"He came over to my house," Reiner says, that bitterness more prominent now. "I assumed he was there to talk about something else. But then he dropped a damn bomb.

"I was too stunned to be angry at him. And it was…" He trails off, then exhales slowly. "… I don't think he cared if I wanted to know. He felt guilty for killing— … someone important to me."

He won't say Bertholdt's name, not wanting to reveal what his partner may want to keep secret.

"So he decided to confess. That was that."