Decoy Bride
It was one of the cases that required foot work and once more Hermione was too busy to accompany Harry out in the field and Ron was too busy with inventory to help, so Harry found himself once more on the phone with Hermione this time at St. Bartholomew's morgue. The coroner was a sweet woman who was eager to help brandishing records of the lab reports she had done for Sherlock Holmes nearly a year ago on a woman by the name of Ruth Price. The case was implemented by Ruth's husband, Charles, who claimed that shortly after marriage and a trip to America Ruth's temperament completely changed- she acted as if she were a completely different person and the husband suspicious thought that the woman that returned was an imposter.
Hermione was suspicious that this Ruth Price was using polyjuice potion to conceal her true identity, but Harry was insistent that this case was in fact solved by Sherlock Holmes. Whom was unable to find anything that suggested foul play. Mr. Holmes did uncover that Ruth had been hiding that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and so the detective concluded that it was the stress of Ruth's secret that caused her change in temperament.
This seemed enough of a conclusion for Charles Price, and at the time for Sherlock Holmes, but Hermione found dictation of a conversation that Sherlock had with Ruth recorded by John Watson incredibly suspicion and that this tidy little conclusion was not entirely convincing.
In fact it was because of this conversation that Hermione did a background check on Ruth Price to find out she had been adopted, and that her parents had never confined this information to her. And while it could be plausible that as an adult Ruth found this information out on her own, it was unlikely since the case files had only been opened once since the adoption had been finalized and that person was not Ruth Price.
This lead to Harry and Hermione to the Price residents and a very pregnant Ruth who answered the door and with all courtesy of a hostess offered Harry refreshments. Facts where not adding up and Harry could only frown as Hermione excused herself to the bathroom, in rues of snooping around the house. Harry congratulated the expecting mother, and briefly touched on Ruth's upbringing to which there were inconsistency and when Hermione returned they quickly made their excuses to leave. Hermione had to return to the office but not before she determined that Harry would return to the place where the original DNA testing was done to have the new samples that Hermione procured tested.
DNA testing after all was no match for polyjucie potion.
Harry stood in the lab as Molly Hooper explained the results to Harry. The DNA was in fact identical to the samples Sherlock had tested eleven months ago.
"No…that cannot be right!" Hermione argued, "Harry send me pictures immediately. I will look them over myself. Clearly the coroner does not know how to read simple genetic coding, there must be a mistake."
Molly looked shocked by the claim, her mouth hung open and there was a small whimper of noise as if she were about to defend herself, only no words formed before she once more shuts her mouth and handed the reports over.
"Alright, call me back." Harry stated hanging up and spreading the papers out on the counter before sending images one by one to Hermione.
"She doesn't mean to be insulting. I'm sure your assessment is accurate, Ms. Hooper, but Hermione has a way of seeing things that no one else can. She is highly rational. Brilliant really. She often makes me feel like a bumbling idiot. But she is a lovely person…" Harry apologizes as he works and Molly blushes with down casting her eyes.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Molly asks.
Harry lets out an exasperated sigh. "No, Hermione, is not my girlfriend."
This causes Molly to raise an eyebrow. "Are you gay?"
"Nope, I have a girlfriend it just isn't my best friend." Harry states irritated.
Molly shrugs while an uncomfortable silence stretches between them.
Then the door bangs open and in struts Sherlock Holmes.
"Molly, coffee." The Detective says in way of introduction and Harry can't help but think on how rude the man was. Then Harry is reminded of why he is here and how while Sherlock thought himself so clever, Hermione had beat the arrogant man at his own game.
"Mr. Potter." Sherlock Holmes greeted spitting out Harry's name in a way that could only rival the deceased Professor Snape.
"Mr. Holmes." Harry greeted smirking indulgently at the man-child.
"Is it not enough that you have taken delight in bumbling around in my profession that you must also take residence in my lab?" Sherlock asks through clenched teeth, clearly not in the mood to be laughed at.
"Seven. Just in case you are wondering. We have solved seven of your unsolved cases." Harry boast watching as the detective's blue eyes narrow and the side of his lip twitch.
"We…so can I presume you brought adequate back up this time, or has the shop keep found the cafeteria?" Sherlock rudely asks, not really caring simply wanting to insult Mr. Potter.
"Ron is highly qualified, not my first choice but he has been a great assets to me many times. I am alone today but that doesn't mean I don't have back up." Is Harry's self-justifying reply.
"No of course not, you have the woman in the phone. A phantom unwilling to leave the comforts of her office to do grunt work. Let me guess she might break a nail?" Sherlock rudely states knowing the subject of Hermione was a pressure point. The detective was hoping that Mr. Potter would become defensive revealing more on the woman's identity.
This causes Harry to smile, because the assessment of Hermione was so incredibly ridiculous, but other than the smile Harry remains tight lipped staring the detective down.
