In the middle of the afternoon, from Giles place, I called Susan collect. As I expected, she was seeing patients, so we set a time when we could talk at length.
"How's it going honeybuns?" Susan said when I called her again.
"Well, I found out vampires are real."
"Oh, that."
"I'm serious."
"I know," Susan said. "I know about vampires."
"Jesus Christ," I said. "First Hawk, now you?"
"How does Hawk know about vampires?"
"Hawk and Rupert Giles were killing vampires together in New York in the early '70's."
"Really?" Susan said. "Well, that explains why Hawk told me he was going to Sunnydale as soon as I told him where you were."
"Now do you mind explaining how you know about vampires?" I asked.
"I really can't say much, except to remind you that a significant portion of my clientele is in law enforcement. Other than that, in addition to my usual doctor patient confidentiality, I had to be approved by certain governmental agencies to see some of my current patients."
"So that's all you can tell me."
"That's all I can tell you."
I then told Susan everything I knew. I read her Buffy's notes. It took about an hour and a half. At first, she just listened, but then she started to ask questions here and there.
"Good lord," she said when I finished.
I waited.
"I think the best thing to do is for me to take an hour to try to digest this, then I'll call you back and you can tell me all this again. Then, we can figure out what you need from me."
"OK," I said. I gave Susan Giles' number, then hung up.
Two hours later, she called me again. I repeated to her everything I knew. This time, she interrupted more to ask questions.
When we finished, I said, "What do you think?"
"First of all, I am relieved that you are all right. If it hadn't been for Giles and those two boys…"
"I'd be dead, or dead and a monster."
"So what are your theories about Buffy running away?"
"Well, I can think of several possibilities," I said.
"One, Buffy killed Angelus and was upset about having to kill him. Then on top of that, there was her conversation with her mother, and the death of Kendra, so she just bugged out."
"And two?"
"Two, Willow cured Angelus. Angel and Buffy saved the day, and they ran off together to start a new life. That's Willow's theory."
"Highly unlikely," Susan said.
"I agree."
"And three?"
"OK, really I'm just thinking of two possibilities."
Susan paused. I could feel her intelligence through the connection between us, though we were separated by three thousand miles.
"The notes," Susan said.
"What about them?"
"No mention of running away, or even leaving home, just of leaving people. No assurances that she will be fine, just that she is fine."
"And that's significant."
"It could be. The other thing I'm thinking about is Xander's story."
"What about it?"
"Did Xander mention relaying Willow's message at all?"
"No, he said he was told to give Buffy the message, but he didn't say that he actually relayed it."
"If Willow's message had been relayed, wouldn't it have had a significant effect on Buffy? Might she have considered a different strategy under the circumstances?"
"Yeah," I said. "I think she would have."
"Makes me wonder just what message, if any, Xander actually gave Buffy."
"I'll ask. Now, what about the letters?"
"Well, Buffy left home, and left notes to her mother and sister to say goodbye. And saying goodbye appears to have been the entire purpose behind writing the notes. Nothing to the effect of, 'I'm leaving home and never coming back'. No 'don't try to look for me because you won't find me'. No 'don't worry about me I'll be fine'. Those sentiments tend to be common in notes from runaways."
"Translation: Buffy wasn't a runaway. She assumed that her mother and sister would know where to find her."
I felt sick to my stomach.
"You're right," I said. "Methinks I smell a rat."
"It's something to look into," Susan said.
"I should have seen it."
"Well, sweetie, that's why you have me."
"It is."