~~~ When I posted the first chapter I should have mentioned I'm from Canada, not the states, and therfore not Buffalo. To those who live there, I'm sorry that I'm utterly and totally making stuff up about your city.
Including people, by the way. I used my friends names, but no one in this story is based on an actual real person.
Enjoy! ~~~
Chapter two
The team walked through the doors of the Buffalo police office where a petite woman with hair already greying despite her somewhat young age, greeted them.
"I'm Detective Tanner," she introduced herself, "I'm the head of this case. I really appreciate you coming here. We're all just so disgusted by what's happened."
"As you should be," Hotch assured her before asking, "Is there a place where my team can get set up?"
"Yes," Detective Tanner said, "In our conference room, right over there." JJ, Reid, and Prentiss immediately took off, ready to examine pictures and evidence, create a profile, and - for JJ - decide what to do about the media attention.
Rossi turned to Detective Tanner. "We'd like to meet the parents of the girls," he requested.
"And they'd like to meet you," Det. Tanner replied, "They're already here." she nodded her head towards a bench where three men and three woman sat.
"Where's Rhianna Hale?" Hotch inquired.
"At home, with her mother." Det. Tanner lowered her voice, "She's been through a lot, and she's just a young girl."
"We will have to talk to her, Detective." Morgan pointed out.
Det. Tanner nodded, "I understand that," she said, "But we already have. And that poor girl can barely even get her words out." she sighed and shook her head. "Well, come on, then. It's time you meet the parents."
~~~***~~~
"Mackenzie was our only girl," said Mrs. Chesney, a woman as tall as Mackenzie had been short. Mr. Chesney sat with his arm around his wife, looking at Hotch in the eye. Hotch, on the other side of the table, sat next to Det. Tanner.
"We're very sorry about your loss, Mrs. Chesney." he said, "We want to do all we can to arrest your daughter's killer. But in order to do that we need you to answer a few questions."
Mrs. Chesney nodded, wiping away her tears with the back of her fist.
"Was Mackenzie on any sport teams, or in any clubs?" Hotch asked patiently.
"She did gymnastics," Mrs. Chesney said, "She hated it but…Jeremy, her little brother, is only six. He wanted to do gymnastics but didn't want to be teased so -" she broke off and let out a sob, "- so Mackenzie went and Jeremy would tell people he'd go in order to protect his sister from…from -" another sob, "- from any bad guys!"
Mrs. Chesney broke down, her tears flowing freely as she buried her face in her husband's shoulder.
"There, there." Mr. Chesney whispered.
Mrs. Chesney straightened up, "I'm sorry," she said, "Please, go on."
Hotch nodded once. "Did Mackenzie have any friends other than Rhianna, Morgan, and Jamie?"
"No," Mr. Chesney answered, "They were all she had…and all she needed. They were such good friends to her."
"A lot of people didn't get Mackenzie," Mrs. Chesney said, eyes watering, "But she was a good girl. And so were her friends. We don't begrudge Rhianna for living, not even a little bit. All we want…"
"All we want," Mr. Chesney finished, "Is for that bastard to be caught."
~~~***~~~
Morgan and Prentiss sat across from Jamie Felton's parents in a different room. While both her parents had hair that was varying shade of bright orange and red, her parents regarded one another frostily. Their divorce six years ago had been nasty and both still held a grudge, yet they came together, both obviously distressed, in order to do anything to avenge Jamie's death. She had been their only child, and neither of them had other offspring or partners. For both Mr. Felton and Ms. Avery, Jamie was their life.
"Mr. Felton," Morgan said, "Did the man accused - Rodney Cliff - ever seem suspicious to you? Did he do some things that made your daughter uncomfortable? Spend to much time with her, treat her differently than the others?"
Mr. Felton shook his head, his eyes wide, his face pale, biting his lower lip. "No," he said, his voice strong but threatening to break at any moment, "No. She never even mentioned him."
"Jamie didn't have Mr. Cliff," Ms. Avery explained, "She was in advanced classes. He taught remedial math."
