© CATE
ARCHIE
Her grey department-issued Ford Focus pulls out of the parking spot, beeping as she went her way, as I drove mine in on the spot beside it. I would watch her drive away while I gather my stuff and punch in my time card. The same faces greet me as I settle into shift: Sara and Grissom, the early birds; Julie at the reception; Ecklie in his office (why do I even bother?); the new DNA girl from across my lab (note to self: learn her name one of these days); and Greg, guarding his fresh batch of Blue Hawaiian.
Speaking of 'my lab', once again it's as if I'm first A/V lab tech to use it for the day. All the earphones are lined up, the wires are organized, all the screens are dust-free and my batch of evidence to process is right beside the server computer. I start unpacking the tapes and CDs the investigators have for me when I notice the faint fragrance hanging in the air. "Tommy Girl," I say to myself as I take another whiff. It fits her well, preppy and always on the go. The scent dies away as Catherine Willows walks in and hands me another mangled piece of tape to process. "Back to work, Archie Johnson."
Being the A/V Technician here in the Las Vegas Crime Lab is a far cry from being a security cam 'baby-sitter' at Guggenheim's. I get to use top of the line equipment for free, process high profile cases, get to work with the most wonderful group of people in my shift and not to mention have the department take care of my transportation and communication expenses. Working graveyard might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but after five years in this gig, I'm not budging. Greg Sanders… now CSI Greg Sanders, was once one of us… the lab rats, we call ourselves. But he's moved on and all of us are happy for him. From time to time, Warrick and Nick take me out to do field work with them. It's nice to see the moonlight once in a while; being cooped up in a dark lab for the most part of my nights can get tiring.
"Hey Archie, what do you have for me?" Sara Sidle saunters in with a smile. "The still you gave me helped us identify the vic. And Trace ended up as a false lead. So, I'm looking for more good news from you." She described this case she's working on as a 'TV case' because all their usable evidence is mostly on the security cam. Unfortunately for me, not all of Las Vegas has the luxury of high-end technology.
I hand her the earphones and say before the play the tape, "Well, good thing the building owner forked up extra for voice recorders. I've stitched the audio with the video footage and I got a pretty good cut of conversation between your victim and an unknown woman." I pressed play. For a three-star hotel, they have such crappy cameras. Very grainy and it skips frames when recording. The video stopped and Sara took off the earphones. "That's all the audio with the video. I'm trying to figure out the rest on this tape. The killer really wanted this trashed, burned it with acetone."
Her smile got bigger. "Would you burn me a copy of this? Grissom and Nick need to hear this."
"Done," I proudly said as I handed her a CD in an evidence bag. "If I find anything else, I'll page you."
Taking the bag from me, she said, "That's what I like about you, Archie: quick and organized. I'll wait for your page!" And she went to the adjacent room at DNA.
As I revert my attention to the video in front of me, another CSI enters my lab. "Johnson, right?" Randy Anders from swing shift said. "Is there anything that Piper left for me?" 'Piper' would be Wendy Piper, the A/V Tech of their shift. "Evidence bag, with a blue Post-It?"
I rummage through the mess on the right. I might be organized with the evidence I give my CSI, but not so on my work area. Finally, I spot the blue paper behind the monitor. "Here you go, Mr. Anders," giving him the bag. It was an answering machine tape with a note saying, 'it's empty' written in Wendy's neat script. Randy went his way, leaving me with my own evidence to process.
Wendy started working here a year after I came in. She started out in days then was transferred to swing shift right when Grissom and the others were split. Sure we would pass each other by the halls and have our parking spaces beside each other and share a lab… that was it. What I do know about her is that she likes to make notes on Post-Its and paste it around the monitor. I would see her throw them in the trash in the locker room as she heads out. We might work the same office but we never talked.
Sometimes I'd hear Nick, Warrick and Catherine talk about her and one of them would say, "I miss her Post-Its. Cell phone calls are getting too impersonal." One time Nick told me after I handed him my findings, "Hey, I asked you about forehead thingies and such? You have to meet Wendy Piper, the swing shift A/V."
I joked back, "What? She needs to get a life as well?" We laughed. All of us need to do less of something… like watching Discovery Channel.
All these working and thinking made me ignore time. It's already halfway through the shift and my just my second cup of coffee. This won't be a long day after all.