John left the room whose door was cleverly hidden behind some shelving in Mitchell's office, cleaning his hands off with a baby wipe. He grinned unnervingly at the small group waiting in front of the desk and said, "You can take your boss away now. Remind him that the Thames is only a good place to dispose of bodies if you tie the ropes holding it to the concrete right." He cocked his head. "Actually, I think only you need to know that now, he won't be able to tie anything without properly functioning fingers."

Glancing apprehensively at each other, the group walked into the adjourning room. John heard at least two retching, and reinforced his mental note to get someone to clean up later. The group walked back out carrying their unconscious leader between them. Several sent fleeting glances of fear directed at John as they exited.

Mitchell walked into his office as the pitiful group left, barely sparing them a look. "John, we need someone to infiltrate that new mob that we talked about at your flat. The shift in power might happen more quickly than we'd expected."

"I can go Mitchell, seeing as this would be about building trust between us and the new leader. I'll need a background though, do you think you can get on that?"

"Boss? I didn't hear what I thought I just heard, right? You're needed here, to start work in the management area. With Harrison disposed of, there's a power gap that needs filling, even if he wasn't doing much."

"Mitchell, don't tell me you weren't doing all the managing since Harry took over. We both know I've always been horrible with managing as many people as there are. Also, you know I was better at fieldwork, and my shoulder isn't even an issue anymore with all the pampering I've gotten from Mrs. Hudson. I know you can handle the work, but I can find someone to help if you want. Before I leave, I'll set you up with an assistant."

Sighing tiredly, Mitchell accepts that he won't be able to talk John out of going into the field. And having a work partner who knows what they're doing would be nice for a change. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Wait, John, what if someone recognizes you as the boss? Like any of the people who just walked out of here?"

John just smiled. "Well, Mitchell, sounds like I have my first job already."

...

Molly Hooper was just finishing her last autopsy of the day when she heard the door to the mortuary open. "Sorry, we're closed now, unless you had an appointment with the supervisor or me I'm afraid your student examination will have to wait."

p"Oh! Um, sorry, didn't know you were closed. Excuse me, are you Miss Molly Hooper?" John asked hopefully.

pMolly turned from the corpse to look at the short, gentle-looking man that had just walked in. "Yes, but I don't think I know you?"

pJohn took a second to appraise Molly, and thought he could sense a core of steel under her shy exterior. If she lived up to Mike's glowing reviews of management in Bart's, she could find herself the third in command of a very successful crime empire. John almost giggled at the thought of this timid young lady ordering muscle-bound thugs around. He was never one to judge by appearance though, and was willing to give her a chance.

"Well Mike Stamford is an old friend of mine, and he recommended you for a senior managerial position in my business. It wouldn't be much more work than you do here, with what I'd imagine to be quite a large pay raise."

Molly decided the man was serious, and replied, "Well as nice as that sounds, I'm quite happy here and couldn't stand to leave." As she was turning away, the man started talking again.

"You could, of course, keep doing the mortuary work if you'd miss it. I'm just looking for someone to help manage records and the like. The hours wouldn't interfere with your work here." Another reason John had chosen this particular woman was her connections in law enforcement through the mortuary. And access to chemicals. Really, it was like someone placed the perfect person exactly where she was needed. Quite convenient. Almost too convenient, except he had checked here background for anything suspicious. The only thing that had come up was a connection to a Sherlock Holmes, but even he couldn't deduce anything about a job offer if she didn't think it amounted to anything. In short, if she agreed to the job, she was perfect.