Joyce and Dawn let me take their notes to Kinko's to make copies. I thought I'd read them to Susan. Then, I returned their notes and went back to Rupert Giles' place.
"You can probably go back to your hotel to collect your rental car and your things and check out," Giles said.
"I go back, the manager calls the cops," I said. "Shots were fired in my room."
"And the bullets turned to dust with the vampire. Mr. Spenser, the Sunnydale Police Department has the attention span of a hamster. They didn't find you, and they've moved on. As for the hotel management, they will simply be relieved that you are alive to pay the bill."
"Even the most inept police department is going to follow up on…"
"It's not entirely a matter of eptitude, Mr. Spenser. The Watcher's Council has discovered evidence of an extremely powerful but subtle spell within the borders of Sunnydale. Events that would…that would have life changing significance elsewhere do not here. Many people here have experienced odd and alarming events, but if the events do not result in significant personal tragedies, the next day they will have the emotional significance of a spilled cup of coffee."
"So the SPD will not be looking for me because…."
"When they couldn't find you last night, they assumed you were another unsolved disappearance of the sort that is routine here. When you pop back up, they'll shrug their shoulders and think, lucky him."
Giles drove me back to the hotel. Hawk rode in the front seat with him, and together they talked about someone named "Nikki".
"Who's Nikki?" I asked.
"Nikki was the slayer back then," Giles said. "Hawk and I worked with her."
Neither Hawk nor Giles said anything more about Nikki the vampire slayer, and the conversation turned to things British. Mainly, we talked about dark beer and darts.
At the hotel, I had to pay a couple of extra hundred dollars for the burns on the carpet, but nobody at the desk asked me what happened. Nobody called the cops. No sirens. No one met us in the parking lot to ask me what happened.
"This place is weird," I said.
"Indeed," said Giles.