In the Heat of the Night (1988) s01e03 Episode Script

1
In the heat of the night
I've got troubles wall to wall
in the heat of the night
must be an ending to it all
oh
but hold on
it won't be long
just you be strong
and it'll be all right
in the heat of the night
in the heat of the night
oh
[Gunshots]
[Gunshots continue firing]
He went by here, moving towards the railroad tracks.
Where are you at, chief? I mean,
where'd you hear the shots from?
What's the difference where I heard the shots from?
The whole town heard them, moving south to north.
He's at the girlfriend's.
[Gunshots]
Sparta, Mississippi, thinks it's dodge city all over again.
Come on, baby, don't be so hard on the town.
You think I'm being too tough on it?
Virgil, they had 35 murders around here last year,
all but six with guns.
Deer rifles, pistols, shotguns.
Where'd you get that, reader's digest?
[Chuckles]
That cop, junior what's-his-name.
Junior talks too much. Parker, who's out there?
What an awful place this is.
Just some drunk.
Your friend the cop can handle it, I'm sure.
Bubba's not on duty tonight.
You sure keep track of him, don't you?
[Chuckles] Why in the world do
you think you have to be jealous
of Bubba Skinner is more than I can see.
You're all I want, Sonny.
What the hell happened last night, bill?
Some guy went riding around, shot up the town.
I got my men going around
trying to find out if anybody got hurt.
I sure hope not.
Now, you know for a deer gun, I
don't think you can do better than that.
It's what I use, myself.
[Brakes screech]
[Horn honks]
I believe that's your wife outside, Sonny.
Uh, look them all over, bill.
I'll be right back.
[Horn honks]
It's all right. It's all right, honey. I'm here.
[Slurring] Do you know that Harold and Mary Lou
just bought an airplane, a four-seater?
They don't have to drive to Memphis anymore.
They can just jump in the cessna, zip on up,
and land on mud island and be practically downtown.
[Gasps] Harold and Mary Lou,
for god's sake, he runs a feed store.
Well, I own a store too, honey.
There's nothing wrong with that.
[Laughs] Actually, I own the store.
And we are absolutely the last people in town
who don't have an airplane, Sonny.
Can we talk about this over supper?
Well, you're never on time for supper.
I will be tonight. I promise.
[Horn honks]Hey, watch where you're going, lady!
Well, Margaret, I happen to be driving out your way.
And I'd take it very kindly if you'd keep me company.
I'll let you off at your place.
Come on, now. Come on.
I'm fine. Bill, really, I'm fine.
I know it. We're going to keep you fine.
So, I had no choice but to leave my car there
and be seen driving home with bill Gillespie.
What is that, aurelia?
What miss pauline ordered.
More roadkill, miss pauline?
I am sure breaded possum
is a real gourmet treat
back home in itawamba county.
It's veal, lady Margaret.
And I'm from tupelo, in Lee county,
as you well know.
Aurelia.
Yes, ma'am.
From now on, you serve me,
then Mr. Sonny,
and then miss pauline, you hear?
Yes, ma'am.
I just wanted to make sure
that we are all served
in the order of our financial contribution
to the household.
Well, now, your cousin makes a contribution, lady Margaret.
She does all the shopping, she rides herd on aurelia.
Oh, she must be simply exhausted.
I know I am.
If you all excuse me,
I've had an impossible day.
I remember when I was about 10 years old.
We had this big family get-together.
She treated me like dirt then,
and she still does.
I got an appointment with parnell Bennett.
I'm going to tell him to get a divorce started.
Can he get you half of everything?
The land, the store, the cash?
I don't care anymore.
I just want to get clear.
I love you, pauline.
I wish I could see some way
for us to be together.
I mean really together,
secure, happy
Come here.
[Indistinct conversations]
Officer Jamison tells us you had some trouble last night.
Well, it wouldn't hardly be a night
down here without a little trouble,
wouldn't it, miss elnora?
This was different. It was a white man, she said.
You know, I never seen no white man down here before,
not no customer.
You used to come down every now and then,
but that was to close me down.
Well, now, miss elnora, that
was just in the way of business,
yours and mine.
Excuse me. Miss, this white man,
somebody you knew?
