Bite of Beauty

Chapter Two

It was not too long after that the plane landed with a solid thud. The team exited the plane and broke up to work on their separate parts which hopefully would help find Meredith's killer.

"Hi, I'm Agent Jareau, this is Agent Morgan, Agent Prentiss and Agent Hotchner of the FBI, we work in the Behavioural Analysis Unit. Where can we setup?" JJ asked shaking the warm hand of Detective Brenner.

"There's a conference room at the back. Have you been alerted of the facts?" He asked in his smooth American accent.

JJ nodded at Emily and she left to start victimology, "yes, we have. If you'll excuse me I need to contact the local media but Agent Hotchner and Agent Morgan will continue to speak with you."

JJ smiled at her fellow agents and left to contact the media, leaving them to continue.

 

Agent Rossi tapped the door with his closed fist as he and Agent Reid waited patiently for the parents. Almost immediately after Rossi knocked, it opened to reveal a beautiful sixteen year old. Her eyes were red and blotched as if she had been crying recently. Reid let out a sigh, with one family member already crying, asking them questions would only make it harder.

"Valora, we're with the FBI, we'd like to speak with your parents."

Valora nodded and opened the door for them to come inside.

 

She led them to a kitchen, the floor slightly dirty with the grime of yesterday. Reid noted that dishes sat uncleaned on the bench and felt sorry for them. They probably hadn't been able to do anything normal since their daughter's body was found yesterday morning. Valora left her parents and watched from the comfort of the dining room that look in on the large kitchen. Jewel McDaniel tried to smile but only broke down in silent tears. Douglas; Meredith's father cried and looked up at the agents.

"I'm very sorry for your loss, it's something no parent should have to go through but we have some questions we need to ask." Agent Reid said.

Douglas nodded, holding his wife's hand.

"She was ah, very smart. She liked soccer I guess, she played with Valora. Um I think her favourite colour was black, yeah black. I just wish there was something we could done." Douglas replied.

 

From the dining room, there was a slight chuckle and a snort. Reid and Rossi looked up and across at Valora. The red eyes had turned to tears and her unhappy smile had turned into a vicious scowl. She stood up from the table and Rossi noticed hands were in fists. Reid arched an eyebrow in surprise at the girl. She marched forward and glared at her parents.

"She liked soccer? And her favourite colour is black? She hated black! She only wore it because that's all you'd ever buy her. You brought her black because you didn't want her to stand out. Look around is there any evidence you loved her at all? Her favourite colour was purple. Did you even know your daughter?" She yelled before she left through the hallway door slamming it after her.

 

Rossi looked around at the walls, they were plastered with photographs of Valora, her winning soccer and holding up a medal with some friends, her class photos, her at the beach with some friends, her on all of her fifteen birthdays and soccer certificates. He shook his head, every wall was evidence of Valora's life. But there was almost nothing with Meredith in them. Meredith's photos amounted to one class photo, one family photograph and a picture of Valora and her together with their soccer team. Reid noticed this as well and was devastated with the objective truth.

 

"Why is there only pictures of Valora? Why isn't there half as many of Meredith?" Rossi questioned annoyed.

Rossi looked over at Reid who left to find and speak to Valora. The parents eyes followed Reid, as he walked off in the direction of where Valora went. They seemed resistant before the silent mother finally answered.

"Because she wasn't the favourite. I mean come on, look at them, Valora was so much more prettier, of course we liked her better! Valora is beautiful! Meredith wasn't!" Screamed Jewel. "She was ugly!"

 

Further down the hall, Valora could hear her mother scream and cried even more into her pillow. The soft coldness made her feel alone, now without a sister. Reid stood outside the pathetically closed door and watched her weep. The girl lay crunched over a small white pillow. The bed still messy from whenever it was last used. Reid waited until Valora's tears slowed and her breathing became more constant before knocking on the already open door. Upon hearing the small knock, Valora stopped and waited. She slowly turned to face Reid and sat up. She crawled over against the wall and desperately wiped her hands at her face.

"I'm sorry for letting you see me like this. Usually I'm not in tears." She said half-heartedly with a sigh.

She coughed before clutching the pillow around her chest.

"That's okay, you have every right to be upset. I'm sorry about your sister... and your parents. They sound like they put a lot of pressure on you." Reid replied slowly walking into the room.

 

His eyes gazed over everything in the room, a bed, desk, chair, drawers and a bookshelf. Reid took everything in, the plain whiteness of the walls, the desk with a homework stacked on the corner, purple pens sat in a black pen can. The black desk chair had an extra large black cardigan thrown over the back. The bookshelf, what would have normally be stacked with books was almost empty exact for a soccer book and a makeup book stacked in the corner, pushed aside as if wishing they weren't there. His eyes took in the thick curtains stapled shut on one side, the drawers where black tights spilled out over the side. A cracked mirror and ripped up soccer certificates sat dangerously in the small waste bin at the foot of the drawers. From what he'd seen this had clearly been Meredith's room.

 

"So this is her room, huh? I'm not very good at speaking but did you want to talk?" Indicating the desk, he asked cautiously, "can I sit here?"

Valora nodded and sat up straighter as the agent perched himself on the plush seat.

"They always made it so clear that they thought I was better but it wasn't like that. Meredith was as good as me. She was so kind to Me but they were always horrible to her." She cried. "Everyday they would go on about how good I was, how much I helped out any home, anytime we met someone it was Valora. Neither of us liked it and when she went missing I was afraid, Meredith had gone and done something, you know. I mean she was never like that but they were just so horrible to her. I hate them for it. Why didn't he take me? I wish the guy had taken me instead so she could be safe." Valor a hugged the pillow more as Reid finally understood the extent of it, in the eyes of the parents, Valora was perfect and loved and Meredith was anything but.