In the Heat of the Night

more easily. “It would have saved a lot of time—your time, 1 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 i s 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. Back* talk he would not take from anyone, least of all a man w ho 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 ¿one, 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 appeared 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