giana whispered.

'Mhm... probably just about 20. And that I am guessing is the brother who's getting married.' Riccard took the frame back and carefully placed it back onto the pile. 'Let's look for a phone or something, maybe there's some conversations with the daughter.'

'Wait, I'll check that study table.' 

Giana opened the drawers attached to the table and rummaged through them. She retrieved a tiny phone and switched it on. 

'Ricc! The texts with us. These are the texts we have been sending.'

Riccard scrolled through the messages and stared wide-eyed. 'See Gia, there's texts with a certain Laura too.'

'Open them! Perhaps it's the daughter.' 

'It is! It is! See.'

The text read: 'Hope you are better baby. I am sorry for what happened. Don't get out of your room alright. We can't let anyone know that you are back just yet.'

'So she's alive.'

'Yeah Gia, it has to be that. And from what I make out from this, she was in pain because of something. Something that this Judge caused her unknowingly.'

'And the mention of the room. What if it's a room right here, in this townhouse?'

'And maybe it's also on this floor. But how do we go hunting for the correct room this time, since she isn't even going to budge from there?' Riccard asked, puzzled. 

'That's the biggest hint Ricc. We'll ring all the bells asking if anyone needs toiletries and the one that doesn't answer or makes an excuse about opening the door is most likely her.'