have a bad argument, curt? did it get out of hand? did you snap and then put a pillow over her nose and mouth and suffocate her? >> no. no, i -- there -- there were no bad arguments the night before. um, it's -- it's exactly what -- what i've told detective baird in 2006. and what i told detective gibson in 2014, and what i'm telling you now. that -- that is what happened. she was sick and i came home and i found her that morning. and she was dead in bed. >> reporter: it was clear the detective's strategy hadn't yielded what he wanted, a confession. >> i have a problem with you not remembering all of these things. >> reporter: the lawyer's goal of talking his way out of trouble hadn't exactly worked, either. even after he agreed, curtis says, to take a lie detector test. in a short time, he was swapping out his buttoned downed shirt and leather loafers for a very different courthouse look. jail house black and white stripes.