Only a minute had passed when Ranny yelled, "Hey, I'm going to check on her. Get out, walk around the front of the truck, and come open this door, and remember that an M-16 will go through this thin metal like paper."
"She'll be out in a minute," Monty protested, trying to stall.
"I don't care, I don't trust you two. Now get me out of here before I count to 10, or you're dead!"
Reluctantly, Monty did as ordered. While Ranny was getting to the ground, his M-16 in his hands, Monty tried desperately to think of a way to warn Laura. Nothing came to mind. Whistling or singing would seem out of place, seeming to accidentally blow the horn would also be suspicious. As they got near the door to the women's restroom, he started talking fairly loudly to Ranny, telling him that Laura would be out and they'd be on their way in a minute, but just then Laura emerged from the doorway. She seemed surprised to see them heading towards the women's side, and asked, "Aren't we going? I'm ready to leave."
"Not until I check this place out!" Ranny snarled. "I started thinking maybe you two were up to something with this stop here. Get in there, both of you," and he waved the gun to herd them inside.
Reluctantly, the couple walked fearfully inside, expecting the worst when the gunman followed them. But to their surprise, he started laughing when he saw the message written in red lipstick on the central mirror.
"I knew it!" he crowed. "Everybody always thinks they're smarter than me. But I was suspicious right away when you stopped here!"
Then his mood changed, and he snapped angrily, "Now grab a handful of paper towels and rub that crap off that mirror. And both of you stand against the washbasins where I can see you while I check out the stalls to see if you did anything stupid in there, too."
He held the M-16 on them as he backed into each stall in turn, glancing quickly at the back of the door, the walls, and the toilet paper to see if any additional messages had been left. Satisfied that none had, and that the mirror now had just a reddish tint with no words visible, he motioned the guilty two out the door.
"We're a long piece from the city now. Just so you won't be tempted to try any more tricks, and so you can't be plotting, I'm going to ride up front from now on," Ranny said, and Monty and Laura felt their hearts sink at this news. When they got in the truck, Laura slid as far away from Ranny as she could, and as close as she could get to Monty so that their thighs were touching. This time, she swung her legs toward him, tucking them under and behind his so that he could handle the truck's stick shift. Her fringed short skirt left her knees and a few inches of leg above the knee exposed, and she wished desperately that she had worn jeans again tonight. She was proud of her legs and happy to show them off for Monty, but she definitely didn't want this uncouth man sitting against the passenger door to be ogling her. Maybe besides being a killer, he was a rapist.