Murder in London.

by genewilderkinnie

Summary:

Bess, Harry’s sister in law, comes to visit him before the birth of his and Arthur’s child. After she is found dead in her hotel room, it’s up to Harry, Arthur, Adelaide, and Arthur’s cousin Natalia to figure out who killed Bess Rahner.

Chapter 1: Not a Chapter.

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be writing this story.

Bess Rahner was Houdini’s actual wife, but because Houdini and Doyle isn’t historically accurate, I’m not making this historically accurate either. In this fic, Bess is Harry’s sister in law, as she married his brother Theodore. Harry is also pregnant (he’s 8 months pregnant but not showing a lot).

i hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 2: Chapter One

Summary:

Bess arrives to the Doyle-Houdini residence.

There was knock at the door. Harry had been reading when he heard the door knock. Knock. Knock. Walking to the door, Harry opened to see someone he hadn’t seen for months.

It was Bess.

”Bess? Oh my god, you came??? Wha-“ Harry hugged her and she replied, “I had to come see you, Harry, Theo sends his love. And my goodness!” She marveled at his pregnant stomach, “You’re glowing! Pregnancy definitely agrees with you.” He snorts, “It didn’t for the first couple of months, it was hell for me. I couldn’t stop throwing up.” “Aww, well, few more weeks til Baby Doyle gets here!! Have you and Arthur thought of a name?” Bess asked, looking at him.

”We….settled on a name for a girl. We don’t have a boy name yet.”

”What will the name be if they’re a girl?”

”Anatólia Catharine. A mix between Hungarian and English, Mary helped me choose the middle name,” Harry grins softly. Arthur came down downstairs to see his beloved and his sister in law talking. “Hello there,” Arthur stuck his hand out to shake Bess’s hand, “You must be Bess. It’s a pleasure.” She smiles, “Pleasure’s all mine, Arthur. You’ve been taking care of Harry, haven’t you?” Harry sighs, “He’s been hovering over me this entire pregnancy, Bess. And he wants to deliver them here.” Bess nods, impressed, “So, not only is your husband a writer, Harry, but he wants to deliver you all’s child? If that’s not a keeper you’ve got there!” He laughs, hugging Arthur, “Yes, they’ll be lucky to have this one as their father.” The moustached man kisses Harry’s forehead, “They’ll have a beautiful mother as well, not just a devoted father.” Bess awed at the couple and Harry looks at her, “Stay for dinner, Bess! The children would love to meet you.”

”Are you sure, Harry? I don’t want to be a bother, you know.”

”Please, I insist you stay.”

She pondered a moment before she smiles, “Oh, well, alright! I’ll stay to meet the children.” Harry grins, “Great! They’ll be home from school soon and I’m sure they’ll love to meet you.” “If you say so, Harry,” she replied with a laugh.

---

”Children, we have a special guest visiting with us,” Arthur told the children when they arrived home from school.

”Is the baby here? We missed the delivery?” Kingsley asked, hoping that wasn’t the case. He and Mary were excited to have a little sibling on the way, they didn’t want to miss a special moment. Arthur chuckled, “The baby isn’t here yet, but when Harry begins labor, you’ll be the first to know. Harry has a special guest visiting from New York.” He led them into the living room where Harry and Bess were talking over a cup of tea. Kingsley and Mary excitedly say, “Harry!” Houdini turned his head, his sky blue eyes looking at the children he’d come to love, “Hello, you two! How was school?” Mary smiles, “It was good! I got an A in maths today! Kingsley got a B on his history report.” He smiles, “Good job, both of you! I’d like to introduce you to my sister in law, Bess Rahner. Bess, these two are Mary and Kingsley, my kids!” Bess smiles, “Oh, what lovely darlings!! It’s nice to meet you both, you can call me Bess.” Mary returned her smile, “Nice to meet you, Bess!” Kingsley waved at her, a bit shy to speak. Manfield, Arthur’s butler, comes to tell the guests, “Dr. Doyle? There’s a phone call from a Theodore Hardeen.” Harry looks at Arthur, “That’s my brother, he might be trying to talk to Bess.” The older man looks at Manfield, “Allow Ms. Rahner to speak with her husband, please.” “Of course, sir,” Manfield nods and Bess excuses herself. Mary and Kingsley head upstairs to do their homework, with Harry saying he’ll help them later on.

