Mr. Bee

It was nearly closing time when Rachel had finished the last order. Glancing out the front window she saw that the slight snowfall had turned into a blizzard. She still had to clean up the back of the store and wash all the dishes from the day so that morning staff had what they needed to open. Working in a small pizza shop in a small town of Montana wasn’t her idea of a lifelong career but she had been able to pay off her car and find a small apartment. She was able to start a small savings account with her tips and was working on her college fund. She walked past the counter and locked the front door. It was two minutes past closing and she was not going to have any last-minute orders tonight. It had already been hectic with the power out to half the town. They had all come here for dinner since they were unable to make their own.

               As she walked back around the counter a heavy gust of wind rattled the front windows and caused her to shudder. She had to hurry. But she knew that the owner Mr. Bee would not be happy if she left the containers and dishes unseen to. She worked an afternoon shift tomorrow and didn’t want to deal with the ranting and raving of the morning crew either. She had just wished that Owen had stayed a bit longer past his time off to help her out. She grabbed a few of the containers and walked to the back. Setting them on the side of the sink she ran a hot soapy mixture and dropped the dishes in. Rachel walked back up front and grabbed a few more dishes glancing at the front windows.

               The snow was already near four inches high and this storm was supposed to be a bad one. Sometimes they would get close to three feet in one night. She grabbed all the dishes in one trip trying to hurry. She turned on the music and started washing the dishes. She sang to the songs that played over the speaker system and made sure that each dish was scrubbed clean. After everything had either been dried and put away or set on the drip rack to dry, she grabbed her coat from the box of canned olives in the corner and turned the kitchen light off. She double-checked that the bathrooms were empty and turned their auto lights off. She walked past Mr. Bee’s office and tried the knob. Always locked but the light was still on. She didn’t want to get in trouble for letting the electricity bill go up but there was nothing she could do.

               Rachel checked her phone and saw that dishes and final checks had taken her two hours. She nervously glanced towards the front debating what to do. In the end, she just kept walking and decided it wasn’t her problem. She sent a quick text to her mom letting her know that she was leaving work and would text her when she got to her apartment. Her mom had started this when she moved out. She was always concerned that she was going to get kidnapped or lost. The whole town consisted of 700 people and she doubted she could get lost in a town she had grown up in. She looked up from her phone and looked out the window as she approached the door to unlock it. The snow was now nearly two feet deep! What had happened? She glanced down at her phone. She only had three percent battery life left and hadn’t brought a charger. She put her phone in her pocket and unlocked the door.

               She gave it a push and the door moved an inch. The snow was thick and heavy. She couldn’t push the door open more than a few inches. She ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the snow shovel from the utility closet and ran back to the front door. The wind picked up and slammed the door closed as she got closer. She pushed the door back open and stuck the shovel through trying to clear away some of the snow. She lost her grip when the next gust of wind pushed against the door causing it to hit her arm. The shovel fell to the ground and was out of arm's reach.

Alright. What now? She thought to herself. She could use the bins she had just washed but didn’t want those to get lost in the snow outside either. She went into the kitchen and picked up the phone on the wall to call her boss, but the phone line was dead. Pulling out her cell phone she tried to call her mom, her phone dying before she could make the call out. Alright, Rachel. Let’s think logically here. The power is still on, so you won’t freeze to death and you have plenty of food. She chuckled to herself, Mr. Bee wouldn’t let them eat the food even if they were trapped for a week. She sat at one of the small tables in the lobby her head on the cold surface. There was no way out. That’s alright maybe it wouldn’t be long until someone came for her. Maybe Owen would see how bad the storm was and come back to see if she needed any help. She sat at the table looking out the front windows for an hour before she decided that no one was coming for her.

Maybe Mr. Bee kept a phone charger in his office. She went to the kitchen and opened the drawer labeled “Mr. Bee Only” on it searching for a key. Digging around in the drawer a small piece of wire poked her finger drawing a small drop of blood. She wiped her finger on her jeans grabbing a small key that looked like it was to a bike lock and the wire in case the door didn’t open with the key. She went to the door and tried the key. No luck. What was the key for then? Whatever. She had to get in to find a phone charger. She knelt in front of the door and stuck the wire in. She had no experience picking locks and each time she thought she got the door open the knob stayed stubbornly locked. After an hour of fumbling with the wire and lock, and checking on the snow level, which was now close to three feet, she finally got the door open.

Inside the room was clean and a desk sat in the middle of the room. She had never seen anyone other than Mr. Bee go in and out of the room and he made sure it stayed locked when he wasn’t in it. She walked the few steps to the backside of the desk and didn’t see a phone charger anywhere on the desk. I’m sorry for doing this, but I must find a charger, she thought as she started to open the drawer. There was nothing but old receipts and bills in the first drawer. In the second drawer, she found new order pads and pens along with a few stray bills. The third draw held a small metal box with a lock on it. She pulled the small key from her pocket and tried it on the box. Nothing. Well, it’s not like he would put a charger in the box. She set the box down and searched the small closet on the far side of the room.

