During a preliminary investigation, researchers of the paranormal found Richmond, Virginia to be a strong candidate for a study of ghosts of its past. Eight researchers were selected to conduct a study of extra-normal phenomena in specific areas of the city. —four from Richmond and four from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Among the Massachusetts group is the newest investigator, Professor Zatorah Leeman. This project piques her interest for a number of reasons. For one, Richmond is both the city of her birth and a place of which she has little knowledge or memory. Her mother has been closed-mouthed about the particulars of her brief marriage and stay in Richmond around the time of Zatorah’s birth.
The research begins, and the team visits locations in Richmond that earlier showed high concentrations of otherworldly energy. The Richmond psychic, Evan Nesset, a spirit-hunting eccentric, serves as the team’s “spirit channeler” and relays the ghostly messages he receives at the various sites. To everyone’s growing amazement, some of what Nesset’s spirits have to say relate to Zatorah and to Merquan Paler, a streetwise hustler from one of Richmond’s most ill-reputed public housing projects. Their unusual alliance provides extraordinary insights into the past.
Back in Cambridge, it was the end of the spring semester at the university where Zatorah Leeman taught. Now, with the posting of students’ grades complete, a cadre of professors gathered for discussions. Free of instructional obligations, their full attention could be focused on research, planned for summer. They comprised a unique selection of higher-level educators within the state of Massachusetts. In addition to being psychology professors, each had a special interest in the paranormal.
Zatorah was new among the group of four. Accompanying her at the discussion table were Drs. Emily Noam, Mitchell Barcotti, and Adam Price. Dr. Zatorah Leeman’s solemn commitment to the project to be undertaken was just three weeks old. By now, only the slightest doubt remained with her, as to the wisdom of her decision to join the collaboration.
Three factors accounted for Leeman’s relative conviction that the course she’d chosen was justified. The first concerned scores she attained on the PRI, as administered and interpreted by developers of that so-called Paranormal Receptivity Inventory. On it, she was deemed a good candidate for conducting research in the field. The second factor involved a reading she received, in consultation with an East Cambridge psychic. Third, was the fact that the research was to be conducted in Richmond, Virginia. She felt, somehow that Richmond was beckoning her.
R. M. Ahmose earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Baltimore. He is employed by Richmond Public Schools in Virginia. This is his seventh novel.