Big city got you mighty impatient, son.
Talking take time.
Scooter, bring these gentlemen some lemonade.
You'll join me, won't you?
No, ma'am, I don't believe I will.
I believe I will, miss elnora. Thank you.
Ma'am, who was this white man?
I don't know. I'd never seen him, this white man.
Well, was he drunk when he arrived?
Yes, he was.
Did you serve him?
Are you kidding? And break the law?
[Laughter]
They say he left in a light-colored pickup truck.
Didn't get any plates.
This pickup, did it have a gun rack?
[Laughs] Of course it did.
Don't they all?
Virgil, have some lemonade.
[Faint voices] [Faint laughter]
Everybody, everybody in my entire family warned me.
Every last one of mother's relatives
said I would live to regret
the day I took pauline Slade into my home.
Oh, yes. Cousin pauline, where is your gratitude?
[Imitating drunk] Lady Margaret took you in
out of the goodness of her tiny black heart.
Get out!
Get out of my house!
Margaret, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Come on now. Come on, come on. Come on, honey.
[Crying]
It's all right.
Honey, just
Get out.
I can't believe what I saw.
Get out.
The sight of you makes me sick.
You happen to know how many pickups
with gun racks there are in this town?
Or do you take it for granted, like miss
elnora, that they're standard equipment?
I have the highest respect for miss elnora's opinion.
Chief, the mayor wants to see you.
Winona prill was on the phone to me
at 7:30 this morning.
Now, I've had noisy rich women
calling my office all day and you know,
you know that win on a put them up to it.
I suppose that shooter went by her place last night.
Chief, now, you got to help me with her. I mean, she
She wants me to disarm this town. Can you believe that?
Pretty radical.
Radical? It's political suicide!
And if I don't, she's quitting politics
and withdrawing all financial support.
Now, I don't understand her.
I mean, in all reason, one man shooting from a pickup truck
has got nothing to do with gun control!
Maybe it has something to do with
pickup control. Should we look into that?
[Laughs]
Uh, mayor, now, I wanna assure you
we're doing everything we can
to find that truck and the guy who was driving it.
Well, that's fine. That's just fine.
You just see that you got
an arrest report on my desk
by the time my office opens tomorrow morning.
You can't leave.
I can't stay.
All right, we'll go together.
She'll divorce you and take you to the cleaners.
[Scoffs] She's gonna do that anyway, after tonight.
No, she won't. She'll blame me, not you.
And I'll leave and she'll hold it over
your head for the rest of your life.
I don't have a life without you, pauline.
Oh, Sonny.
I'll send for the rest of my things.
I swear, I'd kill her if there was any way
to do it clear.
[Gun firing]
[Camera clicking]
I was scared, Bubba.
I know. I know.
You heard the shots?
Of course she did. They woke her up.
Then I take it you were asleep at the time,
in your room.
Where else do you reckon?
Were you alone? You're on thin ice, Virgil.
So are you.
Bubba. Would you wait outside for me, please?
Yes, sir.
How does it seem to you?
Here's this aristocratic white woman
sitting in front of a window
in the dead of night wearing practically nothing.
Say anything like that again about my wife again,
I'll feed you your face.
Hold it. Hold it, now, Sonny.
Come on, now.
You and I've known each other long time.
This man didn't mean anything by that.
He's just a police officer doing his job.
Now settle down, please.
No! No, I don't want to hear anymore about that!
I want to hear about finding whoever
it was shot up the town last night.
Chief, our job is to find the person
that killed that woman.
Well, I'm telling you it's one and the same person.
That Sonny mims can't help you with that.
Chief, in any homicide investigation,
you begin with the family.
And it's been my observation that the surviving spouse
is always the best place to start.
Surviving spouse. Good god.
I can imagine what it was like
to live 20 years with that hopeless alcoholic.
By the way, you talk about why a woman would sit that way
in front of an open window, that's
kinda damn fool thing drunks do.
A person gets edgy after 20
years of putting up with a drunk.
Edgy? The man was sick at heart.
I'm going to tell you one more time.
Sonny mims cannot help you
in your investigation of this woman's death.
How long has the cousin been living there?
Well, I can see where you're going with that.
