ATTACHMENT | ANTHONY LOCKWOOD

SEVEN

LEIGHTON
the british archives

I sat beside Lockwood, my head resting on his shoulder as he whispered the words on the newspaper to me.

It was a force of habit for him.

He always used to read me books when we were little, I struggled with my reading, mainly because my parents were too busy with my siblings to even care about my reading development, so Lockwood helped me.

"This is it." George stated with a gleeful smile. "She was in Hamlet, playing Ophelia."

I slowly raised my head from Lockwood's shoulder. His hand dropping to my thigh as we both turned our attention to George.

"What does that tell us?" Lucy questioned.

"Why must I be surrounded by philistines?" George shook his head, slowly standing up but not before saying, "Wait there."

"What's it say?" I leant forward, resting my head in my hands as I looked to Lucy.

I was hoping that this would be a breakthrough, that we could find some hard evidence of Annabel's killer, or at least a hint in the right direction.

"Annabel Ward's moving Ophelia captures the depths of tragic romance." Lucy read, her finger running over the words.

"Precisely." George hummed as he joined us once again. "These kind of depths. Ophelia drowned with daisies."

I began to nervously pick at the skin around my fingers. I desperately wanted a breakthrough. I needed Annabel not to be attached to me anymore.

I had previously submerged myself underwater in the bathtub at Sheen Road. I had picked every daisy I walked past in the street and placed them in a vase.

My eyes lit up when I made the connection, I tugged lightly on Lockwood's sleeve, causing him to turn and look at me, nodding, allowing me to speak.

"About a week ago, I woke up submerged underwater, daisies were surrounding me." I whispered, watching as Lockwood's eyes went from excitement from solving the case to concern.

I looked to George and Lucy, who shared the same concerned look. I pursed my lips, lowering my head as I mumbled,

"What happened next?"

"She went mad. Killed herself cause of how Hanley treated her." George wearily spoke, his eyes flickering between me and Lockwood.

Lockwood leant forward, placing down his news paper and grabbing my hand in his. He flashed me a warning look at the picking of my skin, before turning his attention to George again. I couldn't exactly help it, anxiety was consuming me.

"Yeah but Annabel didn't kill her self." Lucy pointed out.

I leant closer to Lockwood, rereading over the words he had previously read to me. His hand gripped my waist to steady me, his eyes following down. I furrowed my brows, pointing to the name that felt so familiar. I felt safe in his arms, I always had.

"Hugo Blake." Lockwood whispered. "That's the name you said when you told me you loved me- Annabel said I mean." He quickly cleared his throat and nervously scratched the back of his neck.