Sherlock moves over to the lab set up and pulls out the parchment starting his experiment so he can identify the paper's origins.
Harry has turned his back to Sherlock both men now ignoring each other's presence. Ten minutes pass in silence when Mr. Potter's phone rings. Sherlock can't help the way his heart pounds in anticipation as Harry answers, all the while hoping it was that woman on the other end. The detective strains his ears to listen to the conversation, wishing Mr. Potter would put her on speaker. Harry is nodding like the person on the other end could see his action.
"You sure?" Harry asks looking shocked by the information. "Yes alright. I will….you will never believe who is here…. Ok perhaps you could…I think he is doing an experiment on the parchment you left in his flat. I don't think that is a good idea…Hermione…" Harry's voice trails off as he looks over to Sherlock who has frozen mid action and is staring in anticipation at the direction the one sided conversation had lead. "She wants to speak with you." Harry tells Sherlock holding out his phone to the detective. Sherlock nods, getting up to move around the counter taking the phone his hand, his fingers griping the sleek plastic of the phone case as he brings it up to his ear. His heart hammering irrationally fast as his own anticipation builds.
"Hello, this is Sherlock Holmes may I assume I am speaking with Hermione G?" the detective ask sounding far calmer then he feels.
"Yes, Sherlock. I am Hermione Granger and it is a pleasure to speak with you." Her voice is calm and collective with a hint of playfulness. "When I spoke with the Prime Minister about what kind of man you were he informed me that you were a necessary evil to keep the British Empire from falling into chaos, and that my organization might in fact be a sensible replacement for the services you offer."
Sherlock's fingers curl around the phone and his voice drops to a threatening growl. "Is this a declaration?"
Hermione laughs. "No this is me reassuring you that is not my intent. W.I.M.P. is not a threat, we only want to help. We will fill in the gaps that you cannot see. We do not have the time or man power to look into every crime that is committed in all of England."
"I have been told that I am arrogant, and yet your boast could only be perceived as conceit. What makes you think you are smarter than me? Because that is clearly what you are implying that you are somehow more observant, right? Isn't that why you are parading your success in my face. Scribbling solutions in the margins of my notes. Boasting that you are in fact far more clever than a lowly consulting detective?"
"Even a rational man can be offended when his intelligence is being questioned. But I assure you that is not what I am implying, you simply to not have the tools to completely succeed. Allow W.I.M.P. to help when it comes to your own limitations. There is no need for confutation or ill will towards one another. We are on the same side, working towards the same goal." The woman logically presents in terms of a truce.
"HA! You broke into my flat, and stole from me. Your action reek of ill intent." Sherlock shouts just as Molly walks back in with his coffee, but Sherlock is too preoccupied to notice that Harry plucks it out of Molly's hand and claims it for himself. "Listen well, Miss Granger, I cannot be beguiled by your feminine charms nor will I be dissuade from my earlier declaration, of working with wimp. You will leave well enough alone. I have no need of your help." Sherlock rudely declares and he can hear the woman sigh.
"It is not wimp, you arduous man, It is W.I.M.P. and I thank you to remember the proper way to refers to my organization. I had been under the impression that I was speaking with a man of science. Someone who used his intelligence to perceive the logic conclusion of what an alliance between us could achieve but I was obviously miss lead by those that know you. It seems incredibly foolish to make those that should be your friends your enemies, considering all the help I have been in solving cases that not even you could see the logical conclusion to. I apologies for my own miss calculation, arrogantly assuming that my sex would not be a hindrance in a partnership with such an intelligent man. I now perceive my own error, perhaps Harry is the only man alive whom can rationalize past his cock. " Hermione finishes notably calm, her tone pure ice.
"And I had assumed that a woman of your caliber would be above insults that hit below the belt." Sherlock snidely responses.
"How poetic in our disappointment for each other." Hermione states and Sherlock can feel his pulse quicken. He had to meet this woman face to face, the prospect of waiting another three weeks somehow seemed intolerable. "Place me on speaker, I would like to hear your thoughts on the lab work I had Ms. Hooper do on new DNA samples I collected from Ruth Price. Do you recall the case?" Hermione asked.
"Husband suspicious of imposter. I solved that one." Sherlock states sounding bored, placing her on speaker.
"No you came to a happy conclusion. I should inform you that Ruth is happily expecting her first child." Hermione's voice is loud from the speaker, gone is that compelling ice, her tone taunting as she shares this new development.
"Impossible…" Sherlock declares thumbing through the lab results on the counter. "These results are identical." Sherlock states unimpressed.
"Exactly. Identical in all accounts except a little mutation in the samples you collected that do not appear in the results I collected. Ruth had under gone chemotherapy altering her genetic encoding. The second sample though genetically identical has never been mutated, this sample has never been exposed to the same treatment as the first." Hermione spells out.
"Twins…One twin took on the identity of another." Sherlock concluded aloud. Harry looks startled by this solution.