Pauline, pauline is a whole other issue.
You wanna find out anything about pauline,
ask Bubba. There he is, ask him. Come on, now, chief.
Pauline isn't interested in Sonny mims,
she's got her hooks into Bubba.
Now, you hold on there, chief.
You don't even know her.
You got no call to talk about her like that!
Now, you can fire me on the spot,
but I will not stand here,
discuss my private life with a
A stranger!
I don't care if he's the damn president.
All right!
But I want every man in this department
out looking for the guy who was driving that truck!
[Horn honks]
How you doing?
I got a dress for the funeral.
Uh-huh, when can I see you again?
I really can't say. Hmm.
Well, maybe after you've had
time to recover. How about tonight?
Well, Bubba, I'm not sure what the mourning period is
for a distant cousin.
But, I think it's probably more than one day.
Oh, yeah. I guess.
But, uh [sighs] Oh, pauline, you know
Oh, man.
I feel the same way, Bubba.
It came from there.
[Horn honks]
Thank you very much. You're welcome.
How you doing?
Well, the lady here says she heard some shots,
but everybody's heard shots.
We're getting a sense of what the route may have been,
but nothing on the driver or pickup.
Well, keep at it.
Then you go left on Jeff Davis
to Lamar circle, once around,
and out to bilbo road.
What, no Simon legree Lane?
Look, man, you got junior with you.
You got Jamison's report here.
Why'd you call for me?
I wanted you.
Well, then we lose him,
according to this.
Shall we?
Fine.
[Beeping]
Hey, Bubba.
Hey, gilmore.
You're Virgil tibbs, I bet.
I'm gilmore Hodges.
I have been hoping to work with you.
Bubba: Gilmore, he thinks he's a cop.
Gives out tickets.
I heard we're looking for a pickup.
That's right. A light blue one.
Did you see it two nights ago?
Nope.
What are you doing right now?
Are you looking for clues?
Yeah, that's right.
[Beeping faster]
[Patting]
Here.
[Chuckles]
You know, I saw a car last night
you might be interested in.
Gilmore, I hear there's a real
bad speeding problem on drexell.
Go check it out. Yes, sir.
This just about ought to do it.
If it matches the bullet taken from the body
and if we can find the weapon that fired this
I never realized lady Margaret
had such fat little fingers.
Pauline!
I'm sorry, darling.
It's just hard for me to be as upset as you are.
I saw you talking to Bubba this morning.
Just came by to see how I was doing.
Nothing wrong with that.
He had his hands all over you.
Lord, Sonny, how you do go on about poor Bubba Skinner.
How would it have looked if
all this time I lived in this house
and never had a date?
Well, you don't have to see him anymore now.
Of course I do.
Things will settle down after a while.
Honest, Sonny.
I bought a dress for the funeral.
I look good in black.
[Chuckles]
I'll show you what you look good in.
How come you're sending those slugs to Washington, Virgil?
Because they don't have a crime lab here in sparta.
Well, they got a crime lab in Jackson, Mississippi.
It's a whole lot closer.
And I do believe they got a college graduate working there.
And anyway, you're gonna find those two slugs
came from the same gun. I'm gonna bet you on that.
That'll be fine.
But no bets.
Why no bet?
I have an open mind.
To bet, you have to have a closed mind.
Think about it.
Parker, will you find the street address for this place
and send it out today, please?
I found somebody saw the pickup.
Light blue with primer on the right front Fender.
Now, the witness saw only the
last two numbers on the plate.
A two and a four.
If we had a computer, I could give
you that driver in two minutes flat.
I can give him to you quicker than that.
That's Joe ed thaxton's truck.
Yeah, I remember when Joe ed had
that little accident in that pickup.
He painted it a silly blue.
That isn't primer on the Fender.
That's where Joe ed started to
repaint the damn thing silly orange.
So I guess we need to see Joe ed.
If you two haven't got more pressing concerns,
go get him.
[Bell on door rings]
How you feeling?
Oh, I've decided to stay busy, open up.
Nobody's come in.
I guess they don't know what to say.
Well, I thought I'd tell you,
we're picking up Joe ed thaxton.
He's the one that shot up the town the other night.
Then he's the one who shot lady Margaret.
