"Yes. I'm doing a story, Ellen. And I really need your help."
"What do you want to know?"
She leaned against the counter, her serious expression reflecting her sudden importance.
"It's about the couple that came in here Friday night a week ago. A young man and woman. About your age. They came in shortly after nine P.M., bought a six-pack of Pepsi, several other items."
"Oh. The ones missing," she said, animated now. "You know, I shoulda never told 'em to go to that rest stop. But one of the first things they tell us when we're hired is nobody gets to use the bathroom. Personally, I wouldn't mind, especially not when the girl and boy came in. I felt so sorry for her. I mean, I sure understood."
"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."
"Can you describe this man, the one who bought the coffee?"
"Not real good."
"White or black?"
"White. Seems like he was dark. Black hair, maybe brown. Maybe in his late twenties, early thirties."
"Tall, short, fat, thin?"
Ellen stared off toward the back of the store. "Medium height, maybe. Sort of well built but not big, I think."
"Beard or mustache?"
"Don't think so… Wait a minute."
Her face lit up. "His hair was short. Yeah! In fact, I remember it passed through my mind he looked military. You know, there's a lot of military types around here, come in all the time on their way to Tidewater."
"What else made you think he might be military?"
Abby asked.
"I don't know. But maybe it was just his way. It's hard to explain, but when you've seen enough military guys, it gets to where you can pick 'em out. There's just something about 'em. Like tattoos, for example. A lot of 'em have tattoos."
"Did this man have a tattoo?"
Her frown turned to disappointment. "I didn't notice."
"How about the way he was dressed?"
"Uhhhh…"
"A suit and tie?"
Abby asked.
"Well, he wasn't in a suit and tie. Nothing fancy. Maybe jeans or dark pants. He might've been wearing a zip-up jacket.… Gee, I really can't be sure."
"Do you, by chance, remember what he was driving?"
"No," she said with certainty. "I never saw his car. He must've parked off to the side."
"Did you tell the police all this when they came to talk to you, Ellen?"
"Yeah."
She was eyeing the parking lot out front. A van had just pulled up. "I told 'em pretty much the same things I told you. Except for some of the stuff I couldn't remember then."
When two teenage boys sauntered in and headed straight for the video games, Ellen returned her attention to us. I could tell she had nothing more to say and was beginning to entertain doubts about having said too much.
Apparently, Abby was getting the same message. "Thank you, Ellen," she said, backing away from the counter. "The story will run on Saturday or Sunday. Be sure you watch for it."
Then we were out the door.
"Time to get the hell out of here before she starts screaming that everything was off the record."
"I doubt she'd even know what the term meant," I replied.
"What surprises me," Abby said, "is that the cops didn't tell her to keep her mouth shut."
"Maybe they did but she couldn't resist the possibility of seeing her name in print."
The I-64 East rest stop where the clerk had directed Deborah and Fred was completely deserted when we pulled in.
Abby parked in front, near a cluster of newspaper vending machines, and for several minutes we sat in silence. A small holly tree directly in front of us was silver in the car's headlights, and lamps were smudges of white in the fog. I couldn't imagine getting out to use the rest room were I alone.