‘I would like to go in first,’ I said. ‘Alone.’
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘Then we see if there’s anything hazardous in there, which hopefully there’s not. We get the body out, and the camper’s hauled out of here.’
‘It’s evidence,’ I said, looking at him. ‘We can’t just haul it out of here.’
I knew what he was thinking by the look on his face. The killer may be dead, the case closed. The camper was a biological hazard and should be burned.
‘No,’ I said to him. ‘We don’t close this so quickly. We can’t.’
He hesitated, blowing out in frustration as he stared off at the camper.
‘I’ll go in,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll tell you what we need to do.’
‘Fair enough.’ He raised his voice again. ‘Guys? Let’s go. No one inside but the M.E. until you hear otherwise.’
They followed us through the forest, the portable isolator in our wake, an eerie caisson not meant for this world. Pine needles were crisp beneath my feet, like shredded wheat, and the air was sharp and clean as the camper got closer. It was a Dutchman travel trailer, maybe eighteen feet long, with a fold-out orange-striped awning.
‘That’s old. Eight years, I bet,’ said Marino, who knew about such things.
‘What would it take to tow it?’ I asked as we put on our suits.
‘A pickup,’ he said. ‘Maybe a van. This doesn’t need nothing with a lot of horsepower. What are we supposed to do? Put these over everything else we already got on?’
‘Yes,’ I said, zipping up. ‘What I’d like to know is what happened to the vehicle that hauled this thing here.’
‘Good question,’ he said, huffing as he struggled. ‘And where’s the license plate?’
I had just turned on my air when a young man emerged from trees in a green uniform and smoky hat. He seemed rather dazed as he looked at all of us in our orange hoods and suits, and I sensed his fear. He did not get close to us as he introduced himself as the night shift park ranger.
Marino spoke to him first. ‘You ever see the person staying in there?’
‘No,’ the ranger said.
‘What about guys on the other shifts?’
‘No one remembers seeing anyone, just lights on at night sometimes. Hard to say. As you can see it’s parked pretty far from the station. You could go out to the showers or whatever and not necessarily be noticed.’
‘No other campers here?’ I asked over the rush of air inside my hood.
‘Not now. There were maybe three other people when I found the body, but I encouraged them to leave because there might be some kind of disease.’
‘Did you question them first?’ Marino asked, and I could see he was irritated by this young ranger who had just chased off all of our witnesses.
‘Nobody knew a thing, except one person did think he ran into him.’ He nodded at the camper. ‘Evening before last. In the bathroom. Big grubby guy with dark hair and a beard.’
‘Taking a shower?’ I asked.
‘No, ma’am.’ He hesitated. ‘Taking a leak.’
‘Doesn’t the camper have a bathroom?’
‘I really don’t know.’ He hesitated again. ‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t stay in there. Minute I saw that. Well, whatever it was. I was gone like a second.’
‘And you don’t know what towed this thing?’ Marino then asked.
The ranger was looking very uncomfortable now. ‘This time of year it’s usually quiet out here, and dark. I had no reason to notice what vehicle it was hooked up to, and in fact don’t recall there even being one.’
‘But you got a plate number.’ Marino’s stare was unfriendly through his hood.
‘Sure do.’ Relieved, the ranger pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. ‘Got his registration right here.’ He opened it. ‘Ken A. Perley, Norfolk, Virginia.’
He handed the paper to Marino, who sarcastically said, ‘Oh good. The name the asshole stole off a credit card. So I’m sure the plate number you got is accurate, too. How did he pay?’
‘Cashier’s check.’
‘He gave this to someone in person?’ Marino asked.