Yeah, it looks that way.
Maybe I shouldn't have opened the store. It's just that
at home, everywhere I look, I see her face.
Listen, why don't I take you out
to mossback point this weekend?
We'll do a little hunting out there. We
haven't been out there in quite a while, eh?
Well, I appreciate it, bill, but I
gotta tell you, it's going to be a while
before I feel like picking up a
gun and killing something with it.
Sorry. Bad idea.
Well, that's our man.
We're going to get this thing cleared up,
put it all behind you.
Thanks, bill.
Gillespie: Hey, gilmore, how you doing?
Oh, hello, chief.
Mr. Mims.
Hey, gilmore. Hey.
Now, I'm sorry to bother you
at a time like this, Mr. Mims,
but as you know, I patrol railroad street every night,
and I saw you driving recklessly.
Now, you can't do no 50 in a 35 zone,
even late at night, when there's no other cars around.
I'm gonna have to give you this ticket.
And you can't discharge no firearm in the city limits.
Well, I got to go.
Do you hear anything?
Yeah, that damn typewriter.
If the chief wanted you to hear,
you all would be on the other
side of that door, now, wouldn't you?
You look tired, Mr. Thaxton.
I ain't been sleeping.
His conscience is bothering him.
Come on, Joe ed. We know you didn't mean to do it.
Truth is, I did mean to do it.
You're telling us that you meant to kill Mrs. Mims?
What? What are you talking about?
Sonny mims' wife was shot to death last night.
What? I didn't do that. That wasn't me.
I work night shifts down at the plant.
I have for 32 years.
Till they got some snot-faced yankee
down here from Harvard or some other damn place like that.
He talked the people in the
front office into rotating everybody.
Six weeks on days, six weeks on nights.
I haven't had a good night's sleep from that day to this.
So, night before last, I worked my
way through every drop of bourbon
I got in the house.
I figured, why the hell should
everybody else get to sleep if I can't?
I went driving around shooting off my old carbine.
I did that and you can hang me for it,
but I did not kill Mrs. Sonny mims. No, sir.
I wasn't even out last night.
Jamison, put this prisoner in the cell.
Come on, let's go.
You know, I believe him.
Well, then you're a lot more innocent
than a hotshot city detective ought to be.
You spend more time studying people
instead of complaining about the gadgets
and the gizmos we haven't got around here,
you might make a good cop.
I am a good cop.
And one of the reasons is I've got good instincts,
and they're all saying 'Sonny mims.'
Listen, let me tell you something about Sonny mims.
He's been a close and warm
personal friend of mine for 35 years.
And you're wrong about him. You hear me, you're wrong.
I watched him cry when his only child died
and his wife couldn't handle it and took to the bottle.
He took in her poor relations, one after the other.
Now, that's a decent man,
and I don't want you to intrude on his grief.
If Sonny mims
Virgil, you are not hearing me.
Virgil, I'm telling you to leave
the man alone. Leave him alone.
Open your eyes, Gillespie.
Mims and that tarantula he's got living out there
have the oldest motive there is for murder.
Joe ed thaxton just gave them a convenient cover.
[Door slams]
They arrested Joe ed thaxton.
Who?
Look. What's this?
Gilmore gave me one of his crazy tickets.
He saw me.
He saw me tearing down railroad street
shooting off that gun.
He's a moron, Sonny.
Well, I know that, but sooner or later,
he's gonna put it together.
Gilmore Hodges has shredded cabbage for brains.
Who's gonna listen to him?
He makes copies of these things, you know,
and he turns them in to the police station every Friday.
And every Friday, Parker Williams tosses them in the trash
without even looking at them.
How do you know that?
I told you Bubba Skinner was a good choice.
Don't start, Sonny.
If bill Gillespie's in his office,
he makes a point of going over the tickets
and thanking gilmore.
Did Bubba tell you that too?
Bill's your best friend.
Oh, for god's sake, pauline, he's
not gonna cover me for murder!
Then we'd better do something about gilmore.
Like what?
What would you suggest?
Well, I guess I could get his ticket book
away from him without him knowing it.
How hard could that be?
Can you get his brain away from him, too?
I thought you just said he didn't have one.
