agreed to meet him at the store later that evening.  Charlie Mays and Tommy Zeigler would meet one more time.

*

The afternoon wound down, dusk began to fall.

Sunset was at 5:35 p.m., full darkness about half an hour later.  The moon would not rise until after midnight.  The skies were clear.  The night would be cool, about forty degrees. 

Winter Garden was about to be shattered.

Nearly everyone had plans.  Edward Williams later testified that he intended to spend the evening with friends in Orlando.  Curtis Dunaway’s two brothers and their families would be visiting him and his mother.  Beulah Zeigler was going to attend the 7:30 candlelight service at First Baptist, then prepare food at home.  The two police chiefs, Don Ficke and Robert Thompson, had been invited to attend an open-house party at the home of Ted and Mary Van Deventer, in Winter Garden.  Ted Van Deventer was a local attorney and the municipal judge for the nearby communities of Oakland, Ocoee, and Windermere.

One of Van Deventer’s friends and clients was Tommy Zeigler.  Tommy and Eunice were expected at the party.

First, however, Eunice and her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, planned to attend the 7:30 service at First Baptist.  On the way to the church they were going to stop by the furniture store and pick out the La-Z-Boy that they would be bringing home to Moultrie. 

A little after six, Beulah Zeigler decided to close the store.  Her husband had gone home earlier in the afternoon.  Curtis Dunaway noted the time on the large electrical clock that hung on the wall beside the service counter.  Closing took about ten minutes.  Dunaway put the day’s cash receipts into an envelope, which he locked inside a combination safe.

Usually four overhead lights were kept burning at night, showcasing the merchandise in the front windows.  But tonight Tommy Zeigler told Dunaway to turn off those lights.  There would still be some illumination in the store, including two lamps on the floor and one near the service counter.

Curtis and Beulah went out the front door and locked it.  Their cars were parked in the front lot.  Tommy Zeigler went out the back of the building, where his gold-colored pickup truck was parked.

Beulah Zeigler stopped for groceries at a Thriftway Store across the street from the Baptist church.  By the time she was finished shopping, she knew that she wouldn’t have time to go home and change clothes.  She picked up a friend and went directly to the church.