“Give it a shot,” Joe encouraged him.

“Just like Ducky,” someone cracked, referring to the pathologist on the TV show NCIS.

By the time Collins returned from completing his test, the body had been tagged and bagged and was being wrestled up the slope for transportation by a local funeral home for an autopsy by Beverly later on.

“Any luck?” Joe asked, meeting him by the roadside.

Collins pointed at the black body bag on the gurney, trundling toward the hearse. “Joe Gunther? Meet Don Kalfus.”

Everyone within earshot looked at him.

“Really?” Joe replied. “You got a hit?”

“Complete with photo printout.” The CSST leader handed over a recognizable printout of a mug shot, lifted off the truck’s onboard computer. “A native son with a rap sheet featuring burglaries and car thefts in both New Hampshire and Vermont. Looks like he has family in Brattleboro. Perfect fit.”

“Any sex crimes?” Willy asked.

“Not known to us. Don’t know what might be lurking beyond a records search. The phone we looked at wasn’t registered to him, not that that means much.”

“Who does it belong to?” Lester asked.

“Lisa Rowell, Keene address.”

“A woman?”

“Unless it’s like a boy named Sue,” a voice said from beyond the light.

Female child porn peddlers were known to account for only 2 percent of the offending population.

“I’d bet Lisa’s being screwed by her boyfriend,” Willy cracked. “In more ways than one.”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Joe told him, “after we disturb a few people tonight to get our paperwork rolling.”

“Hot damn,” Willy reacted.

Joe took advantage of this commingling of senior people, including his own squad, to address them all. “Without wanting to sound dramatic, I’d like everyone to consider this a red ball situation. Above and beyond the unexplained presence of Mr. Kalfus in Mr. Shaw’s purportedly stolen Mercedes, we’ve got Lisa Rowell’s phone with what appear to be recent photos of at least one child being exploited. I don’t have to tell you how important it is that we draw a line under that last item as fast as we can. Willy and Jim both mentioned invoking ICAC and Homeland Security’s TFO program so we can maintain control of all parts of this mess, regardless of what state border might lie in the way. I think that’s a great idea and worth making a few people grumpy to make it happen.”

He glanced at Collins to ask, “Did you get any information on the car owner beyond his name?”

Collins opened a file he was holding and produced another photo, this one from the New Hampshire DMV website. “I did a criminal check, but no luck aside from an old DUI and a couple of speeding tickets. He might just be a victim, pure and simple.”

A snort from Willy reflected what he thought of that phrase. As a combat vet, a retired sniper, a recovering alcoholic, and a survivor of personal violence, he considered his skepticism of all things human hard-earned and richly deserved.