WordPress Database Question

[PhotoGal]

While preparing a previous post for one particular website, at some point I ended up having two browser windows open to the editor page for the same post. After closing the window that contained the older version of the post, I noticed the other window's post slug had a "2" tacked onto the end of it. I was not allowed to remove the "2" from that slug, because apparently the original slug name was still in the database.

Despite deleting the old post from the trash, I was still was not allowed to use the original slug name. I ended up removing the "2" from the slug name only by also dropping one word from the slug title, even though the slug title then no longer exactly matched the post title.

Since this happened to me once before, I wanted to inquire about how I could better deal with this issue, should it happen again in the future. I looked briefly in the WordPress database tables but did not find the cells containing the post title names. I realize, whenever the database is messed with, that it should first be backed up. With that said, can someone answer the following questions?

1) Specifically where in the WordPress database should I look for an unpublished post?
2) Once located, how exactly would I go about getting rid of the unpublished post? (I've worked some with the database, but not a lot.)

My GOAL is to be able to use the SLUG NAME that had been used for an unpublished post title.

Thanks for any assistance.