We are delighted to welcome back author D.H. Montgomery to Omnimystery News.
D.H. visited us last week, where we discussed his new first in series mystery Karma Dead Ahead (DMS Media Group; July 2015 ebook format) and today he's sharing with us an excerpt from the book, the fourth chapter. (The first three chapters can be read in the preview on Amazon.com.)
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Chapter Four: Past is Prologue
THE PSYCHICS WERE ALL EXPERIENCED AND well respected for their abilities. While generally friendly with each other, there was some underlying tension between Sanjiva Sativa and Elsa Glastonbury that occasionally surfaced. Considering their varied backgrounds and widely differing personalities, which the average person would describe as eccentric in each case, it was surprising that more conflict didn't arise when they were together.
The four psychics sitting before Sagacity possessed in some combination all of the five major intuitive traits — clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairalience and clairgustance — or clear seeing, clear hearing, clear feeling, clear smelling and clear tasting. They would experience the same sensations across time and space of the people they were reading. Helping them to accomplish this was psychometry, also known as clairtangency. This involved picking up sensations from objects.
It was believed that psychometry worked because when a person touched something, they left an energy imprint on it. If only one person had contact with the object, then it would only contain their energy signature and the information obtained would only be about them. The more often they handled the object, the stronger the energy left behind would be. This is why it was important to find items that that only one person handled and preferably they did so frequently and recently. Some psychics preferred metal items because metal was good at holding energy, but others did better with clothing. Whether metal or clothing, something worn next to the body was best.
Sagacity looked around the room deciding what would be the best order for the psychics to present their insights so they could most effectively build on each other. She mentally reviewed the strengths of each of them — Sanjiva Sativa, Lena Kuliganaya, Elsa Glastonbury, and Chi Chi Del Rio — that sat in the circle around her.
Sanjiva Sativa's specialty, other than his apparent interest in woman's underwear, was reading people's past lives in order to determine their karmic debts and credits in this one. According to his views, souls reappeared over and over again and interacted, sometimes in the same destructive ways, until some resolution resulted that allowed them to move on in their next reincarnation. Sativa would be giving them a description of Amanda's identities in her previous existences.
He spoke with the choppy Northern Indian accent common to someone from that region of the sub-continent who had learned English as a second language. Sativa, was thinner than most Westerners, but wasn't emaciated as were some Indian mystics. He was middle aged, but it was hard to say exactly how old.
Lena Kuliganaya, on the other hand was clearly an older woman. Her face was lined with the wrinkles of a Russian grandmother. She was tall and thin with faded blond hair and pale gray eyes. Originally from the frozen Steppes of Siberia, it was rumored she was a distant relative of a famous KGB psychic spy. She specialized in telepathy and energy reading from metal, but usually fell back on reading the leaves at the bottom of her omnipresent cup of tea however. She had learned how to do this from her grandmother when she was a little girl. Her pronouncements always had a matter-of-fact tone to them, enhanced by her harsh Russian accent.
In contrast to the thinness of Sativa and Kuliganaya, Elsa Glastonbury was full-figured; most would say plump if they weren't polite. This gave her a commanding presence by itself, but her clipped British accent usually heard in stentorian tones made her sound like the headmistress of a private English girls' school. This added even further gravitas to her pronouncements. Unlike Kuliganaya, she preferred clothing for her analysis and she tended to pick up distinct smells along with vivid visual images.
Chi Chi Del Rio was somewhat between the thinness of the first two and the heft of Glastonbury. She had a warm and vibrant Latin presence that contrasted sharply with the others. People described her as bursting with life. She enhanced this image by wearing brightly colored, highly patterned clothes that shouted excitement. Chi Chi had a high-pitched, chirpy voice and a strong Spanish accent. Her major gift was clairaudience — psychic hearing. While other clairaudients could usually only pick up a few words, she could sometimes hear entire conversations. She preferred using pictures for her readings, although any object from another person could allow her to "tune in."
Sagacity began the meeting by thanking them all for coming and saying she had a number of objects in plastic bags for their readings, some pictures, and a map. She filled in the sparse details of what she knew about Amanda's disappearance trying to stay on that fine line between providing the information they needed to know, but not telling them too much. This would allow her to potentially check on their accuracy.
Sagacity simply said, "A woman, Amanda Posner, took a trip to the Caribbean island of Capo Barbuda and has failed to return. She appears to have been in contact with a man named Rodrigo Barnett prior to going to the island. I have pictures of both of them for you, a map of Capo Barbuda, and some of Amanda's personal items, both metal and cloth. We are trying to find out why she hasn't returned and where she might be."
Sagacity then passed around the pictures of Amanda and Rodrigo and copies of the map of the island, suggesting they get some initial impressions before selecting the objects they felt were best for them. She waited a few minutes, and then she asked if everyone was ready. After they all said yes, she picked up the baggies with the objects that Amanda had left and described the contents. She then told the psychics to choose the ones they wanted. Then, looking at Sativa, she said, "I have the special item that you requested," and she handed him the bag with the panties in them. This immediately got Glastonbury's attention and a sharp look of disapproval.
"I see Mr. Sativa is indulging his usual twisted tastes for his psychic analysis," she said in her loud crisp voice dripping with censure.
