Heading back through the photos for a second pass, I was mildly aware of all the mafia folks passing by the window of my office. They were pretty easy to block out because I had a lot of work to finish before I got slammed with more. It was one am before I had even made it through one-tenth of all the photos I had taken. I sat with my legs crossed under me, using my arms to pull me around the office. A yawn forced its way out of my mouth and I sighed. I'm exhausted but I couldn't go home; I needed to finish the pile of work I had. Stretching out my back and shoulders I got back to work, If I stopped now I would fall asleep at my desk. Well, it hadn't been the first time I had fallen asleep at my desk, I couldn't.

I needed caffeine and that meant venturing out to get coffee from a shop, or the shitty stuff from the break room and I would rather die before I had to drink that shit. The walk to the coffee shop would do me good and would wake me up. Making sure I had my access pass, I slipped my phone which had been on my desk into my back pocket. I shivered when I got outside the air was brisk and chilly like it had been this morning when I had walked to work.

The coffee shop I liked was open twenty-four hours because of the cops and the mafia and all the other folks that bought coffee at odd times of the morning. The night crew didn't know me as well as the day crew, but they knew me enough to know I wanted to be fucked up by caffeine at this time of night because I was probably working.

I paid for the drink and went on my way. I walked back to the station a little faster than I had walked to the coffee shop. I was powered by a fuck ton of caffeine now. If I slept at all now when I finished up here it would be a shock. I had enough caffeine in this drink to kill a small child; I was pretty sure about that.

Scanning my access pass I walked by a few mafia men who were making their way out of the station, they paid me really no mind. Getting to my office again I sat in the chair tucking my legs under me. I was vibrating from the level of caffeine coursing through me. I knocked out half the photos by two am. I hadn't even noticed that I had been being watched until I turned to grab something from my printer and was startled by Andrei who was standing in my doorway.

"Christ, you scared the shit out of me."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, you did."

"My bad. I was on my way and noticed you were still here, surely you haven't been here all day at this have you?"

"My work is a massive undertaking and yes, I've been here all day, we got a new massive murder case."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, currently it's completely unrelated to the mafia, however."

"Well, that's good I suppose." He said with a smirk showing lightly on his face.

He watched me work for a few more moments before he spoke again.

"You should probably head home soon, this town has a lot of monsters looking for fun."

I turned to look him over, I looked him up and down. Before taking a large sip of my new iced death.

"Trust me, I know of a few of the monsters in this town, Andrei."

He almost looked amused that I knew his name considering he hadn't given it to me any of the times we had been in close contact, which this now made three times.

"You know my name?"

"Yes, I do."

"I suppose it wasn't that hard to find out given where you work."

"Yeah. That and your features are, well unique to you and a few others I assume."

"You looked me up then, in the database."

"I wanted to know who you were. Turns out, I helped book you then. Must say you do look much better now than when I took your mugshots."

His face darkened slightly, but he pushed it off. The smile returning to his face, though now it was forced to be there.

"So Lukas, What do you do for fun when your not looking at corpses? You married, got kids? Friends?"

"Please, don't act like you didn't run me in the database yourself, I'm not dense, I'm aware you and your 'family' have access to all our tech and tools."

"Fair."

"I thought so."

"You seem to know a lot about us, the family I mean."

"I've lived here my whole life, it's not that hard to notice when things are being covered up and lied about or the lack of police work on the actual cases involving you and your people."

"You pay attention to details, smart."

"I have to in my line of work. One detail can change a whole case. But back to your question, I have friends, or I did before. It's been a long time since we have done anything or hung out. I chose my work and the stories of dead people over them."

"So work is your bed partner then?"

"You could say that. How about you, Mr sharp-dressed suit? I'm sure you're married or at the least have a play partner?"

"Would it shock you if I said no to both of those?"

"No, I would have to wonder why that is, your clearly a good-looking man and you have some manners, so what is it that keeps the 'lovers' away from you?"

"Can't say I know why lovers avoid me, maybe it's the job."

"Perhaps, you have an interesting job after all."

Andrei said goodbye and left after realizing he was taking up the time I needed to finish the work I had. I wasn't rude enough to ask him to leave because I was too fucking busy to talk and I was still bitter about my camera. The Chief also stopped by on his way home and told me as soon as I was done with the photos to go home and take the next day off. I had done enough work and needed to get some damn sleep before I burned myself out and couldn't work.

Sending the last of the photos to the lap, I grabbed all my stuff and closed my office door locking it. Heading out with my coffee and bag, I pulled my key out. I was really thrilled to see my truck. The shop had even cleaned the inside out for me.

My truck purred to life and I headed home. I was excited to crawl into my bed and sleep the whole next day away. I needed it.