I agree, IMO it's just the first time they've been CAUGHT!
Right. The level of arrogance shown by the parties involved suggested that there was a script for how things were supposed to play out, and people sometimes stuck to the script even when it didn't make sense.
To use a murder-mystery-plot analogy, imagine the police catch someone breaking into a house in an apparent attempt to kill the woman. A few minutes later, her husband calls the police from a nearby town to report that he was just on the phone with his wife when she suddenly said she heard breaking glass and the line went dead. Attempted alibi suddenly becomes proof of guilt.