Other than a few coats she didn’t find anything useful. She sighed and pushed the coats aside and saw a smaller box with another lock. Mr. Bee sure had a lot of boxes. She bent down and used the small key and the boxes lock clicked. She looked behind her to make sure no one was suddenly in the room with her. Inside the box were two more keys on a string one had a “D” written on in permeant marker while the other was blank. A piece of paper inside the box had a date written on it. “January fifth”, that was in three days. She looked at the key with the “D” written on it and brought it to the desk. Opening the bottom drawer and taking out the metal box she set it and the key on the desk. She really shouldn’t be prying into his personal life. But who would know if she put everything back and was able to lock the door before leaving?

She put the key into the box and the lock clicked. A gust of wind blew against the window maker her jump. Why was she so jumpy suddenly? It was just a box. It probably held his account information and nothing more. She took a breath and lifted the lid. Inside were stacks of newspaper clippings starting with the oldest to newest it looked. She moved those aside and saw three more keys. Each labeled with numbers four, five, and six. She glanced back at the newspaper clippings and the word “Missing Persons” caught her attention. She read each of the articles and realized they were all women who had gone missing from the area during the last twenty years. A shiver ran up her spine. Maybe Mr. Bee likes to solve crime like those amateur sleuths do in the movies and turn over evidence to the police. Or maybe he kidnapped them. The thought left her feeling cold.

He was a strict boss, but she didn’t think that he could kidnap anyone. She turned her attention to the keys and started looking for more boxes, but nothing came of it. She leaned on the wall near the closet and thumped her head against it. It sounded hallow. She did it again, confirming that it was a hollow sound. Mr. Bee’s office was on the back of the building so there was no way a room could be back there. She tapped on the wall with her hand and then pushed. The panel clicked and popped open a few inches. She jumped back waiting for someone to jump out at her, but no one was there. She found a light switch on the inside of the wall and flipped it. The small doorway led to a staircase that went down into a dimly lit room that smelled musty and old. It’s a cellar. This is probably where he keeps the extra product, she told herself. Trying to breathe calmly she stepped onto the stairs causing them to creak making her jump again.

She shook her head at her silly reactions and continued down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, she was forced to turn right which would put this room right under the shop. The walls were padded with soundproofing material like what was used in music rooms. She walked around but the room was empty for the most part. On a table that was made of two by fours were seven wood crates all locked except the last one which was open and empty. She remembered the keys from the box and ran back up the stairs to get the keys. She was far too invested to give up now. She returned to the crates and matched them to the keys that were numbered. She unlocked each one before opening them. On top of the contents was a piece of material, like a shirt or dress would be made of. On the number four box, she moved the material and found a few jars of what looked like red sauce. So, this was his secret recipe room? She thought as she removed the jars. Under the jars was more material that matched the top layer.

Something in her gut was telling her to put everything back and run back up replace everything and move on and pretend like she hadn’t seen anything. But her hands kept moving. She lifted away the material and found a baggy with what looked like hair in it. A light blonde color not unlike her own hair. Another bag had small shapes like square ovals that were painted a bright pink. She reached in for the next bag and dropped it with a gasp. Teeth. The bag had teeth in it. Oh my god. What is this? She thought as she slowly stepped back. She bumped into something warm and hard and spun around. Mr. Bee stood behind her a grim look on his face.

“Well I figured you might need help digging out your car, but you were not in the front of the shop. So, I cleared the snow and made my way inside. I was a little surprised that you weren’t in the bathroom or the kitchen and I knew you were smart enough not to go into my office. Sadly, I was wrong.” He said with a sigh. “I wasn’t planning on you finding this stuff. Not yet at least. I was hoping to surprise you after your shift on the fifth. I guess I can’t wait any longer now.” He shook his head and grabbed her arm. His face twisting into a mean scowl. “You ruined everything!” he shouted at her. She tried to back away, but he tightened his grip on her arm. She screamed and kicked like she had been taught as a little girl. That method didn’t work, and she wasn’t able to free herself from his grip before he struck her in the jaw. Her world spun and the terror seized her and lost consciousness.

Stephanie stood at the counter of the sheriff’s office reading over the article in the newspaper describing her daughter as missing. Her car had been gone from the pizza shop when she got there to see if she had made it home, it also wasn’t at her apartment complex when she drove by. It had been two weeks since she last talked to her daughter and was exhausted from searching and calling people she knew. There was little hope in finding her daughter alive now if they found Rachel at all. The Sheriff only shook his head, the small gesture stating that they haven’t found anything that would help them in the investigation. She sighed and got in her car. Her tears felt hot against her cold skin. Rachel was gone and not a trace left behind. This town had a history of girls disappearing but that was nearly five years ago. They all thought that the terrible history was behind them.

She turned on her car and looked out her back window. She jumped when she saw her daughter's old boss standing behind her. She turned her car off and got out to speak to him.

“Pity it’s always the kind pretty ones,” he said shaking his head. Without another word he walked back to his car and drove away.