Arthur notices Harry’s out of breath as he walked (More like waddled, but Harry would not hear it). “Darling, is everything alright? You sound out of breath,” he asked him. Harry nods, “Arthur, I’m fine. Just, when you’re 8 months pregnant and having to carry the extra weight gets me a little out of breath.” He  waddled to the kitchen to help Vera with whatever needed to be done. Arthur rolled his eyes and went to his study.

For dinner, it was fish and chips, since Vera wanted to make something a little laid back. Bess smiles, “This is delicious! I must have the recipe.” Vera replied to her, “Well, dear, the secret is to get fresh fish from your local fish market and preseason it. It easily keeps it freshness.” “Thank you ma’am, I’ll definitely try that when I get home to New York.” Mary and Kingsley asked Bess questions about what it was like living in New York to which she answered them all. After everyone had finished eating, Bess had to head back to her hotel. Mary and Kingsley were sad to see her go, but she reassured that she’d come back tomorrow. Vera took the children to bed while Harry and Arthur walked Bess outside.

”Thank you for visiting me, Bess. Please, send my love to Dash and Ma for me,” Harry smiles and Bess replied, “Of course. I’ll tell them when I get back to my hotel. Dash will be pleased to hear good news about the baby.” Arthur chuckled, “He will. Take care of yourself, Bess.” She waves at them and walks away into the night. Arthur looked at his love, who yawned softly. He chuckled, “Let’s get you to bed, you’re carrying my child and they’re exhausting you, Harry.” Harry laughs, “Whatever you say, darling. Whatever you say.”

Once Bess got back to her hotel, she prepared herself for bed. She got in her bed and turned out the lights. As she slept soundly, she heard tapping at her window and tried to ignore it. But the sound only got louder as she ignored it. “What the hell…” She looked outside. When she didn’t see anything, she turned around to see a man holding a pistol.

She screamed loudly. And a bullet was fired.

Bess had been shot in the head and was dead before she hit the floor.

Chapter 3: Chapter Two.

Summary:

Adelaide, Harry, and Arthur see a deceased Bess for the first time. Arthur’s cousin Natalia joins the case.

Adelaide looked at the body that was lying on the floor.

The deceased been identified as Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner and Adelaide realized that this was Harry’s sister in law. He was going to be so heartbroken to see this. She walked out of the room to see Harry, running to Bess’s room with Arthur behind him.

”BESS!!” The curly haired man screamed, immediately going to her side. Arthur’s eyes widened in horror as he saw the woman’s dead body on the floor. Harry had propped up her head in his arms, blood getting on his clothes but in that moment, he didn’t care. “Bess…” he murmured softly, tears running down his face. He looked at Arthur, who had tried feeling for a pulse.

He felt nothing.

”Harry, I’m so sorry, but…” he hesitated for a moment before saying, “Bess is gone.” Harry looks up at him, his blue eyes clouded with tears. It pained Arthur to see his lover like this and he hugged him tightly, the bump which rested his and Harry’s expected child only separating them. Adelaide spoke after a moment, “Harry….maybe you should sit this one out. I mean, you’re pregnant and with the stress, you’ll go into early labor and that’s the last thing we need.”

“The last thing I need is to not sit around while my friend is dead and I’m not helping track down who it is! It’ll at least bring Bess peace, so yes, I’m going to help. This time, it’s personal.”

”Harry, darling - speaking not only as your doctor but as your lover and the father of our child, I agree with Constable Stratton. I don’t want you going into labor while we investigate this,” Arthur tried to reason, knowing that his American lover will try to convince him and Adelaide otherwise.

Harry thinks for a moment before speaking, “A-Alright, I’ll make a deal. The minute I feel anything labor related go on, I will back off. We got it?” Arthur hesitated, but Adelaide spoke up, “Done. I can call Natalia to help us with this investigation, that way if anything happens to Harry, we have backup.” Arthur looked at her, “Natalia? You mean my cousin Natalia?” She smiles, “Yes, I do. She’s very good at what she does. I guess it runs in the family.” He chuckled, “I suppose it does.”

