Why didn't the PJ insist on a reconstruction to clarify the timeline before they made the McCanns arguidos instead of treating it as an afterthought when all other avenues of possible prosecution had failed?
Having given some thought to that ... perhaps it is the difference between inefficient cop and efficient cop.
Amaral should have and could have called for a reconstruction as soon as it could be arranged while many people who were in the resort on the 3rd were still in situ.
In a holiday town with a transient population speed before people moved on would have been essential.
One definite advantage would have been that the Smith family might have remembered their encounter and realised its significance earlier than the fortnight it took for the realisation to dawn on Peter.
Kate and Gerry were constituted arguidos by the Amaral investigation.
On taking over the investigation Rebelo did what should have been done initially. He personally went back to the root of the case starting at Apartment 5.
He tried to arrange a reconstruction because that is what should have been done but was not by the first investigation. I think he was between a rock and a hard place with that particularly as the Portuguese notion of a reconstitution differs from our model and neither the twain shall meet.
Although the Amaral Documentary had no problem with reconstruction and the opportunity to show copious clinking of glasses among empty bottles and portray a parody of the parent's grief.