Morgan shot Prentiss a weary look. They'd already asked whether Jamie had any other hobbies, any other friends - but all her parents could come up with was that Jamie was exceptionally smart. A quiet girl. When she wasn't with Rhianna, Morgan, and Mackenzie, she just stayed inside with whatever parent she was living with at the time. She didn't date, she didn't participate in school teams, she wasn't a member of any sort of club, and she didn't do a single extracurricular activity.
A single tear dripped from Ms. Avery's eye. "You have to understand," she begged the two agents sitting in front of her, "What happened…is not something that happens to girls like Jamie."
And with those words, Mr. Felton began to weep, hiding his face in his hands.
~~~***~~~
Morgan McCartney played on an all-girls hockey team. She had a twin sister, Marla, who had been accepted to a high school specializing in the arts. And, of course, Morgan attended speech therapy for her stutter which had been with her, her parents explained, since she had first began to speak.
"When Marla was being mean she'd joke that Morgan…had been dropped on her head as a baby," Mrs. McCartney had a frown on her face, deep and permanent. She hadn't smiled since she'd gotten the call from Mrs. Hale telling her that their daughters had gone missing. "But for the most part they got along."
Mrs. McCartney took a deep, rattling breath. "Ever since my husband died it's been harder for us financially. The girls have really come through, accepting the fact that we just couldn't afford certain things anymore -" Mrs. McCartney looked away, tears spilling from her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. McCartney," said Rossi. First her father dies, now her sister is killed, and an emotionally worn-out mother. He could only imagine what life as Marla McCartney must be like.
"I've given the police all the numbers," Mrs. McCartney said, "And a photo of the hockey team. Morgan was a great player, and she and the other girls got along well enough but," Mrs. McCartney shrugged, "Rhianna, Jamie, and Mackenzie were Morgan's real friends. They were…just always there for her. She got bullied a lot and even when Marla didn't stand up for her one of them would." she nodded quickly and repeatedly, then pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped her eyes.
"I'll tell you anything, give you anything. All I want is for this horrible man to be found. If I got my hands on him…" her expression turned to one of pure anger before her tears began to fall again. She shook her head.
"My god," Mrs. McCartney whispered, "My god, what has he done?"
~~~***~~~
Reid, like Rossi, was alone in his questioning. Mr. Hale was a small man with a balding head and a round nose. "I'm away for work a lot," he said, his voice shaky, "When the girls disappeared, I wasn't even in the state."
"Mr. Hale, what is Rhianna like now?" Reid asked. He hadn't been able to get much out of the man, not because he was uncooperative but simply because he honestly seemed to have no clue when it came to his daughter. He knew she liked to draw, and that she took art lessons from a place down the street from their house. He knew that she'd been friends on-and-off with Mackenzie since they were four, but that they hadn't become good friends until second grade when Rhianna, Mackenzie, Morgan, and Jamie had all been characters from The PowerPuff Girls for Halloween.
While telling Reid this, Mr. Hale had proffered a picture from his wallet. Four young girls all dressed up stood grinning in front of their elementary school - Jamie as Blossom, Morgan as Bubbles, Rhianna as Buttercup, and Mackenzie as Mojo Jojo. "It was a coincidence," Mr. Hale explained, "But it was the best thing that ever happened for her."
Still, other than that, Mr. Hale didn't have all that much to say, so now Reid took a different approach - the present, rather than the past.
"Now?" Mr. Hale repeated, a bit confused. Due to the fact that his daughter was the one remaining survivor, Mr. Hale was much less teary then the other parents, but certainly no less distraught. "Well now…she's quiet. You could never get Rhianna to be quiet before. She won't talk to anybody, not even her mother - except for Edwin."
"Edwin?" Reid inquired.
"Her brother. He's in college…but that was how the police asked their questions. Through him. She wouldn't answer them otherwise."
"Mr. Hale, apart from her lack of speech, does Rhianna seem to particularly withdrawal from anyone?"
"I don't understand what you mean."
"Men? Women?" Reid prompted, "Any specific person that she stays away from more than she used to?"
"If your implying my daughter knows who the killer is and won't say -"
"I'm not implying that at all, it's just possible that her subconscious -"
Which was when JJ entered, her heels clacking against the stone floor. "Reid," she said, "Rhianna Hale just got another letter."