THE PLOT

But let's assume that Tommy Zeigler was so persuasive as to make all this happen exactly the way it had to happen.  How did this plot take shape?  When did it turn from vague musing to concrete preparations?

Zeigler must have settled on his course of action no later than Monday, December 22.  According to Edward Williams, that was when Zeigler first made the Christmas Eve appointment.  Then, for the next two days, Zeigler apparently did nothing to further his complicated plans.  He must have known that if his plot was to succeed, he would need at least one more credible "robber," yet there is no evidence that he approached anyone else until he saw Charlie Mays at the store, less than ten hours before the murders.

Apparently Zeigler decided on the spur of the moment that Mays would be a victim that night.  In spite of extensive publicity, no other people ever came forward and claimed that Zeigler tried to involve them at the store on Christmas Eve; nor is there any indication that Zeigler spoke to Charlie Mays about it until the 24th.

Why did Zeigler let these preparations go until the last few hours?  What would he have done if Mays hadn't walked into the store on Christmas Eve?  This is decidedly slipshod behavior for someone who is otherwise cunning and thorough.

It might be suggested that Williams wasn't part of the original plot, that the plot didn't exist until Christmas Eve, when Eunice said or did something that forced Zeigler's hand.  But this, too, is most unlikely.  If that were the case, Zeigler would have had to break the appointment with Williams.  He couldn't allow Williams just to sit in his driveway all evening, witness to the fact that Zeigler was elsewhere at 7:30.  Furthermore, Zeigler had a chance to break his appointment with Williams, when Williams came by the store around noon on Christmas Eve.  But Zeigler didn't break the appointment—he confirmed it.  So he must have known as early as Monday the 22nd that he was going to kill Eunice, the Edwardses, and Williams, and he must have known exactly how he was going to do it.

In light of that, Zeigler's actions on the afternoon of Christmas Eve are truly inexplicable.  Having gone to such lengths to set up Williams as a robber, Zeigler destroys all his preparations when he informs Curtis Dunaway that he's planning to meet Williams at 7:30. (Before they leave the store at closing, Zeigler further draws attention to him by specifically telling Dunaway to turn off the display lights, which he could just as easily have done himself, by waiting a minute or two until Dunaway drove away.)

According to Eagan's first closing argument, Zeigler intended to show up at the Van Deventer party after he had murdered five people: "If he had killed