As you enter, you see that Sonia looks absolutely puzzled and terrified.
"I took a huge gamble here. I found you and we were in a very difficult situation."
You tell her everything that happened.
"Come to think of it, when I woke up, I had a small taste of vomit in my mouth... I don't remember much from last night. In the last few days, my consumption got worse and worse. I have gotten kicked out from my apartment. The guy who was pimping me got too violent, so I was scared. I've known Frank before, he treated me decently, so I thought of going to see him. I entered and found the house in a state of complete disarray and his car was not there. I decided to wait for him but he never came back. Then I decided to use the last of my drugs."
"Well, I have sad news for you. Here."
You hand her your phone with the news article from the Winnipeg Times.
"Oh wow, really? Unbelievable! And to think I went to that place. What happened to him exactly? He was the man they found burned to death?"
"I don't know... I got mixed up with him too. I need to find information about a man he knew."
You mention David Johanson.
"No, never heard of him, sorry."
"I have to ask you: what made you spiral into such an uncontrollable situation?"
At this point, Sonia looks embarrassed.
"I know. I didn't mean for things to turn this way. But my father kept beating me when I was young. So when I was just 16, I eloped with my boyfriend. Little did I know that in reality he was a pimp. And things just escalated from there. You know that these guys like to use drugs to control the girls. Then at some point the drugs turns you into an animal."
Her story is a little similar to yours. Sonia put herself through a string of terrible situations. But so did you. And you got lucky of escaping relatively unscathed from the mistakes you made in your youth... well, until now.
You start getting angry. At everything. You remember that biker gangs control much of the drug trade. Without their shameless milking of human misery for profit, there wouldn't be as many Sonias in this world. And Frank was actually a significant part of it. The man who you struggle so much to honor the memory of wasn't exactly a saint.
"What kind of man Frank really was?"
"Everyone was scared of him. I won't try to defend some of his behavior, I know it's inexcusable. But, I suppose I saw a side of him that he never showed others, in order not to show weakness."
"Do you know anything that might help me find that strange acquaintance of his?"
"I'm not sure... well, there might be something. Frank frequently hung out at a bar called Sword and Shield, it's downtown. You might find someone who knows more about this there."
"Again, I'm sorry. Perhaps leaving you at the hospital would have been the right move. Perhaps this was selfish of me. I'm on the run, and a friend lent me his place. I'm just determined to get to the bottom of this. And somehow, I wasn't comfortable leaving you to your fate.
I'm still worried now that you'll turn back to your old habits. Even though you cheated death.
I won't cast judgment on your circumstances, or on your so called profession. In fact, when I was young, I dealt a little speed, briefly. I was a troubled youth too.
However, I would hope that you can now see yourself as a person, as a woman. Those people in your circle, if they loved you, they wouldn't treat you this way.
I can tell you that you didn't look pretty last night. You were absolutely demented. Please, never get to this state again."
Sonia looks away in embarrassment.
"I don't know what to say. I know this is all true. I can't touch this garbage ever again. I will leave Winnipeg for a while. I have a girl friend in Selkirk. I will go away from this bad environment for a while until I can figure things out."
You spend the next few hours conversing with Sonia, who grows into better spirits. She is not such a bad girl actually. She even jokes around a lot. You do not get the sense that she is a bad person.
You end up deciding to drive her to Selkirk, which is north east of Winnipeg. You tell her that since this place does not belong to you, you will blindfold her for about ten minutes. She agrees.
After more than an hour, you are in Selkirk. You leave her at a designated location. She contacted her friend who agreed to take her in. Before she leaves, you have her install the encrypted app, and exchange phone numbers so you can contact her if needed.
Sonia prepares to leave and looks at you.
"I owe you my life. You took risks to make sure I was safe. I'm so thankful to you. Almost every man I ever knew scorned me, used me for my body or beat me. Thanks for showing me that good people are out there too.
If I ever learn anything, I'll contact you. Take care."
After that you leave. You decide to call Julian and tell him what happened.
You expect him to be very concerned or even upset.
"Haha, so you have a girlfriend now? Now wait until I tell Steven."
... unbelievable. That guy is UNBELIEVABLE.
"I hope she thanked you properly for your invaluable assistance?"
"Oh cut it out, will you? It's not like this at all."
"Alright, alright, it was too much, I agree. Still, good thing you were there. I don't know what I would have done in your place."
"She doesn't know where I live. Who knows, maybe she can help us."
"Oh by the way, I remembered last night that I had a spare key for your apartment. So I took the liberty of going there myself to see if we could find anything."
"OK. And?"
"Well what do you know... I didn't find anything unusual there. From what you told me, I kind of expected there would be traces of blood, but I didn't find any. Your apartment looks completely undisturbed! It's as if nothing happened."
Well, that is pretty unbelievable.
"So, was this girl useful?"
"Well she told me about Frank's favorite bar, it's called Sword and Shield. Tonight, I intend to go there and see if I can find out anything about this David Johanson guy."
"Really? Isn't this like throwing yourself in the lion's den?"
"Whatever, I'm fed up, and pissed too. I'm tired of cowering. I'm going to go there and find out whatever they know."
On that night, you drive up to Sword and Shield. This is a small bar downtown that people usually do not pay attention to.
You enter.
Now do you...
A)Interrogate the barman.
B)Talk to the other patrons.
C)Have a drink and wait there awhile.