The Sunnydale Police Department was huge, housed in a downtown four story brick building. It looked to be about three times too big for a city the size of Sunnydale. I walked through the big automatic doors. There was a big desk and a big desk sergeant who looked like he ate a lot more donuts than Lt. Samuelson. He had a square head, his sandy hair was cut in a crew cut, and he had a clipped patrolman style mustache. The name on his badge said Gerrick.

I introduced myself and handed him my card.

"So what is your business here in Sunnydale, Mr. Spenser?"

"I'm looking into a missing person case."

"Did the person go missing from Sunnydale?"

"She did."

Gerrick chuckled.

"Good luck," he said.

"This one is connected to a homicide at Sunnydale High School. Girl by the name of Kendra."

"Yeah, I know about it," Garrick said. He picked up the phone and punched in a number. "Hey, Stein there? Send him down. Got a private dick from Boston (he pronounced it Baahhstuhn) wants to talk with him."

Gerrick listened briefly, then hung up and jerked his head towards a row of chairs. "Have a seat. Detective Stein will be down to talk to you in a second."

"Sure," I said. "Private dick. You're a real traditional guy, Gerrick."

Gerrick looked at me and jerked his head towards the chairs again.

"Authentic and friendly too."

Gerrick turned away and started to read a sheet of paper. The way he was engrossed in the paper, I figured he was getting the latest price quotes for donuts. I went over and sat down.

About 20 minutes later Detective Stein came down. He was a balding guy, short. What hair he had was light blond. He had a kind of arrogant half smile as he came over to me.

"You Spenser?" he said.

I resisted the impulse to narrow my eyes and say Who wants to know?

Instead I said, "I am."

Stein didn't offer his hand. Just stood and looked at me and crossed his arms.

"What interest do you have in the Kendra case?"

"Other than a constant urge to see that justice is done? It's connected to a missing person case I'm working."

His eyes narrowed, and the half smile left his face. "Who's the missing person?"

"Buffy Summers."

This time, I didn't even have the urge to blush when I said it.

Stein's eyes narrowed further. He looked back, and a couple of patrolmen came over. Then he looked at me.

"Blow," he said, jerking his head to the front door.

"Pardon?" I said.

"I said blow." Stein's face was starting to get a little red. The other two cops were now standing on either side of me, giving me hard looks. Even Gerrick had managed to tear himself away from his paper and push himself to an upright position.

"Buffy Summers," I said again, just to see their reaction. Stein actually flinched.

"Get out of here, Spenser, or we'll give you a room upstairs."

I knew what he meant. The narrow windows on the top floor of the police building were basic jail cell.

"So, Stein, why does saying the name of a 17 year old erstwhile homecoming princess result in a threat to throw me in jail?"

"Get out, Spenser. We're done." Two more uniforms, one man and one woman, were approaching. Gerrick had managed to move his bulk around the desk.

Stein started to count. "1…2…"

I said the name "Buffy Summers" after every count, like "Mississippi".

"3…"

"Buffysummers."

"4…"

"Buffysummers."

I looked around. Stein's face was red, and several of the uniforms had their hands on or hovering over their guns. I wasn't going to win this. So I turned and left.

But not until Stein had counted 8.