Do you want to spend the rest of your life
wondering whether or not gilmore Hodges is ever gonna get
his mind and mouth working at the same time?
We don't have much choice about that,
[scoffs] Short of killing him, too.
Uh-uh, pauline. Oh, no.
We don't have any choice, honey.
Gilmore's as much in our way
as lady Margaret ever was.
If we can't be together, what was the point?
Isn't it worth it?
I was worried when you didn't call, honey.
I know.
I was just driving around trying to cool off.
Like dinner?
Do you want me to make you a sandwich?
No, no. This is all right.
You know Mary Johnson?
Yeah. She and mamma were friends.
You know what she said to me today? And I quote, Virgil.
'Honey, we have white churches and black churches,
'and we even got integrated churches,
'but I haven't seen you and Virgil in one
'since you set foot in sparta.
'Now, you maybe don't know no better, but Virgil does.'
People go to church down here, Virgil. It's a big deal.
Now, you knew that, and you could have told me.
How am I supposed to know these things
if you don't tell me?
Al, do you think I'm an unreasonable person?
Single-minded, maybe.
But not unreasonable.
Maybe mims didn't kill his wife.
I'm willing to entertain that notion.
But I also have to entertain the possibility
that maybe he did.
What's so difficult to understand about that?
See, the problem is,
mims is one of Gillespie's best friends.
If I go after him,
the chief will have my head on a platter.
You know, sometimes I think
he may have to beat me to it.
Virgil, we're going to church on Sunday.
You heard me.
Is this him coming?
I can't do it.
All right, Sonny. Then I'll do it.
There isn't anything I wouldn't do
to be with you.
We're this close to having what we want.
What we deserve.
I love you.
[Car engine starting]
Pauline, I can't do it.
Do it!
Uh! [Groans]
Damn. Damn!
Can't read who it's from.
Uh, detective? Telegram.
That was quick.
Well, I'm glad to see my men so active.
And so handy with tools.
Chief.
From the Mississippi crime lab.
Now, you're probably gonna tell me that all this means
is that Joe ed thaxton has more than one gun.
No, I got something more interesting to tell you.
Chief,
the slug I dug out from that tree
and the one Dr. Bridges took out of lady Margaret
were not fired from the same gun.
Yeah, I'm talking about a lady called bethel herley.
Chief, this proves
I know what it proves. I know it already.
Bethel herley is a nurse supervisor at the hospital.
And she lives next door to Joe ed thaxton.
So I paid her a call.
The night of the crime,
she got home at 5:00 A.M. in the morning.
And saw Joe ed thaxton moving around in his living room.
So, at the time lady Margaret was murdered,
Joe ed was in his own house, six miles away.
Well, then, your nurse speaks as loud as this telegram.
Mmm-hmm.
Chief, that was the hospital. They got gilmore out there.
Somebody ran him down early this morning.
Where was this?
Out on railroad street.
He was riding his regular paper route.
Ma'am, who called this in?
That gentleman right over there.
Well, Clyde. How you doing? Chief.
I'm all right.
This is detective Virgil tibbs.
This is Clyde Perry.
How do you do?
Sit down, Clyde. Sit down.
Now, now tell me what happened.
Well, I have Mrs. Harrison's garden on Tuesday. Yeah.
And I was on my way over there,
and I saw this white boy
all crumpled by the roadside.
What did you do then?
I looked to see if he was dead.
He wasn't, so I went on to see Mrs.
Harrison, have her call an ambulance.
And then I came down and met the ambulance.
Well, why are you still here, sir?
Well, ain't nobody else around to sit and wait.
Didn't seem right to leave.
Chief Gillespie.
Yeah? Thank you, Clyde, you did good.
These are gilmore's things he had on him.
I need you to sign for them.
Well, when am I gonna be able to see the doctor?
He's busy now, though, sir.
He said he'll call you and give you more details
as soon as he gets time.
Thank you, lita.
Gilmore's had a bad accident.
Sorry, chief. I've been to the scene.
I'd say there was no accident.
I just heard about gilmore Hodges. What the hell happened?
Somebody ran him down.
Oh, no. Why in the world would anybody
want to run down poor old gilmore?
He was trying to tell us something.
