Tibbs shrugged. "OK, then."
The search occupied the next five to ten minutes. At the end of that time the man who had been interviewing Tibbs finally looked up satisfied. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said. tr›'ing to conceal a certain disappointment.
"That's quite all right," Virgil told him. "We don't mind in the least And you did search very well. Next time check up under the dash and don't forget the undersides of the fenders as well. That's a hiding place that's been used quite a bit lately."
The officer straightened up and looked at him. *'What did you say that your name was?"
"I don't recall that you asked me."
"All right, m ask-what is your name?"
"Tibbs."
"And where are you from, Mr. Tibbs?"
"Pasadena."
"I see." He took his time, several seconds of it, quite deliberately. "That would be Mr. Virgil Tibbs, I take it."
"Remarkable," Tibbs said. "You amaze me."
"I go to the movies sometimes. I seem to recall, though, that you were supposed to be from Philadelphia."
"No way."
The officer relaxed. "OK, it's on us-we get days like this every now and then."
Virgil laughed. He let his head go back, and some of the tension that had been building up for hours ebbed out of him. "We're buying the coffee," he said, "if there's a decent place where we won't be spotted.'*
"There is, Virgil, believe it or not It's a couple of miles: follow us."
The all-night stand was the ultimate in unsophistication, but the coffee was hot and exceUent. The pastry was fresh and better than would be expected, so for the next half hour the four men sat together and exchanged shop talk. Why did you stop us?" Bob asked. "We saw you while you were waiting for the light We've had the word that there's a highly dangerous new narcotic out on the street and to stop it at all costs. The only information we have to go on is that the distributor is supposed to be a Chinese. So considering the hour and the location, you looked like a good prospect"
Bob nodded. "You were alert. When I heard them talking about Chinamen, I wondered if I might get elected somewhere along the line. Not everyone can teU the difference-very few, as a matter of fact."
One of the uniformed officers stood up. "We've got to get back to work," he said. "It's a bad night; several drugstores have been broken into and four or five doctors' offices have been hit. It's going to get worse."
Presently the two cars pulled away from the all-night restaurant: the patrol car to go back into the Central Avenue district, the ancient Chevrolet to return up the freeway mto Pasadena. "Virgil," Bob asked, when they were well on their way, "do you see any light in this thing at all?"
"Some,' Tibbs replied. "I got one idea tonight that may lead to something. We didn't waste our time-and thanks for your help."
"I didn't do anything."
"Oh yes you did; if I'd been alone it would have been a different story." He lapsed into silence then and remained that way unta Bob dropped him off in front of his apartment. He was bone tired by then, too tired to even think anymore. He undressed, stored his work clothes in a comer of his closet, and contemplated a shower to wash off the last traces of the area where they had been. He was too exhausted even for that, instead he crawled into bed and yielded immediately to sleep.
When he awoke his mood had changed. Frustration was beginning to eat away at his composure; he felt strongly
that his progress was too slow. After breakfast he set out to interview all of the neighbors of the late Mr. Wang.
His first six calls were nonproductive. Experience had taught him that in work of that kind it was necessary for him to identify himself immediately, otherwise the reactions he got were usually hostile. It was not particularly because of his color; the plethora of door-to-door salesmen who kept the homeowners of Pasadena under steady attack had built up a determined resistance to any kind of unexpected callers. At each of the six houses he had been accepted as a pohce officer after he had produced his credentials, but at only two of them was he invited inside. One housewife had kept him standing during the interview, but the other not only asked him to sit down, but also offered him tea.
"Our home was robbed a little over a year ago," she explained, "and your people were so helpful. And Mr. Thistle, I still remember his name, he caught the man who did it and got back our color TV for us. So anything I can do to help, please just ask me."
Despite her willingness, she had nothing to offer that was pertinent. She told how the neighborhood had been upset when "a Chinaman" had moved in, and how that feeling had dissipated when it had become evident that nothing was going to go to rack and ruin as a result. She herself had never met the man, but he had a reputation for very quiet living and impeccable conduct. She knew about Yumeko, but had assumed along with everyone else, apparently, that she was his daughter. It had helped that the few caUers that Mr. Wang had been observed receiving had all been Caucasians, which dispelled the suspicion that an opium den was operating in the area. Virgil finished his tea, thanked her, and continued his rounds.
Just before lunch he had his first tangible result; the woman who received him apparently was glad to have someone to talk to. Unlike the others whom Tibbs had interviewed, she had not reconciled herself to having an Oriental for a neighbor. "I can't say anything against him really," she declared, "but of course you know how they are-not being white people and all that." She hesitated. "I'm sorry if I offended you, but you do know-of course. Well, a while ago that girl went to five with him. She's a strange one, never shows her face and keeps the draperies closed all the time. I don't know what goes on in there, but I'm not surprised that you're asking. And these Chinamen coming and going all the time." 104
"How many Oriental people were there altogether?" Tibbs asked.
"Well, there was the old man himself, the girl of course, and there was a boy-a servant, I expect. He went to the supermarket all the time-I've seen him buying food there. But there were others. I saw two Chinamen going in there not many days ago."
"Could you describe them?"
"Who can describe Chinamen! Just two of them, that's all. They had on business suits and came together, that's all I can tell you."
"Did you happen to notice what kind of a car they were driving?"
"Well, yes-it was a new car and light-colored. I don't know what brand it was, they all look so much ahke nowadays."
"One more thing," Tibbs said. "Since you are very observant, you might have noticed this. Was either of the men carrying anything when they went into the house-or when they came out? Say a box, for example."
She shook her head. "I'm quite certain that they didn't take anything in or out. One of them might have had a briefcase or something like that, but nothing bigger. I just happened to be looking out of my window, to see if the postman was coming, when I saw them."
When he was satisfied that there was nothing more to be learned for the moment, Virgil thanked her and left. He made five more calls after that and on one of them obtained confirmation of the two Chinese who had been seen calling on Mr. Wang. Despite this, the finding was not too significant, in fact it was more than reasonable that Mr. Wang would have had Chinese callers from time to time. He went back to his office with the feeling that while he had not learned very much, at least he had disposed of an obvious duty and one which was part of a great many investigative procedures.
In the early afternoon he was back in court once more to give evidence; he sat there for almost three hours and was not called to the stand. When he finally got away, the day was effectively gone. It didn't help matters when he found on his return that a fresh pile of paper work had been left on his desk. He wrestled with it until it was well past quitting time and then, emancipated at last, he went out, got into his car, and went home.