ARCHIE

As light as the swing shift was, that is how tasking the night shift is. Everything was a blur after Wendy left. I had so much in my hands that I left all her notes stuck on the monitor and the piles of crumpled case notes beside the evidence boxes. I wonder how it is working with her. Cesar from days have worked with her in a case once. Catherine, Nick and Warrick were in swing shift for some time. Sara even knows how she does her work.

She actually knew Greg even before she entered LVPD. They met in a coffee shop. She was new to Las Vegas at that time and he just got off shift, in need of a refill of his Blue Hawaiian beans. She was nursing jetlag with a cup of espresso when he spotted her and gave her a crash course on coffee cuisine. He was planning to ask her out until he asked her where she works.

It's funny that we work the same A/V lab, have parking spaces next to each other and occasionally pass by each other … and we don't really know each other. I know the swing shift Trace guy Travis more than her. My longest conversation with her was the one we just had before she headed out. I've seen her around when I happen to be early or bored. But she's always busy with what she's doing.

The next day, she was back in the A/V lab for swing shift. And it's back to graveyard for me. But ever since our 'long' conversation, I made it a point to go to work a bit early to catch her and probably have a 'longer' conversation.

WENDY

Whew! Field work might be a lot of fun but nothing beats being in the lab… away from the heat, humidity, pollution and the stresses of actually seeing the crime first-hand. People can be hard to read sometimes. As the day progresses, the crime rate goes up. It seems as though people (in Vegas at least) tend to do bad things as the sun goes down. Last month, we had more cases filed than the day shift. The night shift is always on their toes since Vegas is most awake at night.

I could only imagine what Archie's workload is like. There are countless hotels, motels, casinos and inns in the area and almost all of them have surveillance of some sort. Video and/or audio surveillance is the first evidence to be collected in a crime scene usually. And of course, in a course of eight to ten hours, more than three crimes can happen – you can bet that one or two of them are caught on tape.

All of those made me decide that it wasn't Archie who covered for me. He already has his hands full as it is. Swing shift load would've made his burden heavier. Bummer! It would be nice to have a cup of coffee with Archie. Or dinner…erm, breakfast.

It's been two weeks since that somebody covered for me yet no word about him. I haven't talked to Archie that long to fish the information out of him. But he seems to be around more and more lately. He would be leaning against the A/V lab doorframe as I'm cleaning up my Post-It mess. Or he'll be ready with a mug of Greg's mix of Blue Hawaiian for me as I'm ready to head out. "Something for the ride home," he would say.

So today, I decided to post a 'broadcast', looking for that somebody. On a bright neon green square of paper on one side of the monitor:

To the guy that covered for me,

I can't seem to find you and it's ironic that in a lab full of detectives and investigators, no one's spilling the beans. So just call me up and maybe we can finally have that coffee I promised you.

555-8621 – call ASAP. Thanks!

W

Like clockwork, Archie was leaning against the doorframe yet again, waiting for me to exit the A/V lab. Lab coat or no lab coat, he looks good enough to eat. But the word girlfriend kept ringing in my ears. "Hey there!" I said. "Could you keep that note stuck there for the mean time? If you have to remove it, just make sure you stick it back on after your shift."

"Oh sure," he smiled. "What's this – an ad looking for a boyfriend or something?"

"Very funny, Johnson," I laughed with him. "You wish. Anyway, I'll be on my way then. I give this kingdom back to you. Bye."