Who Am I

Sonya

Hello!
Okay, so this is the second chapter. I hope you guys like it. The investigation is slowly coming to its conclusion....but that's still a long way to go. :)

*The picture above is Matteo

Matteo stared at the stack of papers. He fingered through them, eyes skimming hundreds of financial records. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hey Lotte?"

"Yes?"

"Is the company Amber publicly connected to Tech X?"

"In what way?"

"Like, the owners are close business partners and hang out a lot." Lotte frowned.

"I highly doubt that. Amber is a business for jewelry. Tech X is technology. Why do you ask?"

"Tech X executives transferred about half a billion dollars to that company."

"WHAT."

"Um, yeah." Lotte frowned, walking over. She stared at the paper. She set it down, a smile curving her face.

"Well, this is certainly interesting."

"I'm guessing you knew?"

"No. I was just suspicious. Can you keep on going with this? I need to buy groceries."

"Why do I always do the financial stuff?" Lotte sent him a look.

"Because you're the guy with an economics major from the University of Chicago."

"Okay."

"Also, we'll be interviewing Sonya's mother in a few hours." Matteo nearly fell out of his chair. Lotte laughed.

"Sorry, I just got off the phone with her. This case is wrapping up, Matteo."

*****

"She was a quiet little girl," she said. Mrs. Sokolov stared at a picture. The older woman fingered her pearls as she rapidly blinked back tears. A pale young girl hugged another girl in a meadow. Lotte fingered the glossy photo.

"Who is the girl next to her?" She asked.

"Her sister. Niki. They were twins. Niki died in a car crash a few years after Tatiana ran away." Lotte set the picture down. Matteo leaned in.

"You think So-Tatiana ran away?" Mrs. Sokolov nodded.

"I don't know why she would do that, but it's the only one that makes sense. From what I've learned of her time as.... Sonya, she looks to be the opposite of what she was as a child."

"You're rather calm about this," Lotte observed. Mrs. Sokolov looked up from a photo.

"I've accepted both of my daughters' deaths. The second I could do nothing about. The first, I should have done something. It's the reason why my husband and I created the children's foundation."

"How many centers?"

"Several. Twenty in Russia, fove in Ukraine, ten in China, two here in France."

"Has it been successful?"

"Yes. We've prevented several hundred suicides and have a few dozen removed from dangerous homes."

"That's good."

"I just wished Tatiana could have gone to a center like ours. Perhaps we could mended whatever was broken."

"Maybe she wanted something you couldn't provide," Matteo offered. Mrs. Sokolov nodded her head listlessly.

"Perhaps. But Tatiana was not an ambitious girl. She certainly had the traits though. Intelligence, cunning, mercy. I only know that she loved her sister. She always stayed with her." Lotte frowned at the picture.