As he talked, Jesse walked through the ideas. Maybe in the replay there'd be something to notice.

"Takes her out of the trunk. Probably can't pick her up. People see it in the movies all the time. But in fact, a hundred and twenty pounds of dead weight is more than most guys can handle. So he drags her out. Might have her wrapped up. Might not. But there should be blood."

Jesse squatted again and looked at the gravel surface of the cul-de-sac.

"It was a big rain," Simpson said.

Jesse nodded. Jesse knew how much it had rained Tuesday night. But Simpson was trying to be helpful and Jesse didn't want to discourage him.

"So if there was some, it's been washed away," Jesse said. He stood and imagined dragging the girl's body from the trunk and along the ground.

"Gets her out and arranged, then starts to drag her. Probably by the arms, unless he had rope or something. And he drags her backwards down the hill. It'll be slow going." Jesse began to back down the hill.

"But there is a sort of path," Jesse said. "Kids probably bring beer in, drink it by the lake."

He paused, looking at a broken branch on one of the short bushes. He pulled it toward him a little and looked at it.

"Leaves are still green."

"So it hasn't been broken very long," Simpson said.

Farther down the slope was a pair of branches, barely above ground level, that had been broken as well.

"He gets to the lake," Jesse said. "And he puts her in. Does he just leave her there?"

"If he didn't care about her being found, he wouldn't have gone to all this trouble," Simpson said.

"So he wanted her to sink," Cox said.

"But not right here," Jesse said. "First kid came down here with a Miller Lite would spot her."

"So he had to drag her out a ways," Simpson said.

He was excited. It was like a real murder investigation.