Q (HADLEY): Are you acquainted with the reputation of Mr. Thomas Hale for truth and veracity in the community?

A: (BARKER): Yes, sir.

Q: What is that reputation?

A: Well, he has a tendency to sometimes lie and exaggerate.

Q: On the tendency to exaggerate, do you know why he likes this to happen?

A: Yes sir, he likes to  have a lot of attention, to make himself look bigger, more important.

Q: Does he have a reputation for lying?

A: Yes, sir.

Philip Cross, one of Don Ficke's two volunteer deputies on Christmas Eve, testified that he saw one car—apparently the Edwardses' Ford—parked in front of the furniture store a couple of minutes after 8:00 P.M. He said that he placed the time exactly because he looked at this watch shortly before he drove past. (According to Don Frye's time line, this was when Zeigler was killing Charlie Mays, so the Dunaway car should have been parked out front.)

Cross also described entering the store with the original "search party" that went in looking for Mays.

Q. (HADLEY): Were the light on when you went in?

A (CROSS): No, sir, they were not.

Q: Did you have a flashlight?

A: No, sir, I did not.

Q: Describe how you proceeded into the store.

A: We proceeded—there was myself, Richard Sims, Officer Yawn, Chief Ficke, and Chief Thompson. Officer Yawn, chief Ficke, and Chief Thompson were out to the front.  Mr. Sims and myself were kind of to the rear of those three backing them up.

Q: Now, Mr. Cross, throughout the time you were in the store, were there periods where you were walking where you couldn't see where you were going?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: Is it possible, sir, that you may have in the darkness kicked or moved objects around without seeing them?

A: That would have been possible, yes, sir.

Hadley for the first time addressed the issue of the insurance when he called Ted Van Deventer, who testified that he had drawn wills for Tommy and Eunice.  Each was the other's main beneficiary and executor.  Tom and Beulah were the alternate beneficiaries of both wills.