See No Evil (Anthony Lockwood)

chapter 24

"She was right in front of us this whole time. Poking her nose in the case before we'd even opened up Bickerstaff's bloody coffin," Lockwood said angrily.

Violet was once again sitting in the middle of the cab, trying not to rush the driver to go faster as her leg bounced up and down anxiously. They didn't know how long George had been there or what they were doing. They were going in blind.

"She must've hired Carver to steal the bone glass and put a knife in his back when he double-crossed her and took it to Winkman," Lucy guessed, "I can't believe she's capable of something like this."

"Everyone is capable of evil," Violet muttered.

"Pretending like she cared. Wanting to be part of the team. Everything was an act. God knows what she's been whispering in George's ear."

"We knew how much it had gotten under his skin. All his little comments, how distracted he was. We noticed it, but we didn't take any notice. Too wrapped up in our own bullshit," Lucy said.

Lockwood sighed, "I have said how sorry I am about-"

Lucy cut him off, "It doesn't matter how sorry any of us are. Being sorry is not gonna save him."

"You really think it's got to him?" Lockwood asked quietly.

Violet leaned her head back, "Yes, Lock, it has."

"George wouldn't do something like this. This is someone else's work. Something else's."

"George might be an incredibly curious researcher, sometimes to a fault, but he would never endanger anyone just to do it. And all this time, haven't you noticed that he's cared more about the mirror than any of us? It was always about the mirror. 'Did we get the mirror?' 'Have we found the mirror?' 'We need to get the mirror.' George may be a doofus when it comes to expressing his feelings clearly, but he does care. A lot," Violet mumbled as she focused on the roof of the cab.

~

Violet kept her hand on the handle of her rapier as they got closer to the cemetery. She needed to be prepared for anything and everything.

"Come on, then, you big bastard. Speak up. Tell us where he is," Lucy spat angrily.

Lockwood looked at her, "Is that aimed at me or the skull?"

Violet rolled her eyes and nudged him, "The skull, obviously."

"Yeah, i'd never be that polite to you," Lucy added.

"Can't you use a different voice or something?"

"What do you want her to do? Talk to it like it's a little puppy? Oh, Skully, where, oh, where is our good friend, Georgie? Please, won't you tell us. Please," Violet mimicked a high-pitched tone that you would only use to talk to a baby or a dog.

Lockwood had to physically stop himself from laughing, "No. But maybe you should."

Violet glared at him heatedly, "I will stick my rapier so far up your damn ass..."

"Stop glowing so much. You'll give us away," Lucy hissed over her shoulder to the skull in the backpack on her back, "That was to the skull."

"I got that."

Violet got chills when she sensed the skull becoming active. It made her want to gag, honestly.

"They'd better be here. If you're just using us-...I don't."

"What's he saying now?"

"That none of us could resist looking in the bone glass if we had a chance."