In the Heat of the Night

Sam walks through the police station. He’s free to go, but he feels stuck—Enrico’s murderer is still at large. He goes to a café for dinner, where the manager says that working with a Black man must be difficult. Quickly, Sam defends Virgil and feels satisfied for sticking up for his colleague: “‘He’s smart as hell and he got me out of a jam.’ Sam was instantly proud of himself for standing up for the man who had stood up for him” (138). The manager calls Virgil the n-word, and Sam does not let this pass, insisting that Virgil is smarter than a lot of white men. Sam contemplates the case, hoping Virgil is right and that they’ll catch the killer tonight.

Night approaches. Sam and Virgil meet to go on their patrol. Sam wonders how Virgil can be confident that they’ll catch the killer, but Virgil remains tightlipped. He wants to let the night play out, rather than risk ruining anything. They talk about boxing and how painful it is, even for Black men, despite what Sam thought earlier. Virgil reveals that the men who attacked him were released without being charged thanks to the help of a councilman.