In the Heat of the Night (18 page)

“Virgil, let’s go back to the beginning. You’ve said several times I changed route on you that night. Why do you think so?”

“There’s nothing to that,” Tibbs replied. “The night we were together you detoured down a short stretch of dirt road. When I was waiting for you outside the diner a little after that, I noticed the dust the road had left on the car.”

“That’s not unusual,” Sam interrupted.

“Granted, but the night you picked me up at the railroad station, there was no dust on the car. That means you couldn’t have gone down that dirt road shortly before you picked me up.”

“Maybe you just didn’t notice the dust.”

“I noticed. Besides, I had a hunch the car had been washed that afternoon, and I later checked with the garage that maintains the official cars. Even a light film of dust would have been visible.”

“You mean when I arres— when I brought you in for questioning, you still took the time to notice how much dust there was on my car? You couldn’t, you were a little too scared at that point, Virgil.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Tibbs answered. “I simply kept my mouth shut until I knew what the score was. It was the only safe thing to do. But I kept my eyes open because I’m trained to do that.”

“Well, for example, how do you know that it hadn’t rained and settled the dust on that short stretch?” Sam persisted.

“I checked the weather-bureau records on that point.”

Silence took over once more. Sam digested the information he had just been given and decided that to hold out any longer would be not only foolish but probably useless. Whether he liked to admit it or not, Tibbs knew his business. Then Sam reflected that at least the man whose race had created a barrier he had found almost impossible to climb was on his side. That was a comforting thought. He decided to give Tibbs his reward.

“So far,” he admitted, “you’re right.”

“I wish you’d told me earlier, Sam,” Tibbs said more easily. “It would have saved a lot of time—your time, I mean.” To Sam’s surprise Tibbs rose to his feet. “For your information, I had a little talk with Mr. Purdy and his daughter Delores. I scared them pretty well with the prospect of medical examinations to uphold her story, then I made a date for them to come in here late this afternoon for an ‘examination.’ I didn’t say what kind. If I can get her to change her story in front of witnesses, then the charge against you goes out the window. When you’ve been proved innocent of that, the rest will be easier.”

For the first time Sam felt the desire to cooperate. “Virgil, maybe it would help if somehow you could find out who did knock her up. I know that’s asking a lot.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Virgil replied. “I think I already know the answer.”

When Bill Gillespie was told that Virgil Tibbs wanted to see him, he decided to keep Virgil waiting a few minutes just to keep him in his place. After what he considered a proper disciplinary period, he buzzed the intercom and said that he could come in.

Because of the delay, Tibbs walked into Gillespie’s office at almost the exact moment that George Endicott escorted Duena Mantoli into the lobby of the police station. Endicott was edgy about the call, but he realized he had a determined girl on his hands and he preferred to have the interview with Gillespie take place when he could at least exercise some control. He stepped to the desk. “We’d like to see Chief Gillespie,” he stated. “Is he free right now?”

Pete, knowing he was addressing a councilman and the wealthiest citizen of Wells, said, “You can go right in. Nobody’s with him but Virgil.”

They walked down the hall and George tapped on the side of the open door. Gillespie looked up, saw who it was, and said, “Come on in.”

Then he stood up when he saw Duena also appear in the doorway. “Sit down, please,” he invited after he had been introduced to the girl. “Virgil, run along and I’ll talk to you some other time.”

Virgil did not move to go. “What I have to say is fairly important, Chief Gillespie. Since Miss Mantoli and Mr. Endicott are here, perhaps it would be just as well if they heard it, too.”

Gillespie raised his fist to bang it on his desk. Backtalk he would not take from anyone, least of all a man who stood on the wrong side of the color line. Endicott saw it and quickly spoke first. “This sounds interesting. With your permission, Bill, I’d like to hear what Mr. Tibbs has to say.”

“So would I,” Duena added.

Gillespie could see no way out. Inwardly vowing a quick and deadly reprisal the moment he had Tibbs alone, he accepted temporary defeat. “As you wish, Mr. Endicott.”

