before saying, "mike, you don't know how much damage you've done to the morale in the police department," and all this. >> if you're seeing the cops giving you and the family some attitude, you think you understand why >> that's what i thought sure sure i understood it. yeah of course, they're pissed at me. [ laughs ] i got -- i got it. >> reporter: but, he says, one of his sons read the police's behavior differently he thought the police were zeroing in on his father from the get-go >> he immediately called my brother, his uncle, who is an attorney in reno and said -- "uh uncle bill, kathleen's dead. they think mike did it." >> and my brother got on the phone. and he said, "i'm representing michael peterson, do not talk to him. >> reporter: michael's daughters were also worried. they knew very well their father relished being the provocateur and now the police were swarming their house. walking the yard looking under bushes and trees >> i remember feeling that something was going badly with the police >> reporter: michael called a family meeting