Chapter 8: Buried Alive

It wasn’t until late the following day when he was trailed crossing the local industrial area that they were able to pick him up. He was told that he was being arrested for the murder of Luke Jameson. He laughed at them, quite convinced that the body was still where he had buried it.

The car holding him rendezvoused with another of the super’s team. Jackson was transferred and as he was put into the back seat, a needle was stuck into his arm. Before he realised what had happened, he was unconscious. Jackson was delivered to the garage and in the usual manner was tied up, gagged and strapped to the table.

Meanwhile Brian had been to the scene in the woods and had filmed from his arrival on the road, along the path into the woods and down into the open grave where Luke Jacksons remains had been removed from.

Returning home. Brian changed into working clothes, then went out into his garage workshop where he knocked up a very basic coffin out of half inch chipboard. He made it as small and compact as he could. Then he cut out a foot square hole in the top, right where the body’s face would be, replacing it with a sheet of clear Perspex.

He screwed all the joints tight and drilled holes in the lid for screws. The resulting box was as airtight as it could be. Putting it in his trailer, he covered it up with some tarpaulin. Then he dug up a builder’s bucket full of soil from his garden. Finally, he put his bucket of soil and his spade in the trailer.

Later that evening, Brian went up to the garage. Opening up, he unloaded the coffin and the accessories he had brought with him. Then going through into the back end of the garage, he dragged the coffin in and stood it up against the wall.

Jackson was now awake and wondering what on earth was happening. When he saw Brian, he was even more puzzled, then seeing the coffin he was terrified. No more the vicious thug, just a scared coward.

Brian came and sat by his head. ‘Richard Jackson,’ he said in his most formal voice, ‘You have been found guilty by a special court of two counts of murder. Grievous bodily harm during the execution of a burglary. The death by dangerous driving of a seven-year-old girl. The murder of your fellow gang member Luke Johnson and the illegal disposal of a body.

For all these crimes as well as many more, you have been sentenced to death.’ Jackson’s eyes looked at him in terror. ‘You are aware,’ Brian continued, ‘That you have been detained at an unusual location. This is reserved for people whom your peers have decided are no longer fit to walk this earth.’

‘I take no pleasure in being appointed your executioner, but it gives me great satisfaction to know that what I do now will avenge the people you have killed or injured, as well as saving countless others from your future evils.’

‘The manner of your execution has been left for me to choose.’ Brian picked up a carving knife and held it over him. ‘On the night you ran over and callously left an injured seven-year-old to die alone, you had carried out a burglary. During which you savagely stabbed the householder who is still to this day suffering from his wounds.’

‘So, I have no doubt that he would be delighted if I just kept stabbing you, making sure it took you a long time to die. On the other hand, I could drag you outside and run over you in a manner that would make you die in agony after suffering for hours to avenge the little girl.’

‘I don’t know how or why you killed Luke Jameson, but I do know what you did with the body because you went to look at the burial site the minute you came out of prison. Here’s a film for you to see.’ Brian plugged his phone into the screen that had been fitted over the table. Jackson watched as the film showed the path and then the open grave. He recognised the spot immediately and cursed himself for being so stupid.

‘Look at that grave,’ Brian told him, ‘For it’s the last spot on this earth that you will ever see. You are going to be sealed in this coffin,’ he pointed over to it, ‘Then buried alive where you buried Luke. Lukes family can now give him a proper burial, but no one but me will ever know where you are.’

As he finished speaking, he jabbed the hypodermic into his arm, putting him to sleep immediately. Brian pulled the coffin over to the side of the table and took the lid off.

Unstrapping Jackson from the table, he used the electric hoist to lift him off the table and lower him into the coffin. Brian had bolted some straps to the bottom of the coffin, so he fastened them up, one around his knees, one around his waist and one around his shoulders.

He laid the lid in place and screwed it up all round. The coffin was now sealed airtight. The amount of air inside the coffin should keep Jackson alive for anything between three to six hours.

Next, he hung some black sheets on a frame around the coffin to make it seem from Jackson’s limited view, as if it was in the bottom of a deep hole. He hung a black cloth from the ceiling so that looking up from the coffin, all that could be seen would be the sides of the ‘grave’ and a black sky.

Brian had fitted a metre of two-inch flexible tube into the end of the coffin by the head, but near its base where it couldn’t be seen. There was also another one the same in the end by the feet. This was also close to the bottom so it couldn’t be seen.

They both had a bung in the end so they wouldn’t let air in. Removing the bung at the head end would allow Brian to use it briefly as a speaking tube.

Brian tipped his bucket of soil out onto the table and laid his spade flat with a heap of soil on it. Next, he fixed four small candles to the top corners of the frame that held the sheets representing the grave sides. Finally, he put a special tape in the recorder ready, positioning the speaker against the side of the coffin near the head.

Checking his watch, he calculated that it would be another ten minutes or so before Jackson came round. He waited another five minutes, then lit the four candles and climbed up on the table. He had put a folding chair up on the table ready so he could sit reasonably comfortably and look down at the coffin’s window.

Eight minutes later he saw Jackson’s eyes flicker open, then realisation and fear followed. He struggled but found he was secure. Keeping out of sight so he wouldn’t see the tube, Brian took the bung out and said, ‘You have been taken to the woods and are now in the grave you dug for Luke Jameson.’

‘In a moment I will start filling the grave in. You have enough air in the coffin to last you between three to six hours depending on how fast you breath, then you will die. In the short time you have left, you can contemplate the terrible suffering you have inflicted on so many others.’

As Jackson struggled again, also trying to speak through his gag, Brian put the bung back in his speaking tube to cut off the air. Then he stood up, picked up his shovel of soil, looked down to make sure Jackson was watching, then dropped the soil onto the coffin top, part covering the window.

Quickly refilling his spade, he dropped a second shovel full, this time completely obscuring the window. Blowing out the four candles ensured that the inside of the coffin would then be in total darkness.

Quietly getting down from the table, Brian switched the cassette recorder on. The sound of earth dropping on timber echoed around the garage. The sound continued loud for half a minute, then gradually got fainter and fainter until it faded away completely. Taking the recorder away, Brian put it to one side.

In the coffin, Jackson would have heard what he thought was the soil filling the grave, then the silence as he was buried for eternity. Then for humanity’s sake, Brian connected the end of the tube at the foot of the coffin to a pipe he had prepared earlier.

Removing the bung in the speaker tube, he replaced it with a one-way valve. This would let air out of the coffin but not in.

Going out and closing the garage behind him very quietly, Brian pushed the other end of the pipe onto his car exhaust pipe. He had moved his car several lengths away from the garage whilst Jackson was unconscious so he knew he wouldn’t hear either the car starting or the engine running.