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The fence wasn’t properly secured and judging from the look of it, there was no security camera present anywhere. Sookie and Jesse got in easily. They spent a good twenty minutes navigating among the tombstones before Jesse located the grave that they were looking for. A lonesome funeral bouquet perched sadly on top of the plot. Fresh sod was installed over the previously dug area. The grave was marked with a simple marble plaque that read: Here lies our beloved son and brother, Marcus Eddie James. Engraved below it was Marcus’s date of birth and date of his passing, which was only two days previous.
Sookie read it and found it a bit odd. The deceased was only twenty-five years old. One would think someone that young who had met an untimely demise would spend more time in the morgue, waiting for an autopsy. From the time of death to be buried in the grave in two days seemed fast, as if his family couldn’t wait to deliver dear Marcus into his final resting place as soon as possible.
“Does Marcus Eddie James sound like a gangster name to you?” asked Sookie.
“What do you expect? Don Vito Corelone?”
“Who?”
“The Godfather, geez. Watch a movie once in a while.”
“Don’t you take that tone with me, boy.” Sookie put down her stuff and lit the lantern with a match and turned it on dimly. The moonlight and the lantern gave them enough illumination to work. “Let’s dig. I only help you up until we reach the casket. You’ll deal with the rest. I don’t want to touch any corpses.”
“You don’t have to.”
They started working by removing the flower arrangement and the layer of sod. Jesse used a flat blade shovel to chisel away the outline of the grave. It had been a hot and dry summer, the dirt was easily crumbling and breaking down. They dug four inches down and Sookie’s shovel hit a solid surface.
“What is this? Don’t tell me we hit the coffin already. I thought they buried people six feet under,” said Sookie. She cleared the area with her hands.
“That’s must be a plywood the diggers use to reinforce the grass. Otherwise, the ground might collapse and create a sinkhole.” Jesse shoveled away the dirt until he found the seam where he could lift the plywood. “And actually, they don’t dig six feet deep anymore these days. The average depth for a grave is approximately four feet. That’s because the casket itself is placed inside a concrete box with a flat lid.”
Sookie stopped digging. “How are we supposed to open the concrete box?”
“A crowbar would do nicely.” Jesse threw a nod over his shoulder. He had a flat tool on the side of the mound that Sookie didn’t see he was carrying. “I’ll make it work somehow.”
“Great. This night just keeps bearing gifts.” Sookie resumed the back-breaking work. She bit her tongue, refraining from chiding her brother for the ten thousand things that could go wrong with their night excursion. She saved that anger and directed it toward digging the never-ending layers of dirt.
After they removed the plywood, Sookie vehemently attacked the soil with her shovel and soon the mound around them grew. Even though she was blessed with generous curves, she was physically fit, thanks to her day job. She moved pallets of merchandise like tiles, concrete bags and grass seeds to the display floor, often without a forklift, running around the store all day to keep up with the schedule, cranky customers and an equally cantankerous manager.
They moved two feet of soil and Sookie was already exhausted.
“Why don’t you take a break, sis?” Jesse noticed she was out of breath.
Sookie drank some water and continued digging. “I want this over with. The sooner the better.”
“It won’t do you any good if you collapse.”
“You can just bury me in here, then.”
Her brother didn’t squeak
a word at her being snappish. They worked in silence. Sookie thought she was going to faint but her fear of being caught prompted her to pour her energy into moving more earth from a stranger’s final resting place. Just when she thought she couldn’t do it anymore, her shovel hit another hard surface. The excitement alone was enough to wash off her exhaustion. She felt as if she had found a pirate’s treasure instead of desecrating a grave.
“Finally,” Sookie hissed sharply. "I thought I was going to die."
“I’ll take it from here.” Her brother was bathed in perspiration but he oddly didn't look as winded as she was.
Sookie had to take a breather. Sweat soaked her shirt. Earth found its way into her clothes and it felt like she was coated with grit and mud. Her legs were shaky and her lungs burned. She trudged toward her water bottle and climbed out of the hole. She drained the bottle while watching her brother shovel the remaining soil off the top of the casket liner.
Once the dirt was cleared, Jesse tapped along the edge tentatively. Sookie put the lantern down for better lighting. Her brother took the crowbar and shimmed it on the liner edge, seeking traction to push the lid up. Jesse grunted and fiddled with what he was doing for a few minutes.
"Problem?" Sookie asked.
"Nothing. It just—" Jesse grunted again. "The lid is sealed. With some. Ugh. Sticky tar. Ugh. Almost..."
She heard the metal graze against something made from wood and stone, then a loud creak. At this point Jesse was hacking the concrete lid as if it was his number one enemy. She inwardly sighed. They were beyond making their presence inconspicuous. She just wanted to get this over with. Jesse wanted to recover Zeke's package.
At long last, Jesse was able to open the concrete lid. It had been with sheer determination that he accomplished it.
