Laid to Rest

I am still breathing so I know that I am alive. I can't see anything. I open my eyes, but it is pitch black and my eyes see only darkness. No sounds to give me a clue as to where I am. Am I in my bed waking from a dream? I just don't know. I know it is dark and quiet. Smell. I smell wood. When you walk into Lowes lumber entrance and all you can smell is fresh lumber. Yes, that is what I smell, fresh lumber. Okay, so now I am going to lift my hand out in front of me to see what I touch, maybe there was just a blackout and the power is out. Wait, I can't lift my arm, only my hand. My hand touches wood. I move my hand up and down and realize where the lumber smell is coming from. The smell is so strong of wood because I am surrounded by it. I am in a box surrounded by fresh lumber. A box, no I am in a coffin.

My thought process is so slow, but coffin seems to kick start my thinking. I scream, I scream louder, and again even louder. Nobody is answering my screams, feeling foolish I stop screaming. Think brain, why are you in a coffin? I am not dead. My heart seems to understand my predicament and starts to beat faster and faster. I am now in panic mode and gasping for air. Stop, calm down or you are going to waste all the oxygen in here. I close my eyes and slow my breathing to calm myself until I am found.

Hello, my name is Indigo Barbie. I am employed with the FBI to catch deadbeat serial killers. Like my sister, it' not a job for the faint of heart. She gets gag reflex watching her husband gut a fish.

Sitting by the pool in her backyard I am sharing with her some details on my newest case. It seems there is a sick person in the state of Louisiana who is burying people alive. I will be flying out first thing in the morning. Wanted a little sister time, it is her birthday after all. John, my boss, flew out on a plane tonight.

Sipping our ice cold beers as our feet dangle in the pool I share with her what I know so far. This killer seems to have no hatred for a certain race, color or age. That just makes it a little harder for us to find a focus of where to search for him. Not sure yet how many he's already killed.

The victims are all found in freshly made coffins. The last one was a beautiful college student visiting her Aunt. A lot of family plots in Louisiana are above ground. You can be driving down the road and on your right, off the shoulder, are four coffins laying on the grass. Kind of spooky to me, but it has helped law enforcement in finding the victims. We can only hope that all the victims have been left above ground.

Around midnight I leave my sisters and drive home to pack and grab a few hours sleep before leaving for the airport. My sleep is short. Every time I close my eyes to sleep, my thoughts are drifting to the coffin killer. I hope when John and I go to the police station after my arrival all the questions circling in my head will be answered.

I told my sister about the college student and a few others, but I didn't tell her about the baby that was found. She is sensitive about my job already and being a mother herself, it just seemed best to keep her in the dark. The plane is starting to land and the passengers are all stirring with anticipation in getting back on solid ground.

John is waiting for me as I exit the plane, no stop to check in at the hotel, it's straight to the police station for us. Entering the station it is like everyone I have been in, except there seems to be more drunks and prostitutes at this one. Perhaps with so many casinos and bars at every turn, it is to be expected. We go to the front desk to be directed to the officer who has been investigating our case so far. Danny Thomas is his name and he seems very eager at our arrival. Average height, big tummy and curly red hair that is greying at the temples. He is quite friendly and takes us straight to his cubicle.

We squeeze into the chairs across his desk as he hands over his files of the victims found so far. Each file contains photos of the crime scene, the victim and information on any and everything he's been able to uncover. There isn't a lot to go on. The lumber is too common to pinpoint where the purchase was made and with no witnesses, it is a tough start. Danny gives us his card and tells us to call if he can be of any further help.

Sitting in Johns rental we decide to visit the sights where the coffins were found first. The first was off Cedar, not but twenty minutes from the station. The first one found was an elderly black man. Emmett Jones, age 92 with no family still living. This is a little comforting in the knowledge no family members know of his horrible death. He was discovered by the groundskeeper who noticed a clean new coffin. The family and groundskeeper were interviewed, but no leads.

The next two hours we spent driving to the other findings. Again no leads in the questioning by officers. The last one found of the college girl visiting her Aunt had some tire tracks found nearby. They have already been sent to find the make and model of the vehicle. John drives me to the hotel to check in and goes to visit the diner around the corner.

I check in and grab a diet coke and sandwich at the vending machine. Once in my room, I sit my laptop on the little table for two, open my soda and start entering all the data that friendly Danny has provided us with.

While waiting for any cross-references the computer might find, I pull out a map I bought at the check-in. With my green highlighter, I make a star at every location the coffins have been found. Next, I take a blue highlighter and mark where each victim was seen last. I then take my yellow and put a dot by each found and reported in the AM and am marking the PM. with purple when there is a knock on the door. It is John. He comes in after a full belly at the diner and sits in the vacant chair.

I show him the map and check the computer to see what it has for me. The only thing in common seems to be the lumber and cause of death, which is asphyxiation, due to lack of oxygen in the coffins.

The autopsies show they were all drugged with a high dosage of sleeping pills. If they were lucky they died without ever waking up. I doubt this is the case, since this killer is cruel enough to box them up, he would probably enjoy hearing them scream and cry out for help.

John has me look at the map again, but upside down. And sure enough it is the letter S. Right side up it is still an S, well almost, the bottom curve is not yet complete. We check the map and decide to drive to the location that would complete the letter.

Driving through the streets we are almost to the possible bottom of the S. "Over there John," I say, "On your left another family plot." He circles around and we do a slow drive by. No new coffins, this is good. He continues driving back to the hotel. We decide to rest up and meet around seven when the sun starts to set. We will be on stakeout throughout the night with our fingers crossed. I call Danny to give him a heads up, and to be on stand by, in case we get lucky tonight and need back up.

We parked the rental at the nearest gas station and started walking to the family plot. We will be in the ditch opposite the plot. There aren't many trees and the car would only spook the killer. This is possibly my least favorite part of the job. I like action and motion, the waiting game is not my area of expertise.

At about 1:30 we hear a truck slowing down, I lift my binoculars a little above the ditch and see a black truck pulling close to the plot. The truck stops and cuts the lights. We stay down and wait, a car passes, we peek again and see the back of the truck is open. There are two people standing at the back of the truck. One ducks under the tarp that is covering the bed of the truck and disappears from view. The other is standing near the tailgate with a dolly he pulled out from the bed. I watch in fascination as a coffin is pushed out of the truck, John calls into Danny for back up.

John and I have our guns at the ready and slowly climb out of the ditch. We make it almost to the truck when we are seen by the man returning the dolly to the bed of the truck. He slams the bed shut, shouts out to the other man and starts shooting as he jumps into the driver's side. They are speeding off, but we've been aiming for their tires, so they won't get far.

I am running to the coffin as John continues to shoot at the truck. I am praying the occupant of the coffin is still alive. We hear sirens and know the back up is in hot pursuit of the truck.

We get to the coffin and hear screams.

"It is okay," I say, "We are here to help, just be patient as we open this box."

One of the patrol cars has arrived and we grab his tire iron to pry open the lid of the box. Inside is a young, maybe twenty-year-old guy with tears running down his face.

The truck was caught by the officers, seems they had a couple of flat tires and couldn't get very far. The young boy was returned safely home after a quick stop at the ER to make sure that he was okay.