"Oh, no," Lorelai began sobbing. "No, no, no, that can't be true…."

"I'm sorry, Lore," Luke choked up on the other end of the phone. Max grabbed Lorelai's arm, anxious to know who she was talking to and what about.

"So what now?" she whispered dejectedly to her fiancée.

"I-"

Lorelai missed the rest as Joe's frenetic cries pierced the air.

"Hold on, Luke!" Lorelai set her phone on the dash and jumped from the car.

Joe fell to the shore, pressing his face to the wet dirt and convulsing as he wailed.

"My baby, oh, Lisa, no…"

It took Lorelai only a second to see Lisa's soaked and incredibly maimed corpse next to him. The body was legless but undoubtedly Lisa Reisert.

"Oh, God," she murmured, turning and shutting her eyes. Max's steps slowed behind her as he saw Lisa. He fell to his knees, quivering, next to her and despite the gore took her face in his hands.

Her silver crucifix glinted in the sunlight and he gently removed it, clutching it to his chest.

Lorelai could only imagine his pain. She scooted next to him and placed a hand on his shoulders. He jerked away and shuddered as tears fell.

She took his hand and Lorelai spoke. "Max, come on. We'll send the police for her body, we can't take it now. I'm so sor-"

"Wait!" he snapped, studying Lisa's hand. He dropped Lorelai's and exchanged it for his dead fiancee's. Then he frantically pawed in the sand around her.

"Max, come o-"

"No ring!" he cried urgently, grabbing Lorelai's arm again. "Her ring isn't here!"

"I'm sure Jackson took it or something."

"And the tshirt!" he grabbed the tag. "Large! Lisa's a medium!"

"Max, calm down. I don't see what you're getting at here."

Joe padded over. "I think what he's saying is that this might not be Lisa."

"Who else could it be? How many look-alikes do you think Jackson drops in a lake in one day?"

Max studied the body and then after a moment, dialed 911 on his cell phone.

"Hi, I'd like to report a body. No, I don't know who. The East coast of Lake Hopatcong. Yeah. Five minutes. Thanks." He hung up.

"When they get her to the morgue and run an autopsy, you'll see. This girl, I can tell. She doesn't look pregnant."

"So?" Joe snapped.

"Lisa is."

Joe paled. "God save her soul."

Luke waited until Lorelai came back to her phone.

"We found Lisa's body," but she was excited.

"Am I missing something?"

"But its not her. Max figured it out. The girl we found isn't pregnant, has no ring, is a bit bigger," Lorelai explained. "We're still not 100 sure, but Max definitely is."

"Lisa's still probably dead, though, Lore."

"This is the lake, though, Luke. The cops are here, and they already had a lead into New Jersey from a WalMart about an hour from here. This has to be it, it's the only thing that makes sense. Jackson dumped a girl here to throw us off, but he has Leese somewhere else."
Luke swore triumphantly. "So Jess lied?"

"Jess lied."

Luke hung up and backhanded Jess square in the face.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Blood trickled a black line from his nose to his mouth.

"For being a prick. You gave me false information, you moron. Tell me the truth or I'm calling the cops."
Jess took a deep breath, and then began to recite an address.

It was late afternoon as Lisa sat absently on the couch, fiddling with a royal blue satin pillow.

Jackson strolled in from a side room. "Hey. You look entertained."

"I am." She didn't look at him.

"Want to do something?"

"No."

Jackson casually strode to the tv cabinet, where he opened a door and peered inside. "Scrabble, Clue, Life, Monopoly, Yahtzee, chess, and checkers," he recited. Lisa lookd up.

"What?"

"Pick one."

"No."

"Lisa."

She sighed angrily. "You're like a toddler. Clue."

"Ooh, good one," he grinned and pulled it out. "I'm going to kick your ass."

Lisa shrunk back and Jackson laughed. "I'm kidding, Leese. I mean in the game."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm so used to the violent threats that I don't know what's serious anymore."

He just sighed and began setting it up on the hardwood floor. Lisa stared at him.

"Okay," he rolled the die. "Five. You go."

"Six. I go first." But Lisa didn't move. She sat staring at the board for a minute.

"Leese?"

"Is this how its going to be from now on?" she said quietly. "Are you seriously just going to pretend we don't have a lifetime of talking to do?"

Jackson sighed and set down his game piece. "You're right."