Authors note: I hope chapter is up to standard especially since I actually found it sort of hard to write about the police force set about 10 years from now!Anyway, thank you to the reviews, hopefully I get round to replying! Here's the next chapter...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that can be associated with Ashes such as places, characters or situations. However, there are some extra characters in there which I'm almost certain don't belong to anybody officially, so I do believe they're mine :D

History Repeating Itself
Chapter Two-First Case

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door and waited further instruction.

"Come in!" Barked a voice from inside the glass office.

Noting how her heels clicked on the floor as she walked through to be greeted by her DCI, Molly Drake quaked with nerves as she wondered what had happened. In her six years of working for Fenchurch CID, she had only ever been summoned twice for an out of hours meeting with her DCI.

"Take a pew, please DI Drake." Saying that name out loud gave DCI Kit a shiver in his spine. He had only been a DS when DI Alex Drake had been shot and killed by Arthur Layton, but the obvious wounds were still there for her daughter.

"The board and I have been reviewing your progress since you joined us. We're impressed with your psychological input towards difficult case and we feel that you deserve a promotion."

Molly let out a gasp of amazement as DCI Kit let his words sink in. "You're promoting me to a...DCI?" Molly breathed, unable to believe her ears. Although she'd worked hard since she left school and been fast tracked into CID, Molly couldn't believe that she'd ever get the rank of DCI.

"We understand that you may want to think about this decision. Of course, the promotion means you wouldn't be working in CID." Molly frowned at DCI Kit. "You'd be working in Drugs Squad."

Molly smiled. It had always been her dream to work in Drugs Squad, ever since it was created about seven years ago. As well as being a psychologist, Molly also had a huge interest in drugs; affects, issues and ultimately how it was that they dominated the streets.

"My answer is yes."

"Great, well you start your new position on Monday morning, floor three. See you then, DCI Drake."

Molly walked back out of the door to find her friend DS Carrie Watson and tell her the news.

"Oh, my gosh! I can't believe it! My best friend is a DCI!" Carrie rushed forward to hug her, even more ecstatic about her promotion then Molly was.

Molly walked out of CID with Carrie in tow. A gust of wind blew through the empty room of CID, sending paperwork flying and ruffling blinds. The way the papers were now arranged, it seemed to wind had been looking for something.

Passing through reception, Molly and Carrie met Evan who had come to tell Molly he was retiring from everything. Although Evan had given up his job a few years after Alex was killed, he still advised people and companies and did some part-time training for new lawyers.

Flipping open her warrant card, Molly pulled out her apartment key card. Looking at the photo pinned behind hers, she remembered that fateful day.

It was a cold and blustery morning when CID received a call about a body found on an allotment. Their DCI was late, so Molly took charge and decided to go and check it out. With her she took DC Matt Lewis, DC John Goode and DS Shelby-Ann Thomas. When they arrived at the scene, the state the body was in was horrifying.

There were stab wounds all over and three fingers from one hand had been sawn off. John had chosen to speak to the witness and the person who found her, while Shelby was taking a look at the body just to show she wasn't squeamish.

Meanwhile, Matt had gone to look for a weapon and some fingerprints using his ultra-violet scanner, when he had been caught from behind and stabbed through the heart, right in front of Molly's eyes.

Although the rest of the team never knew, Matt and Molly had known each other at University and at Police Training. They'd been living together for about seven months when he'd proposed. He was killed a week after.

Back in the present, Molly could feel something stirring. The wind was hammering against all the windows and thoroughly battering the roof. There were dark clouds hanging over and the atmosphere she could feel now, and the atmosphere she felt on the 20th July 2008 were alarming similar. Something was stirring, but Molly couldn't quite put her finger on it.

When Molly arrived at the entrance to the Drugs Squad Department, she didn't quite know what to expect. She knew from previous experiences, and from her mother, that new DCIs were often frowned upon and given a hard time. She hoped that with her attitude that she could have a positive start.

Peeping through the door, the department was empty. Excellent, she could get to her office and read about her team. The layout was very much similar to CID but with different kinds of desks and decoration, not to mention the better general organisation.

