Zeigler's neighbor Ed Reeves gave his testimony about the dark car in the driveway at 75 Temple Grove.  He admitted under cross-examination that he could give no other description, but he told Eagan that it was certainly not a pickup truck.

None of these witnesses testified for more than a few minutes, and Eagan cross-examined them briefly or not at all.  At one point Hadley needed a recess because he had used all the witnesses he had prepared for the morning session.  The effect this rapid pace may have had on the jury can only be speculated; in transcript, though, the testimony seems perfunctory.  And the quick tempo continued: Hadley now called his ninth and tenth witnesses, whose testimony was critical.

Madelyn Nolan, was the sister-in-law of Ed Nolan, who had sworn in a deposition that he had opened the door for Williams at the Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Ed Nolan by now was dead of cancer, and Hadley had decided against using his deposition, but Madelyn Nolan now testified about the same incident, and her words had disturbing implications for the state's case.

She said that on Christmas Eve she and her husband were at their home in Winter Garden until about 9:15, when they left to drive to her mother's house, where she was going to help prepare Christmas dinner.

They drove south on Dillard, she said.  Her husband was at the wheel.

Q (HADLEY): Would you tell us what happened?

A (MADELYN NOLAN): A car pulled out in front of us and went up into the Zeigler Furniture Store.  We turned into the tag place [a state auto licensing office] because we almost collided.

Q: Now, you described a tag place.  That is the buildings in the area [the Tucker Building] that are located immediately next door to the Zeigler Furniture Store?

A: That's right.

Q: What did you do then?

A: Well, we saw it was a policeman.  We didn't say anything.

Q: Was your husband a little mad because he had almost been hit?

A: That’s right.

Q: Where did you pull up over here in the tag agency?

A: Facing Zeigler's Furniture Store.

She described seeing another car pull up at the store.  Two men opened the door to the furniture store, and a third man came out and got in one of the cars: this was surely the moment that Don Ficke and Robert Thompson arrived at the store, and Thompson took the wounded Tommy Zeigler to his patrol car.