"Ruth had been adopted, though she had not known it." Harry interjects.
"Well she found out on her death bed when Ruby Holt showed up to her twin's hospital room while Ruth was undergoing treatments in America." Hermione concluded. "Ruby traveled to England to break the news to Charles, only instead Ruby took on Ruth's identity marry Charles in her sister's place."
"Because even if Ruth had gone into recession, with the kind of cancer she had it would have still left her infertile. Unable to carry a child." Sherlock concedes.
"See what a wonderful team we make, Mr. Holmes. Too bad your pride eclipse your good sense." Hermione states. Harry reaches over and plucks the phone from Sherlock's hand.
"Hermione are you going to tell that man, that is wife is in fact an imposter and that the woman he loves is dead? The truth could ruin their lives; they are happy in their ignorance." Harry argues.
"Happy ignorance…how absurd!" Sherlock balks.
"Harry, the truth is not to be feared it is one of the strongest bonds in human history. However, this lie no matter how un-malice, deserves to be confronted with a certain amount delicacy. Therefore I thought it best that I be the one to support Ruby when she tells her husband the extent of her lies." Hermione declares.
"So what do you want me to do with this fool?" Harry asks with a smirk implying Sherlock Holmes, who glares at Harry clearly insulted.
Hermione laughs, "Nothing…in fact it all went rather smoothly all things considered. Charles and Ruby have decided to name their daughter in remembrance to the woman they both loved and lost. It is amazing the way love can transcend even the most deceitful lies."
Sherlock reaches over rudely takes the phone from Mr. Potter, "Meet me for coffee." Sherlock requests at which Hermione laughs.
"I thought we established that you did not want to work with me." Hermione smartly replies.
"I don't, but I think negotiations would be far more beneficial in person." Sherlock states a bit too eager.
"Oh, Mr. Holmes there is nothing to negotiate between us. I have no interest in a grown man that acts like a child, clearly your violate outburst and stingy attitude would be a hindrance to my unit. I am not running a nursery." Hermione declares.
"You are playing with fire." Sherlock growls into the phone he can't quiet the irrational anger that bubbles to the surface.
"Interesting choice of words, how very telling about you Mr. Holmes. I will be happy to leave notes any time I have need of your flat. And I hope the same consideration can be said if you happen to find your way to my door, using only that piece of parchment. If that day ever comes I will have coffee with you. Good bye, Sherlock Holmes." Hermione says hanging up the phone.
Sherlock is looking at the phone like the object it's self is a product of grand insult. Harry plucks the phone out of the detective's hand and places it in his pocket. "Until next time." Mr. Potter says and Sherlock can only nod as the man walks away.
Sherlock is mopping on his couch when John arrives with groceries. "Do you think I am a man-child?" Sherlock asks as way of greeting. John stops half way to the kitchen and looks over wide-eyed to Sherlock.
"Is that a trick question?" the doctor asks wondering why Sherlock would ask such a thing when normally the detective took pride in being childish often flaunting in front of Mycroft just to irritate the elder Mr. Holmes.
"Ah" Sherlock makes the irritated noise waving his hand at John dismissingly before rolling over and facing the wall. John- use to his friend's antics simply shakes his head and enters the kitchen to unload the groceries.
John is putting things in the pantry when Sherlock drags himself into the kitchen looking as if he has been sulking all afternoon.
The detective pours himself a drink before turning to John with clear eyes and a prominent frown.
"Describe her to me." Sherlock orders and John can only wondering who Sherlock was referring to, but Sherlock caught on to this. "The woman in the phone. You got a good look at her, what does she look like?"
John is shocked by this inquiry, "She is more of a girl then woman." John starts, "She is very pretty, with…"
"Wait don't tell me anymore! We are going to the Prime Minister's Charity auction. I have procured three tickets so you can bring Mary." Sherlock interrupts and John looks confused.
"Why are we going? You never go." John asks, wanting his friend's motives.
"And isn't it a shame that we never go to support the orphans. What kind of civil servants are we? We must go and do our duty to our nation." Sherlock declares with gusto.
"Orphans? I thought the charity auction was to help a hospital?" John asks and Sherlock shrugs. "Miss Granger is going to be there isn't she?" John deduces.
Sherlock nods. "At which time you will point her out to me."
John smiles. "Are we going as quests or are we going as waiters?"
"How scandalous, John! We are going as guests, since the woman has never seen me there is no reason for a disguise. Beside I want to make an impression. Let her know who she is playing with." Sherlock states taking a sip from his mug.
"Sherlock, she doesn't seem like the kind of girl that plays games." John states thinking how genuine Hermione appeared in her concern for others.
"No a woman like her wins games, but she has met her match…or will very soon!" Sherlock affirms walking into the other room.
John can only roll his eyes picking up the invitations and placing them in his pocket. "The game is on." John whispered to the wall paper.