“I’m sure you did,” Abby said sympathetically.
“It was sort of embarrassing,” Ellen went on. “When she bought the Tampax and asked if she could please use the bathroom, her boyfriend standing right there. Wow, I sure do wish I’d let her now.”
“How did you know he was her boyfriend?” Abby asked.
For an instant, Ellen looked confused. “Well, I just assumed. They was looking around in here together, seemed to like each other a lot. You know how people act. You can tell if you’re paying attention. And when I’m in here all hours by myself, I get pretty good at telling about people. Take married couples. Get’em all the time, on a trip, kids in the car. Most of ’em come in here and I can tell they’re tired and not getting along good. But the two you’re talking about, they was real sweet with each other.”
“Did they say anything else to you, other than needing to find a rest room?”
“We talked while I was ringing them up,” Ellen replied. “Nothing special. I said the usual. ‘Nice night for driving; and ‘Where ya headin’?’ ” “And did they tell you?”
Abby asked, taking notes.
“Huh?”
Abby glanced up at her. “Did they tell you where they were heading?”
“They said the beach. I remember that because I told ’em they was lucky. Seems whenever everybody else’s heading off to fun places, I’m always stuck right here.
“Plus, me and my boyfriend had just broke up. It was getting to me, you know?”
“I understand.”
Abby smiled kindly. “Tell me more about how they were acting, Ellen. Anything jump out at you?”
She thought about this, then said, “Uh-uh. They was real nice, but in a hurry. I guess because she wanted to find a bathroom pretty bad. Mostly I remember how polite they was. You know, people come in here all the time wanting to use the bathroom and get nasty when I tell ’em they can’t.”
“You mentioned you directed them to the rest stop,” Abby said. “Do you remember exactly what you told them?”
“Sure. I told ’em there’s one not too far from here. Just get back on Sixty-four East” – she pointed – “and they’d see it in about five, ten minutes, couldn’t miss it.”
“Was anybody else in here when you told them this?”
“People were in and out. Lot of folks on the road.”
She thought for a minute. “I know there was a kid in back playing PacMan. Same little creep always in here.”
“Anybody else who might have been near the counter when the couple was?” Abby asked.
“There was this man. He came in right after the couple came in. Was looking through the magazines, ended up buying a cup of coffee.”
“Was this while you were talking to the couple?”
Abby relentlessly pursued the details.
“Yeah. I remember because he was real friendly and said something to the guy about the Jeep being a nice one. The couple drove up in a red Jeep. One of those fancy kinds. It was parked right in front of the doors.”
“Then what happened?”
Ellen sat down on the stool in front of the cash register. “Well, that was pretty much it. Some other customers came in. The guy with the coffee left, and then maybe five minutes later, the couple left, too.”
“But the man with the coffee – he was still near the counter when you were directing the couple to the rest stop?”
Abby wanted to know.
She frowned. “It’s hard to remember. But I think he was looking through the magazines when I was telling them that. Then it seems like the girl went off down one of the aisles to find what she needed, got back to the counter just as the man was paying for his coffee.”
“You said the couple left maybe five minutes after the man did,” Abby went on. “What were they doing?”
“Well, it took a couple minutes,” she replied. “The girl set a six-pack of Coors on the counter, you know, and I had to card her, saw she was under twenty-one, so I couldn’t sell her beer. She was real nice about it, sort of laughed. I mean, all of us were laughing about it. I don’t take it personal. Hell, 1 used to try it, too. Anyway, she ended up buying a six-pack of sodas. Then they left.”