Harold entered wearing a dark suit.

For a brief second, he looked like the familiar grandfather from birthday photographs.

Then he saw us and fixed Brian with a stare I’d watched silence him for years.

Brian looked away, not in surrender but by choice.

The prosecutor described the evidence then available: the altered cream, the packaging and materials collected from the property, the timing shown by security footage, and witness statements.

Harold’s defense challenged the inferences, questioned who had access to the house, and insisted that no conclusion should be drawn from his refusal to speak without counsel.