"I don't recall anyone asking the opinion of the fat English cow about this matter. She only wishes she could be as productive as I am," he shot back, glaring at her.
"Productive! ... Productive! ... I'll have you know that I do the work of two psychics." Glastonbury retorted.
"You should. After all, you're the size of two psychics." Sativa replied sarcastically.
"I'll have you know, that I don't have to come here to be insulted by YOU," Glastonbury stated indignantly.
"I don't doubt that, I'm sure you have many opportunities elsewhere," Sativa retorted.
Just then, Del Rio was heard to say in her chirpy voice, "I thought Indians worshipped the cow."
Kuliganaya immediately replied, "Perhaps that's only if they are domestic darlink. Foreign cows may not count." To emphasize her point, she flicked an imaginary cigarette in the long cigarette holder she always carried around, even though she had given up smoking years ago.
After that, general mayhem and shouting completely took over the room. Chance was watching in amazement, thinking to himself, "I wonder if I should be taking notes on any of this."
Sagacity decided to take back control and shouted, "STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" in the loudest voice she could. The room quieted immediately.
She continued, "OK, now let's just put personal matters aside and concentrate on the problem at hand. There could be serious issues that require immediate attention and we need to determine that tonight, so please try to cooperate. Now, will everyone please take the objects they want and let's get on with it." Sagacity then passed the items around the circle and announced, "We will start with Sanjiva and then go to Lena, Elsa and finally to Chi Chi. Sanjiva, please begin as soon as you are ready."
Sanjiva used only the pictures and Amanda's panties for his analysis. He held the panties in his hands and seemed to go into a trance for a few minutes. Then he began to speak, slowly at first with seemingly random tidbits that referred to previous existences, but soon he began to focus on one specific lifetime that he deemed to be the relevant one.
He began, "The woman named Amanda in this lifetime had a previous existence in the early 1800s in Virginia. She was also called Amanda back then, Amanda Thompson. Her life was a comfortable one, but highly structured and unexciting. Like most women of her class at the time, her earlier years involved mostly various forms of preparation for marriage. Amanda was not the rebellious type and dutifully followed the many restrictions that the rigid Southern society required for her. Fortunately, or perhaps not, she was fairly attractive, so she was assured of finding a 'desirable' husband. Love was not to be a consideration for choosing her partner though; money and social position were the priorities.
"Her parents had a match in mind for her by the time she was in her early teens. A planter from a nearby community had a somewhat older son that would inherit his property. Amanda's life would be a financially comfortable one and she would be highly regarded in the community as the mistress of a large plantation. She never loved the boy, but allowed the inevitable to happen. When she was 18, they were married. In her mid-20s, her father-in-law died and her husband inherited his property. From the outside, Amanda's life looked ideal, but she was not happy.
"Not only did she not grow to love her husband, she instead disliked him more and more as time went on. He was cruel to his slaves, working them excessively and he seemed to enjoy punishing them and beat them too much when he did. While he was always polite in public, he was snide and dismissive in private. The cruel side to his nature seemed to become increasingly prominent over time. Amanda wanted to avoid him and found any excuse she could. She didn't even mind that he seemed to be spending a lot of time with one of the slave women. She wanted to get away from him permanently, but society at the time provided no acceptable option for this.
"Then one day, a cousin of her husband's came from England to stay for a while. At that time, plantation visits frequently lasted for months, sometimes even years. The cousin was handsome and even looked a little like her husband, although his features were light while her husband's were dark. It wasn't only their coloring that was different though, their personalities also contrasted significantly. While Amanda's husband was cruel, his cousin was kind, while the husband was ruthless, his cousin was fair. It was natural that Amanda couldn't resist this new and improved version of what she already had and she quickly fell in love with the visitor. He returned her feelings, although he felt terrible about treating his host that way. But he too, felt Amanda's husband was not deserving of respect, nor did he deserve Amanda."
Slowly, the lovers' plans materialized …
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Photo provided courtesy of
D.H. Montgomery
D.H. Montgomery is a pen name, based on the author's more famous second cousin, who wrote "Anne of the Green Gables." D.H. has a background in math and science and has written a number of non-fiction books. Prior to this book, he had never written even the briefest piece of fiction, nor had he intended to do so. By the spring of 2014, he had unexplainably started doing automatic writing and there was poltergeist activity where he lived. One day, the entire 250 manuscript popped into his mind in a flash. It took five weeks to write it down. After it was finished, a ghost appeared in his home.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at NONE and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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Karma Dead Ahead by D.H. Montgomery
A Private PSI Detective Mystery
Publisher: DMS Media Group
Two graduate students in a university paranormal research lab become accidental detectives as they go searching for a woman who fails to return from her Caribbean vacation. They get help from a group of psychics known as the "Gang of Four" and a modern practitioner of witchcraft who is an app developer and entrepreneur. The psychics reveal that a karmic debt from two hundred years ago has put the woman on a path to danger. The witch helps find the whereabouts of the culprit.
After some brilliant deductions, unexpected mishaps that turn their lives upside down, and twists and turns, the two detectives come face to face with a deranged killer and his intended latest victim. Just as karma set off the chain of events in the beginning, it also determines the dramatic outcome.
— Karma Dead Ahead by D.H. Montgomery
