Page 65 of Backwater Justice

“True. But I’m trying to find more reasons not to like him.” Annie laughed.

“I don’t think you’ll have to try too hard.” Myra smiled. “When do you think you’ll be back?”

“Probably eleven-ish.”

“Good. I told Danielle I’d get to her house around noon.”

“And Oliver and I are meeting for lunch around one. Plenty of time to drop you off and get back here. We’re going to some fancy-schmancy restaurant downtown.”

“I’m sure you are.” Myra raised an eyebrow.

“Okay. Gotta bolt. See you in a few.”

“Annie?”

“Yes, Myra?”

“Try not to get a speeding ticket.”

“Moi? Surely you jest. Ta-ta!” With that, Annie swept through the room and out the door. She sped through the parking lot as if it were on fire. Typical Annie.

As soon as she got on the interstate, she cranked up the radio and belted out the tune of “Levitating” along with Dua Lipa. It was the only time Annie could sing without being ridiculed or asked to “Please stop!”Tone-deaf! Ha!Funny the kind of looks you get from people when you’re wailing on the road. Most people smile and nod. Others look at you like you are completely bonkers. Annie didn’t care. She was enjoying the open road with the windows down, and cruising at eighty miles per hour. She was only ten miles over the speed limit, and she wasn’t the only one. In less than an hour, she was pulling into the large medical facility. There was a security guard at the entrance to the parking lot. Charles had said he was going to get her clearance, and like clockwork, he had.

“Good morning.” Annie smiled brightly. “Annie De Silva.”

“Ah, yes, countess. Please pull into the visitor spot near the main door. Someone will come out and accompany you inside.”

“Thank you.” She did as the guard instructed, and another guard was waiting at the door.

“Countess, right this way.” He opened the large doors and asked her to walk through the metal detectors. “Sorry. Regulations.”

Interesting. Annie looked around. It was a high-security lab used by law enforcement and the military.

“This way, please.” She followed the uniformed man down a long hallway. The temperature in the building was chilly.

She shivered a little. “Is it always this cold in here?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Annie figured it was a precaution to maintain the integrity of the materials being tested. They didn’t want even the smallest speck of evidence to be destroyed by a fluctuation in temperature. It was safer to keep all the rooms below sixty-five degrees.

He showed her into a room with a long counter protected by plexiglass. “Someone will be right with you.” He stood at the doorway.

“Thank you.” She smiled. She felt as if she were in a maximum-security prison. If this was one of the places where major criminal evidence was tested, then it made a lot of sense. Notorious criminals would stop at nothing to get their cases thrown out of court.

About a minute later, a professorial-looking man wearing a white coat, latex gloves, a disposable face mask, and eye shield appeared. “Good morning. You must be Anna De Silva?”

“Yes. Thank you for seeing me.”

“I understand you have two items you would like tested?”

“That is correct.”

“What can we do for you?” he asked.

Annie took the carefully wrapped tumbler out of her tote bag first. “This needs to be dusted for prints, and also whatever DNA you can manage to get without degrading the prints.”

“Do you have something you want them matched to?”

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