But we were all too smart to listen.
Maybe he knew more than we gave him credit for.
Like what? Like who did it.
You cleared thaxton, right?
We don't have a scapegoat anymore.
That leaves us with family.
Now, you want to get back to Sonny mims, don't you?
Now, listen, I want to talk a
little bit about pauline Slade.
Now, chief now, Bubba, I know this is hard,
but you're gonna have to take it.
Pauline is the woman who knows where the body is.
Now, maybe she's trying to take
over everything her cousin had,
including Sonny.
Maybe lady Margaret was standing in the way
of all pauline wanted.
And maybe she was in Sonny's way too.
Now, chief, I can't stand here listening to this.
Bubba! Enough. Enough.
Chief.
Gilmore's little old ticket book.
[Knock on door]
Hi, Bubba.
Hi.
Pauline, I don't want you to
take this the wrong way, honey,
but I don't think you ought to stay here anymore.
It doesn't look right.
Bubba, I can't just leave Sonny
high and dry at a time like this.
What kind of person would I be?
Well, you going back to tupelo after the funeral?
Well, Bubba Skinner, it sound
like you're trying to get rid of me?
Oh, you know better than that.
Well, I thought I did.
I just think it might be a good
idea if you go on home for a while.
Why is that?
I can't tell you.
You're just gonna have to trust me on this one.
Pauline, no.
Pauline, now, you got to listen to me
Pauline, they think Sonny did it.
And the chief thinks you make
a pretty good suspect yourself.
Well, that's just ridiculous.
I know that. I know that.
What could they possibly have on Sonny?
I don't know, but Virgil's talking about evidence.
Hard evidence.
Like what?
[Knock on door]
Gillespie: Bubba. Bubba.
Get out here.
I knew I'd find you here.
Chief what did you tell her?
Nothing, I swear. I was just paying a consolation call.
I ought to fire you on the spot.
I wanna tell you something. If
you've messed up this investigation,
I'm gonna bring you up on charges.
I haven't. I swear.
Go on back to the station,
and you wait there.
[Door closing]
Where the hell have you been?
I called over an hour ago.
Well, I just couldn't run out and
leave the store. What's the panic?
Well, that black detective is closing in on you.
Well, I suppose you heard that from
Yeah! Yeah, from Bubba Skinner.
And you better be damn glad I've got him interested,
or we'd be sitting here thinking
everything was right as rain,
and all the time that Virgil tibbs will
be down there getting a cell ready.
What could he possibly have?
The rifle. I told you you should have gotten rid of it.
They don't have it.
It's sitting down there at the store
along with about two dozen others.
Safer to keep it there.
Not if they get a search warrant
and test fire every gun in your store.
Get rid of it!
How?
God, can't you figure anything out on your own?
It's clear. Come on. Come on.
I'll take that rifle, Sonny.
I just couldn't take it anymore, bill.
No need to tell me about it.
Keep it to yourself till you see a lawyer.
[Car engine starting]
[Tires screech]
[Crying] Sonny threatened me, Bubba.
He made me lie. You've got to help me.
I told everybody they were wrong about you.
They weren't.
You all killed her, pauline.
[Grunts] Mmm-mmm.
The sad truth is,
he really did believe you, miss Slade.
I mean, we used him to set you up.
The only reason he went along with it in the first place
was so he could prove us wrong.
You tricked us into going for the gun, didn't you, bill?
Well, we didn't have enough on you.
You had nothing.
Well, we had this.
Gilmore's a little slow,
but he sure keeps good records.
Now, you all better hope he pulls through this.
I'm sorry, bill.
I'm sorry for Margaret.
You did very well, Bubba,
and you did right.
Yup.
You were right, and I was wrong.
I don't believe that, uh, I've ever been more wrong.
The certificate of merit is the highest honor
that the city of sparta can bestow on anybody.
And it's always a great pleasure to me
to present it to a truly worthy recipient.
[All cheering]
Man: Way to go, gilmore.
Thank you.
Also, from this moment right now,
gilmore Hodges is appointed honorary sergeant
in the sparta police department.
[All cheering]
It kind of makes you feel like singing, doesn't it?
What?
A little gospel music.
We're going to church, Virgil.