”Of course it does, Artie. Why do you think our family is so talented??” A familiar voice spoke out. 

The three immediately turned towards the door to see Natalia Doyle, all 5’11” of her with her green eyes and brown hair. She was dressed in Constable attire, but not wearing a hat. Once she walked into the room, as she saw Bess’s body, she backed away, “Oh, shit, she bled out a lot.” Harry nods, “She did. I, uh, I got her blood on my clothes.” Natalia looked at Harry and said, “My god! You’re Harry Houdini! Oh, I’m sorry we couldn’t have met under better circumstances.” She then noticed that he was pregnant and looked at Arthur, “By God, Artie, you’re allowing a pregnant man to help investigate??” He said, “This is Harry’s sister in law that’s deceased and he insisted to help investigate,” He replied, “It’s a personal mission of his to give her some sort of peace.”

Natalia nods, “I see. Well, catch me up on the victim and everything.” Adelaide smiles, “Gladly. Victim’s name is Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner also known as Bess Rahner or Bess Hardeen. She is 31 years old and was shot upon contact by who witnesses believe was a man. Although, based on the lace we found, it’s now shifting that this is a woman.” Natalia turned to Harry, “Did Bess come to your flat with someone or did she come alone?”

Harry said, “She came alone and if she did come with someone, she would’ve told me.” Natalia wrote this down, before asking, “Has anyone contacted her family at all?” Arthur said, “Harry called her husband, his brother, an hour ago to break the news. I imagine that he then told the news to her parents and family.” She nods her head and takes the piece of lace from off of the bed and examined it carefully. After doing so, she said, “Well, I can definitely tell you that this lace is not from England or Belgium. You’ve got yourself a killer that is not from here.”

Harry thinks for a moment, before saying, “Let me see that piece of lace, Natalia.” She hands him the lace and he looks at it carefully, before saying to the group, “It’s Hungarian lace. I know because I recently sent my mother and Bess some dresses from Hungary.” He walked to her suitcase and opened it to find all of her clothes. He then noticed one was missing. “Adelaide, when they checked her suitcase, were all her clothes there?” Harry asked, looking at her. The constable replied, “Yes, the reports say that they found all her belongings there, why?” Natalia walked to the suitcase and looked for herself, saying, “There is a dress missing out of her suitcase. Which means…”

Arthur pieced it together, “This was a robbery and a murder.”

Chapter 4: Chapter 3.

Summary:

Harry tells Arthur what Bess had told him some weeks ago. Adelaide goes to question a potential suspect.

Later that night, after dinner and the children went to bed, Harry sat in a chair in his and Arthur’s room. Arthur looked at his pregnant lover, “Harry, is something on your mind, darling? Is the baby-“

”The baby’s fine, Arthur, I reassure you of that,” Harry cut him off with a chuckle, “But what’s on my mind is what Bess told me a couple weeks ago before she came to London.” Arthur looked at him, “What did she say?” Harry hesitated for a moment, he didn’t want to even speak to him about it because it disturbed him. “Harry, whatever you tell me will help us find who did this to Bess. You have to tell me.”

He nods before saying, “She had told me that Dash had met a Hungarian couple who had moved to New York a while back. He had invited them to dinner to be friendly. Bess got along well with the husband but the wife would just eye her weirdly. She felt as if the woman didn’t like her.”

”Did she get a name of the couple at all?”

”She told me the woman’s name was Alida, the guy’s name was Erik. She didn’t get a last name but it was probably something she couldn’t pronounce. She was skeptical about being around Alida.”

Arthur said, “It seems to be she’d be a potential suspect to me, if Bess had issues with her.” Harry nods, “I’d assume so. But I doubt Dash would believe that his friend’s wife killed his. The moustached man nods, helping his pregnant lover stand up, “We have to check all the boxes, he’ll understand.”

Harry silently hoped he was right.