They all sat down. “Before I begin,” Virgil said, “I’d like to ask that Sam Wood be brought in here to listen.” He looked at Gillespie. “Also Chief Gillespie may want to ask him some questions.”

Fuming and cornered, Gillespie flipped his intercom and gave an order; a few moments later Sam Wood was ushered into the room. Gillespie nodded silently toward a chair and Wood sat down. With a second nod Gillespie dismissed Arnold, who had brought the prisoner in. Still holding down a dangerous inner pressure, he stared hard at Tibbs. “All right, Virgil, you’d better make it good.”

Tibbs laced his fingers together and pressed them tightly. He stared at them for a second or two before he began speaking. “I’m going to start with the personality of a young woman, Delores Purdy.” He looked up. “Miss Purdy is the daughter of a visibly retarded man whose intellectual level and education are both substandard. I haven’t met her mother, but her family background, at the best, is lacking.”

“I know all this,” Gillespie snapped.

Tibbs waited a moment and then went on. “Delores Purdy is eighteen years old; she passes for sixteen so she will not be scoffed at in school for being two grades behind the point where she should be. The fact that she is actually eighteen puts her over the age of consent, so any question of statutory rape is eliminated right there.

“Now Miss Purdy has one characteristic which has ap peared on the police records quite clearly. She is an exhibitionist. For some reason she has the idea that her body is enchanting and likely to provide an unqualified thrill to anyone who sees it—anyone male, that is. It is fairly common in girls of her age who feel, in one way or another, that they have been deprived of social acceptance. They believe they can overcome this handicap by sensational conduct, irresistible to males.”

He looked up to see how Duena was taking his words. She showed frank interest; so did the other three men. He went on. “The most common thing that happens is that a girl in these circumstances gives herself to a man in the hope of attaching him to her for the sake of her physical advantages. Sometimes it works, sometimes it simply brings about a further rejection.

“According to Harvey Oberst, who is a little older than she is, she displayed herself to him without his even asking for that favor. I believe this is so because of two supporting pieces of evidence. The first is her visit here to file a complaint against Mr. Wood. It is a serious matter to come into a police station to make an accusation against a popular and respected officer. But instead of being in the least upset, she had on figure-revealing clothes and wore her brassiere in such a way that it pushed her breasts up in an unnatural and highly conspicuous position. That is not the action of a modest girl who has been violated.”

Tibbs paused and waited a moment, but none of his four hearers showed any signs of interrupting him.

“Now we come to the matter of Mr. Wood. On the night of the murder, Mr. Wood drove his police car past the Purdy home. This was entirely consistent with careful performance of his duty; he had already covered almost every other part of the city and for him to patrol this area was both his privilege and his obligation. He went past a few minutes after three in the morning. He has not told me what took place at that moment, but I can guess. A few nights later, when I was riding with him, Mr. Wood pointedly avoided driving past the Purdy house; not knowing why, I jumped to the conclusion that he had something to conceal. My faith in him was shaken for a time; I was wrong, and for thinking that of him, I apologize.”

“How did you know where the Purdys live?” Gillespie asked.

“Harvey Oberst mentioned it when I interviewed him here a few days ago, and I checked for myself with the records.”

Gillespie nodded that he was satisfied.

“Now putting the pieces together as far as we have them, here is what happened as closely as I can reconstruct it. At some time in the recent past, Miss Purdy was indiscreet with a man of her acquaintance and ended up either pregnant or believing she might be. Who that man is is not important at the moment, except that she couldn’t or didn’t want to marry him. Believing herself to be ‘in trouble,’ she did what many young women have done—she looked around for someone to blame who would be unable to defend himself positively and who would be a more desirable temporary husband or source of obstetrical and child-care expenses. Fortunately this variation on the old badger game is thoroughly understood in police circles so that the unsupported word of a girl is seldom taken at its face value without some sort of supporting evidence. Of course, Mr. Gillespie knows this well.

