Oz didn't really have much to add, and what he did add was said in monosyllables. But he did confirm that the Orb vanished when Willow completed her spell in the hospital.

After eating lunch, I visited with Joyce and Dawn Summers in their home. They lived in a nice looking white house on Revello Drive, about 14 blocks east and north of downtown Sunnydale. Joyce smiled as she opened the door. She looked nice in blue jeans, open toed sandals, and a tan short sleeved polo shirt. Running down the stairs behind her was a young girl with long brown hair.

"Ooooooo!" she said. "Mom, is that the private eye?"

"Yes, Dawn," Joyce said. "This is Mr. Spenser."

Joyce directed me to a chair in the living room. She and Dawn sat next to each other on the couch at a right angle to me. The couch was backed up to the picture window, but the house faced to the south, so the summer sun did not shine on them. Joyce served us some raspberry sun tea. It was very good.

"I know this is difficult, Joyce," I said. "But tell me what happened the night before Buffy ran away."

Joyce turned to Dawn. "Maybe you should go to Janice's for a little bit."

"But I wanna talk to Mr. Spenser, Mom," Dawn said.

"You will sweetheart," Joyce said. "But I'm going to mention things to Mr. Spenser that I don't want you to hear."

"But, Mom…"

Joyce looked at Dawn and didn't say anything. Eventually, Dawn got up and flounced out of the room, dramatically opening and then slamming the front door. She walked down the sidewalk and across the street. Joyce and I both watched her until she knocked on the door of a house across the street, then went in.

"You feel comfortable letting her go out by herself in Sunnydale?"

"During the day, it's usually OK," Joyce said. "But only across the street to go to Janice's. A few vampires have human agents, and some demons aren't bothered by sunlight."

"How long have you known Buffy was a slayer?"

"Probably longer than I'd like to admit. For example, when Buffy was released from the psychiatric treatment facility in LA, the facility's director had vanished and a woman on the staff had taken his place. Less than one month later, the place closed when it was revealed that some of the homeless girls placed there had vanished and were never seen again. There was a manhunt for the original director, who was never found. Later, Buffy told me that the original director of the place was a demon, and that she had killed him."

"Jesus Christ," I said. "Excuse my language."

Joyce chuckled.

"Quite all right, I've found the occasion to use the expression myself a few times over the past year."

"So when did you officially find out that Buffy was a vampire slayer?"

"One of Buffy's enemies, Darla, who looked to be about 18 but was really over 300 years old, came to the house claiming to be Buffy's history tutor. I let her in, and she attacked me. Darla was out to kill me and Dawn and frame Angel for our deaths. Dawn though, saved my life by sticking a crucifix in Darla's face."

"Those work?"

"Yes," Joyce said. "Any symbol enough people sincerely believe to be sacred can harm a vampire. A crucifix, a cross, a Star of David, apparently even an upright pentagram can be effective.

"At any rate, Angel then came and drove Darla off. When Buffy came home from her evening slaying, she had a lot of explaining to do."

Joyce paused.

"And I had a lot of apologizing to do."

I nodded.

"So what happened the night before Buffy ran away?"

"Mr. Spenser, have you by any chance met Detective Stein?" Joyce asked.

"Yes, a highly peculiar man given to histrionic counting," I said.

Joyce looked at me.

"When I mentioned your daughter's name, Detective Stein started to count. I think he was giving me until the count of ten to get out of Dodge."

"I see," Joyce said. "Well I find him to be, for a policeman, an extremely vile and frankly somewhat stupid man. He had come to the house before to ask about Ted."

"Ted?"

"Another man who turned out to be a monster. Buffy killed him twice, they arrested her for it the first time. It's really weird, Mr. Spenser. You will find the Sunnydale Police Department doesn't tend to follow up on anything."

"Anyway, Stein returned to your house during the night in question."

"Yes, he was asking me about the dead girl in the Sunnydale library. I was terrified he was talking about Willow, and then he really gave me a start when he called Willow 'the other victim'. Thank God she turned out to be OK. Anyway, I knew that Buffy didn't kill this girl, but a vampire probably had. But, I couldn't tell Detective Stein that, and I didn't know what had happened to Buffy. I was worried, scared and frazzled. When Detective Stein finally left me alone, I took Dawn over to Janice's and then went out and looked for Buffy, probably not a smart thing for me to do at night, but I'm still her mother for God's sake. When I came home, there she was in the driveway with Spike, a vampire who had been her mortal enemy. In fact, he almost killed her the first time they fought. I got out of the car and another vampire attacked me, and Buffy and Spike teamed up to dust him. Buffy then invited Spike into our house. Our house! Inside, they made plans to rescue Giles, who Angelus had prisoner and was torturing. The deal was, as long as Giles could be saved, Buffy wouldn't kill Drusilla."

"Wasn't Drusilla the vampire who killed Kendra?"

"Yes, but according to Mr. Giles, while Drusilla was more than a match for Kendra, she wasn't a match for Buffy, and Spike knew it."

"So Spike cared about Drusilla."

"Yes."

"That doesn't seem to gibe with what I've been told about vampires. I didn't think they could care about anyone."

"Yes, that is odd. But Spike's concern for Drusilla seemed to be genuine. At any rate, Buffy and Spike decided to assist each other against Angel. Spike agreed to take Drusilla and get her out of town, and Buffy agreed not to kill Drusilla as long as Giles was OK. Until then, Spike and Buffy would assist each other in fighting Angelus."

"And what was your response to that?"

"Are you kidding? I went berserk. The first time Spike and Buffy fought, he would have killed her if I hadn't hit him in the head with an ax. It was the only time I ever helped Buffy when she was slaying."

"Go Joyce."

"Mr. Spenser, I can not tell you how much I hate this. Every night since I've found out my daughter's the slayer, I have had to worry if she would come home alive. I can't stop her from doing what she does. In fact, I think there is something in the nature of the slayer where she can't stop herself. So I have a daughter in high school who goes out every night to fight a war. A war, Mr. Spenser. A goddamn war!"

Joyce started to tear up and sniffle a little. I waited. She didn't break down completely. She hid her face, pursed her lips, then got up and got a Kleenex. Then she sat down and took a deep breath. Then another. Then she looked up at me.

"Every night was horrible, but that night it was just too much. Buffy was alone, going up against at least half a dozen vampires including the one that used to be the man she loved, with an ally she could not trust. Usually Giles was the one to back her up, and he's capable. In fact, I think you would be surprised at how capable Willow and Xander are in that situation. I tried to forbid her from going, but of course that was impossible. Angelus was going to destroy the world. Quite literally, my daughter is the only reason why we are able to sit here and have this conversation today."

I took a deep breath myself.

"What did you think of the relationship between Buffy and Angel?"

"Well I hated it. My daughter was dating an older man, a man older by over two hundred years."

Joyce stopped and looked at the table.

"But I have to admit, Angel was always good to her. He saved her several times, as she saved him. And he was always kind and considerate to Dawn and to me."

"At least until he became Angelus."

Joyce looked up at me.

"Angel didn't become Angelus, Mr. Spenser. Angel died, and Angelus took his place. He nearly killed Dawn before we found that out. It was a mistake on his part, I think, going after Dawn so soon. It was easier for Buffy to go after him after that."

I closed my notepad and stood up.

"Mrs. Summers," I said. "I cannot tell you what a pleasure it has been to talk with you. You are one hell of a woman. Buffy is damn lucky to have you as her mother."

I extended her my hand. Joyce took it.

"Thank you, Mr. Spenser."