In the Heat of the Night

either.”
    He turned toward the door. “I’ve got a job to finish a nd I’m getting near to the end. If you’ll excuse me, I've got to get back to work.”
    To Tibbs’s surprise, Gillespie got up and walked down the corridor with him. “Virgil,” he said when they were by themselves, “I think you’re smart enough to know you’ve got to get out of this town. Tonight you were lucky. Next time somebody may take a shot at you and that you can’t duck. I’m giving you my advice—get out of here before I’ve got another murder on my hands. I’ll tell them in Pasadena you did a good job for me.”
    “I’ll get out, Chief Gillespie,” Virgil answered, “but not until I have delivered Mantoli’s murderer to you together with the proof of his guilt. I’ve got to do that first; perhaps you understand why.”
    “I won’t be responsible,” Gillespie said.
    “That’s all right,” Tibbs acknowledged, and hurried through the lobby.

    DuenaMantoli sat in the quiet of the early evening in the high lookout where, a few days before, Sam Wood had perched stiffly beside her. Now she was alone, looking out over the silent parade of the mountains trying to sort out her thoughts. She knew now that Sam Wood stood accused of seducing a sixteen- year-old girl, the daughter of an almost illiterate laborer.
    Although she did not want to do so, she coldly compared herself to what she imagined the other girl to be. Then, with mounting shame, she saw herself standing on tiptoe in a jail cell to press her kiss on the lips of the man in whom she had found a sudden faith. That faith was gone now, which made her action, in retrospect, something cheap and vulgar. She folded her arms about herself and knew she had been a fool. It was hopeless to assume that breeding and what is called common decency could ever stamp out the basic instincts of sexual drive. Sam Wood was a big, strong man and he was unmarried. The girl, whoever she was, had been able to give him animal gratification.
    Duena shuddered and tears of anger came to he* eyes. She continued to sit there until Endicott, worried, came down to find her and take her back.

    * * *

    It was a little after nine on Saturday morning when Delores Purdy answered the doorbell. She preened herself for a moment first, because a girl could never tell who might be there. When she swung the door open and looked into the dark-skinned face of Virgil Tibbs, her mood changed abruptly. “Niggers go to the back door,” she snapped.
    “This one doesn’t,” Tibbs said. “I came to see your father.”
    “Don’t you come in the door,” she ordered, and then shut it in his face. A minute later, it was reopened by Purdy with an expression of profound distaste on his face. “Get away from here,” he said. “We don’t want you ’round.”
    “You don’t have any choice,” Tibbs told him, and calmly walked in. “I’m from police headquarters and I’ve come to talk to you and your daughter.”
    “I know who you are,” Purdy snarled. “Now get out of here fast or I’ll break you in two.”
    “If you try that,” Tibbs retorted, “I won’t be responsible for what happens to you. Two other guys tried it last night.”
    “Yeah, I heard tell. You and your pal jumped ’em at night and beat ’em up with tire irons. One of ’em is in the hospital.”
    “If you don’t want to join him, shut up and sit down,” Tibbs commanded. “I’ve had about all I’m going to take of ignorant back talk from you or anybody else. You came in and filed charges; “I’m here to talk about them.”
    “Ain’t nothing more to say,” Purdy said. “And no nigger is gonna sit down in my front parlor.”
    Tibbs walked in and sat down. “I came here to help you keep out of prison,” he said.
    Delores entered. “Pa, make him go away,” she demanded.
    "I’ll go when I’m ready,” Tibbs said. “Before I’m through talking to you, you’ll both know that my coming here was the luckiest thing that could have happened to you.”
    “Niggers bring bad luck,” Delores said.
    “Mr. Purdy,” Tibbs began, assuming a conference had begun, “you and your daughter came to the station and told us that somebody had done her wrong. Now it’s our job to see that she’s taken care of, that the man is punished, and that her reputation is protected.”
    ”Sam Wood done her wrong,” Purdy said.
    Tibbs nodded as though he believed it. “So you told us. Of course, Chief Gillespie was very surprised;