Crime Time

Martha patted his arm. "Humor us, darling," she said. "Make a note of the exact settings after you remove all your plants."

Howie remained silent during verbal our exchange, looking form one of us to the other, content to let us orchestrate the production. When I rose and asked if we were ready to begin another session, he was eager to join us on our trek to the basement.

Quinn was finishing removing the plans and I helped hauling them to the attached garage. When we'd finished, he remained with the women instead of retreating upstairs. Once again, Howie had little trouble falling asleep only on this occasion his time in dream land was brief and he was less animated. In six minutes he was up and awake, looking confused.

"No go?" I asked.

"It worked, sort of. This time I was on the edge of a scrub forest. There weren't any buildings or people so I 'came back'."

"That proves it isn't the plants or location that are the cause of your visions. It's just you and Quinn's equipment," Betsy exclaimed.

"The place didn't look anything like West Virginia. As for time; it could have been a year or a century ago. Can I try again?"

We commenced another session without even bothering to go upstairs. However, Martha took notes and Betsy recorded what was said. This time, Howie struggled to get to sleep. When he finally nodded off, nearly an hour had passed. Once again, it was an unproductive test, nine minutes in total.

"The forest was similar but there was a trail I followed for a time. Off to one side was an old fire ring but no buildings or people."

The group trudged upstairs, all but Quinn who remained with his equipment. Martha brewed coffee for us and hot chocolate for Howie. We were pensive as we tried to fathom what was occurring. I was becoming nervous.

"This is getting weirder with each session," Betsy said. "Perhaps we should consider seeking an outside opinion . . ."

Howie jumped on Betsy, startling us. "No! You promised! All of you did! I'll stop this before I'll go through anyone dissecting me again." We gave him our assurances we'd not violate his trust though I thought Betsy's suggestion was reasonable.

We conducted one more test before lunch. Howie thought he recognized the Chicago skyline in the distance but it was too far away to tell. The scene was the edge of a corn field with a large barn in the distance. There were no people or vehicles in sight. A car horn outside woke him in less than five minutes.