Chapter 30: The Carrier

Evelyn Chen had labeled the evidence-room coffee MACHINE SOLVENT. Mo read the label twice. "Is that a warning," he asked, "or a confession?" "Chain of custody," Evelyn said. "If anyone drinks it, I want the cause documented." Hollis set his cup in the sink. The county pharmacology lab occupied three windowless rooms beside a freezer corridor. White light flattened every surface. Photographs of Mobile Unit 6 covered one monitor. Copper scrap and numbered vials waited behind glass. At the center of the bench sat a black pill no larger than a lentil. It had a shallow groove around its middle and no smell Su could detect. It looked ordinary. Evelyn adjusted her red glasses. "Shaw authorized three tests that consume material. I used two. One pill stays whole." "Defense gets something to disagree with," Hollis said. "Defense always finds something. I'd like it to weigh under a milligram." Mo stood…