“Miss Purdy knew that Mr. Wood patrolled the city at night on the graveyard shift and therefore it could be believed that he had made one or more stops at her house during the year that the Purdys have lived in Wells. Secondly, she knew that he was unmarried and therefore might be trapped into marriage. Lastly, she was attracted to him, at least to a degree, as evidenced by the fact that she revealed herself to him at least once during his nightly rounds, probably in such a way as to make it appear an accident. It would be my guess that this had happened more than once, but not often enough to arouse the suspicion of a conscientious police officer.” Tibbs looked at Sam Wood. “I don’t want to embarrass you, Mr. Wood, especially in Miss Mantoli’s presence, but can you confirm that?”

Sam took a moment to find the words. Then all he said was, “Yes.”

“Now comes a matter of probability,” Tibbs went.on.
“If
Mr. Wood were guilty of accepting the attentions of such women, or inviting them, this tendency probably would have been visible at some time during the three preceding years that he has been guarding this city at night.
This
is not completely true, because people who have always led exemplary lives have been known to commit murder or run off with bank funds without warning. However, Mr. Wood is a bachelor, with the right, therefore, to invite young women out in as great a variety as he chooses; if he had been inclined to take advantage of an unschooled girl, he probably would not enjoy the very good personal reputation that he has in Wells. No one knows a man’s standing better than his bank, and the bank where he transacts business thinks very highly of Mr. Wood; they told me so.

“Summing up,” Virgil said, taking a deep breath, “concerning the charge Delores Purdy made against Mr. Wood, I think it’s a damn lie.”

“Could you make her admit it?” George Endicott asked.

The intercom buzzed.

Bill Gillespie flipped the switch. “Mr. Purdy and his daughter are here to see you,” the voice came through.

Gillespie carefully scanned the faces of the four people before him. “Bring them in,” he instructed, “and bring a couple of chairs with you.”

There was a tense quiet in the office while the footsteps of the Purdys could be heard coming down the hall. Everybody watched the doorway.

Delores came first. Her steps were short and slow. Her father’s face was as hatchet hard as before, and the lines around his mouth seemed to have been etched even deeper. Arnold, who was behind them, came through the doorway sideways, juggling two chairs, which he set in position. No one spoke until he had left.

“Sit down,” Gillespie invited.

Purdy nodded toward Tibbs. “Get him out of here,” he ordered.

Gillespie appeared to grow taller in his chair. “He stays,” he said, and motioned toward the chairs. The Purdys sat down.

“I ain’t gonna talk with no nigger in the room,” Delores announced.

Gillespie ignored her. “We have quite a bit of routine to put both of you through,” he told the Purdys. “The medical part of it may take some time. Is there anything you’d like to tell me before we get started?”

There was a long silence. Gillespie leaned back and his chair creaked under his weight. Then the room was quiet again.

Delores squirmed in her chair and smoothed her skirt with her hands. “I guess maybe I made a mistake,” she said finally.

“You told us about that last time,” Gillespie answered.

Delores waited for her slow mind to find the words she wanted. “I mean I guess maybe it wasn’t him.”

“You mean Mr. Wood?” Gillespie asked.

“Yeah, him.”

Purdy cleared his throat and took the floor. “You see, Delores, she don’t sleep so good at night sometimes. She seen the police car come past and she knowed who was in it. Then when she went to sleep after that she dreamed about him and that’s just what give her the idea.” ”You mean,” the chief said, “your daughter saw Mr. Wood in the patrol car and then just dreamed that he had had relations with her?”

The muscles of Purdy’s jaw worked before he answered. “Yeah, something like that,” he said.

Gillespie tilted forward. “I find it pretty hard to believe a girl like Delores would dream so vividly about a thing like that that she would come down here and file a formal complaint. If she’d been a few months younger she could have put a man in danger of his life.”

“Well, she ain’t,” Purdy snapped. “She’s old enough to do as she pleases.”

“Now I don’t have to be examined, huh?” Delores asked.

“No,” Gillespie answered. “If you and your father state here before witnesses that the charges you placed against Mr. Wood were in error, then there is no need for a physical examination.”

“You couldn’t now, anyway,” Delores added.

Duena Mantoli made a slight noise, then the room was quiet again.

It was Virgil Tibbs who broke it. “You showed great courage in coming here this evening,” he said to Delores. “Lots of girls wouldn’t have been willing to do it.”