Plan Bee by Hannah Reed Page A

think of it. Well, the gloves were coming off. And round one was going to be mine.
    “Johnny Jay,” I said. “Remember that day in high school when you asked me to prom?” That day, when I turned him down flat, was what many residents think started the war between the two of us. They don’t realize that Johnny Jay and I have been enemies since the playground years. “I am so glad I said no. Hunter had then, and still has, more sex appeal in his big toe than you’ll ever have in your entire body.”
    And just in case that wasn’t the event that made him so mean toward me, if he was gunning for me because I went out of my way in the past to protect little kids from his big bully tactics, I said, “And I was the one who turned you in to the principal and got you suspended for bullying Eddy Arts.”
    “Fischer,” Johnny Jay said after a moment of silence while he absorbed my claim, “you’re nuts.”
    And he got in his SUV and drove off.
    “Wow,” Patti said. “I didn’t know you had it in you. A full moon suits your personality.”
    “I’ve had a really bad day.”
    “Kind of juvenile behavior though, digging up stuff from way back when.”
    “Johnny Jay brings out the worst in me.”
    Brent came out of the store with Dinky. “I’ll lock up,” he offered.
    “Thanks,” I said, taking Dinky from him. “That would be great.”
    “Come on.” Patti took my arm. “Let’s end this day on a better note.”
    “What are we going to do?” I asked. All I really wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and read a good book.
    “We’re going to find that body.”
    “You believe me?” At least someone did. Even if it was only a dirty-laundry digger.
    “Of course I do! How could I doubt my best friend?”
    I really wished Patti would stop with the best-friend routine. Did real friends need constant affirmation? Not that I was aware of, although I’m certainly no expert. With the store and my bee business, I rarely had the extra time for regular girlfriends. When I have a spare moment, I usually take a long, hot bath or spend a few hours with Hunter if he’s available.
    “Besides,” Patti continued. “I’ve got a story either way. If we don’t find a body, I still have you and the police chief going nose to nose.”
    “I’ll deny it.”
    Patti held up a pocket-sized camera. “Pictures,” she said.
    Darn it. Maybe we should try to chase down the missing body instead. My family wouldn’t be too happy if I made the local
Distorter
in a negative way.
    “Where are we going to look?” I asked, suspecting this was a bigger problem than Patti realized. “The body could be anywhere.”
    Patti scowled in thought. “You think it was a guy, right?”
    I nodded. “Guy shoes.”
    “What kind?”
    “Um… brown ones.”
    “Gee, that’s helpful,” Patti said. “And you’re sure he didn’t get up and walk off?”
    “Not exactly, no, I’m not sure. But why else would he becovered up with a garbage bag like that and not even react when I tripped over him?”
    “Tell me the whole thing, front, middle, and back.”
    So I did as we walked back to my house. Patti waited while I took care of making sure that Dinky was fed and watered and comfortably tucked in for the night.
    “One thing’s for sure,” Patti said once we were back outside. “We have a missing unconscious person.”
    “Yup.”
    “Maybe dead, maybe not. Either way, let’s assume he needed help moving from the spot where you found him. Based on the evidence we have, that is.”
    “Right,” I said, opening the driver’s door of my trusty blue pickup truck. “Somebody strong, probably another man.”
    As we drove off something strange happened to me.
    I started doubting myself. What if I hadn’t seen what I thought I saw? What if it was only a figment of my imagination? What if the full moon had cast a spell on me and I’d invented the whole thing? The only proof I had, and it was really, really weak, was Dinky’s incessant