The Deep End

They had inherited the house on an acre after Joe's dad died. 

Janet had been promoted to manager of her company's investment firm, so they were confident in their ability to afford the luxury addition. 

The chance for Joe to get his hands dirty, after years of joblessness, came with using a shovel to create the perimeter of the eventual hole. 

"This used to be where my dad and mom kept their garden," he said to Janet. 

"What did they plant?"  

Looking about on the ground and pointing, he replied, "There were tomatoes over there, cucumbers there, and green beans here. The whole thing was encircled in marigolds." 

"Did your dad keep it up after your mom ran out on you?" asked Janet. 

"No, not at all. As a matter of fact, he shipped in some big rocks and planted a mulberry tree within a circle of them on that far end." 

"I see the rest just went back to weeds." 

"Until now; this thirty by fifteen foot rectangle is going to be where your inground swimming pool will be." 

Janet smiled and stepped off to answer a text on her cell phone.  

Joe's brother, Andy, drove a backhoe off a trailer and pulled it over the digging area. 

"So are we really digging a pool here or not?" asked Andy. 

"Of course. I might as well be happy, even though my wife is running off on me, like Mom did to us." 

Andy’s cell phone buzzed and he gave it a look.  Then he looked up at Joe. 

“You included the mulberry tree and those rocks in your perimeter. Are we moving all of that out of the way?”

“I initially thought so, you know, just out of curiousity.” replied Joe. “Just wondered if what we thought was true –was.” 

“You and I know that mom is under that tree and those rocks. Dad as much as admitted it before he kicked.” 

“Shouldn’t we just check anyway? Don’t you want to finally know, without a doubt?” 

“Listen, Joe. I agreed to this because you said Janet was going to leave and take all her money with her. You said that if we bury her here like Pop did Mom, you could get away with it – like him.” 

“It will work; I know it,” said Joe with a grin. 

Andy answered a text on his phone and then started up the backhoe. 

“Listen, Joe. I think what I’ll do is move those rocks and dig a hole right there next to the tree.” 

“”Why do that?” asked Joe, with a puzzled look on his face. 

From behind him, Joe heard Janet giggling. As he turned, the bucket of the machine slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. Then the bucket dropped on Joe a dozen times, before Andy finally scraped the corpse into the hole. 

Andy and Janet moved the rocks back into place.