Mays and Zeigler left Thomas there and drove back to where the van was parked, at the high fence behind the motel.  Thomas pulled the switch and went around to join them there.

And then Zeigler did a curious thing. He said, “What the hell, I’ll just crack a window,” and climbed the fence and jumped down into the rear parking lot of the furniture store. 

Q:  Okay, now you said Mr. Zeigler owned the place, right?

A:  Right.

Q:  Okay, but he wanted to hop the fence and break, break a window to get in.

A:  Yes sir.

Q:  Did he tell you why he wanted to do it that way?

A:  He said because the, the, the, the guy was in Apopka[2] and said cause Charlie wanted his TV tonight for, for his wife because tomorrow was Christmas.        

Zeigler urged Mays and Thomas to follow him over the fence.

 Mays did, reluctantly.  Thomas stayed beside the van on the motel side of the fence.  Zeigler picked up a piece of pipe and swung it against a back window of the store.

This frightened Mays, who climbed back over the fence.

 “I ain’t going for no shit like that,” Mays said.  “I don’t need it like that.”

 “Well, hell,” Zeigler said, “I’ll go to the house, I think I got an extra key.”

They drove to Zeigler’s house and up a driveway[3].  Thomas saw a pickup truck and a car parked in front of the garage.

Zeigler went into the garage and came back with a key and a box of bullets.  He gave the bullets to Mays and told him to reload the gun.  Mays did.

They left and drove back to the furniture store, where they parked out front.

The store was dark, and Mays was nervous.  Mays said that he would walk around and bring the truck out front.  But Zeigler said no, first they would go in and bring the television to the front door.

Zeigler and Mays got out of the car.  They were about to enter the front door when Zeigler turned and said, “Come on, Tom, we need your help.  Come on, Tom.”

But Thomas was frightened.  He didn’t like the dark store.  He told Zeigler: “You cut on some light, I’ll go in there.”

 “If you’re not coming in,” Zeigler said, “just sit back in the car.”

But Felton Thomas had seen enough.  He watched Mays and Zeigler walk in the dark store, then he got out of the Cadillac and crossed Dillard Street to the shopping center.  There he met his friends leaving the TG&Y store, and they gave

[2]    An Orange County town about fifteen miles north of Winter Garden.

[3]    In the interview, Thomas described a roundabout route from the store to the city limits of Oakland and then to Temple Grove Drive.