I got my first look at the park ranger staff that afternoon. It seemed that all of them found an excuse to drop by the marina office. The marina was where I chose to make my office. It was the newest of the parks, and it was adjacent to the campground. Most of the problems I had seen came from the campground.

The rangers were a sorry looking lot in general with only one exception. There were eight of them to cover two shifts and to cover then after our calls.

As they drifted in I assured each of them individually that I expected any changes to be for the better. I was willing to discuss any change I made with them before I implemented it. I hoped that we could work things out before they went to Melton but I also understood that personal differences would wind up on his desk. I hoped that there wouldn't be any, but expected that there would be.

Most of the rangers took it with good grace, not all but most did. I noticed a couple of the guys seemed to feel slighted somehow. I couldn't quite understand, since there had never been a position like mine and most likely they would keep it after I was gone. One of them was likely to be the next supervisor of park security.

"I have a question," a morbidly thin women stated.

"Shoot," I said it since we were alone in the office. No sense waiting for a crowd to form.

"I hope you don't expect us to be cops. We pretty much suggest compliance with the rules, then if we don't get it, we threaten to call a cop. As a last resort we do call a cop."

"I totally agree with that policy, unless the mooch comes at you swinging. In that case I want you to put his ass in the hospital. Even if it's only to have the pepper stray washed from his eyes."

"I can agree with your policy in that case."

"Good then we see eye to eye on it. One more thing, when you call the cops, you also call me at the same time." She looked a little like she wanted to say "Whatever." so I added, "That isn't a suggestion. There will be a memo to that effect." I scribbled a note to send a memo. I hadn't even thought of it before.

"Since you are in uniform, I assume you are the duty ranger at the moment."

"Yes I am." she replied.

"Good then you can take me on a tour of the parks tomorrow and I will take you to lunch." We arranged to meet at ten the next morning for the tour.

I passed the evening with a bottle of Jack Daniel's and My computer set for old TV shows.

As usual I skipped breakfast the next morning and drove to the marina. My office was no more than a janitor's closet with a window. At least that seemed to be the size to me. It was okay since I didn't plan to be in it often. I was a beat cop and planned to be a beat ranger.

Jane arrived promptly at ten. The first place she took me was a large recreational park with a few of rides and picnic tables. It also had a swimming pool. The pool was a problem spot she informed me. Usually the calls there went directly to the city police.

"Those calls usually are serious. The police response time is better and they are better prepared to cope with that kind of issue."

"That sounds reasonable, since I don't want this to be anything but a peace keeping force. I'm not looking to turn you guys into a swat team." She seemed relieved by that pronouncement.

From the lake front park, we drove to several of the small city parks with baseball fields. "There was almost never a problem call with these parks. Usually we make an appearance at the picnic shelters just to show the uniform. Sometimes we get a call from the 911 dispatch, if there is a disturbance but usually they go to the police patrol officer. Sometimes we write tickets in these small parks for open bottles of beer and wine."

She also drove me to the city golf course and tennis complex. "We have jurisdiction here but seldom do anything at all. Once in a while we write a ticket for open alcohol containers here as well. That is usually in the parking lot. I personally have never been past the parking lot. I never had any need to do so."

We stopped for lunch before we went to the campground. I don't think she expected steak or anything, but she seemed disappointed when I directed her to the county fairgrounds. Since it was Friday the vendor wagons were working the flea market. I had her stop near Charlie's Hot Dog Stand. That was the name on the side of the trailer.

"Charlie, give us two dogs with everything and two cokes." I turned to Jane, "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure but I am going to tell everyone not to expect anything when you take a girl to lunch."

"Oh well I thought you had already been warned." The dogs came on a square piece of cardboard. The cardboard was most likely recycled from a box of some kind. Charlie did cover it with something like waxed paper but much thinner. I carried the dogs and Jane carried the cokes. We used the hood of the ranger car as a stand up table.

"Wow this is a great hot dog. I never had one with so much crap on it," Jane said.

"I know and the chips are home made. Probably why the hot dog is two and a half bucks."

"Well it is worth it for sure. Is he here every day?"

"Just on Friday. Believe it or not, he has a web site with a list of his locations for the week. People actually check it out to follow him around."

After the standup lunch, we drove to the campground. The area had 50 sites that could accept a trailer with water and sewer connections. The other fifty sites could handle tents or small campers but they had no water or sewer connections. There were water faucet every twenty yards along the access drives. If you didn't spring for the fancy sites, you carried your own water and used the community bath house. Every space did have electricity, so even the tent campers had power.

Open campfires were forbidden, but there were elevated charcoal cookers at every site. All in all it was a very nice campground. "We get a few disturbance calls out here. Usually it's during one of the trade shows. Some of the people who attend those tend to be heavy drinkers."

"Yes I know we see a lot of hotel calls during the shows. Everything from drunks giving the clerks crap to rape. those things might bring a lot of money to town but they are a major pain in the butt."

"Did Maybelle tell you about the dumped body in the reservoir?"

"Yes she did. Why was it during a show?"

"We found it after and on the other side of the lake, but the time it went in could have been right after the show. They don't all leave right away. The guys who stay here are mostly the setup people. They also stay to take the show down."

"I assume from what you say they didn't catch the killer."

"Didn't you know?"

"I was a patrol sergeant. I didn't keep up anyone else's cases, mine were plenty."

"No, they never caught anyone."

Maybe I would find something to play around with while I waited out my retirement after all. Catching a killer was a nice fantasy, but highly unlikely.