[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XXXVIII - The Canal

The leaves crunched under their feet as they made their way to the canal. Daniel was staring at the ground with a small smile, enjoying stomping on every leaf she could. The only reason she looked up is because she ran into Anthony's back when he came to a stop. "George, what are you doing? You're supposed to be at the archive." Lockwood huffed. Daniel came out from behind him, standing to his side instead. 

"Look, in the water." George pointed. 

Anthony let out a sigh, walking up to the water's edge and looking down. Daniel's eyes went wide and her previous smile fell. That was a corpse. "Shit-" 

"I know him." Lockwood murmured, taking in shaky breaths. Daniel gave his hand a light squeeze, looking up at him. 

"I'm gonna go get DEPRAC." Lucy said before her and George walked off. 

"You alright, Locks?" Daniel asked him quietly. He looked down at her with a shaken nod. 

"Yeah. . .yeah, fine." He muttered, making eye contact. "Just not used to seeing the people I know being the dead ones." She nodded in turn, still holding his hand. 

Within ten minutes, a whole DEPRAC cleanup crew was there. Taking photos, moving the body, they tapped off the whole area. 

"Danny Clough was one of the older agents when I was starting." Lockwood told the other three from their spot watching. "He helped me out. Got me out of trouble a few times. He was one of those people who had no idea how cool he was."

"How did he go from that to. . ." Lucy trailed off, pausing for a moment before continuing her thought. "a relic man. . ? I'm sorry." She said after noticing Lockwood's discomfort. 

"Let's just keep this to ourselves, okay? We need to find out who his partner was." Lockwood responded. 

Another hour later and Inspector Barnes was making his way up to both Lockwood's and Kipps's teams. "We dredged the whole stretch. No mirror."

"Any idea who the body is?" Lockwood asked calmly.

"Still working on it. Going off the tattoos, definitely a relic man." 

"Who do you think did that to him?" Kipps asked. "His eyes, I mean." 

"No one." Barnes rolled his shoulder, shifting his hands into his pockets. "We found ocular tissue under his fingernails."

"He clawed his own eyes out?" Daniel asked, her brows raising. 

Barnes gave a tight nod. "Injury suggests it's his own. Whatever he saw in that mirror made him do that to himself." 

Daniel glanced over at George wearily. Hadn't he looked at the mirror. . ? Was he going to gouge his eyes out too? God, she hopped not. That would be horrific.

"We need to make a breakthrough. If that thing gets into the wrong hands. . ." Barnes started.

"We won't let you down, Inspector." Kipps assured, before him and Kat walked off. Lockwood tugged softly on Daniel's hand as he followed behind the Fittes team with Lucy and George short on their heel. 

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"Fittes will go wide. They'll round up every relic man until they find something." Lockwood snarled as the team walked back to their building. "We need to move faster. Smarter. George-" 

"Yeah, archives, I know." He cut Lockwood off. "What about you three?" 

"There's no time to explain, I'll fill you in later." Lockwood brushed him off. "Meet you back at the house at midnight for an epic breakfast." 

"Midnight." Daniel frowned with a sigh. Why did they always have to be out so late? "Breakfast at midnight?" 

Lockwood nodded, walking toward a set of stairs that would lead them up onto the overpass road. 

"Are you sure you're alright? About Danny?" Lucy asked from just behind the pair. 

"I hardly knew him." Lockwood dismissed with a shake of his head. 

"Yeah, but it could still stir stuff up." 

"Ah, I know someone who can help us. An old friend, works on the river. Come on." He was quick to change the subject just as they got to the top of the rounded staircase. Daniel rolled her eyes, knowing that this bothered him more than he was letting on. 

Lockwood shook his head tightly at Daniel's expression. He didn't want to talk about it. The brunet hailed a cab, helping Daniel in before sliding in himself beside her. She rest her head against the window, not paying much mind as Lockwood told the cabbie where the three needed to go.

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Word Count - 733

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Published - January 29, 2024

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