Molly didn't keep much in her desk at CID, so she didn't have much to bring into her office. Pulling out the top draw of her filing cabinet, she noticed that it was full of case files that hadn't been solved. The second draw down had all kinds of information about the different drugs, so of which Molly hadn't heard of. Finally, the last drawer was empty so this was where she placed her notes and old case files.

Sitting down in the swirly office chair, Molly proceeded to open the personal files of her new team. The first, DI Shelby-Ann Thomas, who Molly recognised from working in CID, had been recently promoted due to her psychological profile that helped catch a notorious drug dealer in 2019. She was fairly tall with bright red hair and possessed an unusual attitude towards the uniform.

DS Ben Carter was a bright spark, hopefully due to be put on the Drugs Squad fast track. He relies on his gut instinct and doesn't appear to have much time for evidence. However, he is the brainstorm-er of the group.

Molly noticed that the rest of the group were specially trained DCs that were interchangeable between a number of different police stations.

At about 9:20am, some of her new team arrived with uplifting stories about their latest collar. A man with spiky black hair stopped dead as Molly opened her office door. He jabbed a girl on the arm who turned to look as well, causing some whispers to ripple through the group.

Molly stood in front of her office door and started to speak. "Hello, my name is Molly Drake and I am your new DCI. I understand that DCI Hartford left rather suddenly so I'm assuming his position and all the current cases. Apart from DI Thomas," Molly waved a hand to indicate Shelby-Ann, "I don't know any of you, but I'd really like to, so I wondered if you would be alright saying something about yourselves."

Several people nodded their heads at Molly's suggestion quite happily. She noted their expressions of curiosity and openness, but she didn't know why. Of course, what Molly didn't know was that DCI Hartford could be quite a bastard and never seemed to run ideas past his team or ask for their opinion.

A confident young DC stepped up first. "My name is DC Abby Walker and I have two rats that can type on a keyboard." There were a few smiles and sniggers from all corners of the room, and suddenly Molly felt very at home.

At about 3:30pm, Molly received a call from CID asking if they could transfer a case to them. Most of the morning and the afternoon had been spent going over old cases and filling out excess paperwork so everything met the standards set by the Chief Commissioner.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just bring everything up right away." Walking out the office, she briefed the team.

"Right, then. We have a case coming up from CID...Ah, there it is," she said as a junior officer walked through the doors. She took the file and flicked through it. "Right, let's get up to the Sky High Nightclub and survey the crime scene. Shelby, Abby and Ben, you're with me. The rest of you, check up on the file and cross reference."

Staring at the body in front of her, Molly Drake felt slightly sick for the first time in her life. The skin was pale, chalky in most places and the eyes were drawn. There were three distinct stab marks; one on his chest, one on his right leg and another on the left arm. His lips were a deep blue and the muscles on his left arm were tinted with green and yellow bruising.

DC Abby Walker was snapping away, completely oblivious to her senior officers discomfort.

"From what I can see, he was clearly killed by the stab wounds, but that doesn't account for the bruising."

"Maybe he was beaten up first?" A voice sounded from the behind the bar. Shelby was dusting for prints and taking notes about the situation.

"No. The bruising...it's too precise. The colour of the lips is unnatural, even for hypothermia." Molly whispered. Whatever or whoever had done this, it was like nothing she'd seen or studied before.

Noticing that Ben was digging through the rubbish, Molly thought she heard a noise that sounded like breaking glass. In the same moment, Ben seemed to have heard it too as he was double checking the rubbish that was out of the bin. Seeing his body freeze, Molly began to worry.

"What is it Ben?" She asked; the edge of concern in her voice was obvious. He was studying a small glass vile that was now empty, but showed a deadly symbol.

"Um...DCI Drake, you might want to look at this." He thrust the object towards her. "That's the symbol for Tarifila.

Authors Note: Yes, I know the Tarifila might be confusing, but as the story is set in 2021, I thought that inventing a substance that didn't exist today was quite possible :)

So then guys, thoughts? Good, bad? Thank you for reading, updates should be coming soon :)

Finding Answers xx