 My teaser this week is from Jewel Cave, part of the Circles Box set.  Reading so much accumulated in one place made Clint shiver. Another chill swept through him, and his chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. A few key recent events leapt out at Clint. Fern had hurt her foot and Clint had briefly talked about it on his blog. Dylan knew details, accurate details Clint just now realized he’d never written in a blog or e-mail. Then there was a bush he’d removed from the front yard early in the spring. Dylan had mentioned how bare that spot looked, but Clint hadn’t put any pictures of that garden project up online or even discussed it in e-mails. Dylan couldn’t possibly know about the yard work unless he’d seen it in person. Clint hit Save on the document and sent it to his cloud storage. People traveled. Not Dylan, though. He told Clint everything he did, but how did he know about Fern’s foot and the bush? Clint searched everything he’d posted and the few mentions of her injury didn’t include the details Dylan brought up. Maybe there was some discussion in the e-mails Clint had deleted, a way to deflect Dylan’s inquiries about the pictures he’d sent Clint. He couldn’t remember. Both dogs jumped up and barked, running closer to the front door. Clint held his breath, then slumped back into his chair and relaxed when he realized the noise was simply mail being pushed into the slot beside the door. The outer cover was metal and it often banged and clanked, announcing mail delivery. “Now you’re just being paranoid, Bishop.” Something thunked, and then there was another soft sound of metal against metal. Clint stood slowly. Both dogs had turned their attention from the front door to the direction of the side door. They stood, ears forward, tails barely moving. “Lock the goddamn doors.” Griff’s voice, exasperated and concerned all at once, was a firm command in Clint’s head. He’d locked the side storm door after letting the dogs back in, leaving the main door open to let light in. Or had he? Clint took a few deep breaths; he was definitely letting his imagination run rampant. There were no screens in the storm door, and the lock was pretty heavy. As Griff had pointed out, breaking through would at least make noise. That was, if Clint had locked it. Phoenix blew out a loud breath, and Fern inched back toward Clint and paced a few times in front of him. “Griff? If you’re trying to scare me to remind me to lock the doors, it worked. Cut it out.” Clint tried to make his voice deep and dangerous. He did not succeed. On impulse, he reached down and hit Record on the voice recorder Griff kept there to charge. Clint took a few steps closer to the french doors. Phoenix stood in the middle of the living room, ruff and tail puffed out. He didn’t make a sound, but his attention was riveted to the kitchen and side door. “Griff?” Where is my phone? He’d had it in the kitchen while he made coffee. The goddamn phone’s still on the counter. All at once jumbled thoughts began charging through Clint’s head. Dogs don’t act like that with someone they know. That was followed by things Griff had told him over the years: “Don’t let on to an intruder there are guns in the house.” “Lamps, keys, even a pen is a good weapon.” “Cooperate.” “If you have the chance, take it and run.” “Look them in the eye.” “Don’t let anyone get you into a vehicle if you can help it.” “Make noise.” “Hey, cut this shit out right now!” Clint shouted as loud as he could. It was nice outside, the windows were open. Someone would hear him. Fern ducked behind his legs. Phoenix didn’t move. Clint looked around for something—anything—to use as a weapon. A creak came from the far side of the house. He could only see part of the kitchen and not through to the side door. Had the noise come from the landing, the basement steps, or the steps to the kitchen? Clint held his breath. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the signed baseball bat resting on a stand on top of his office shelves. It had been a housewarming gift from his grandmother when he and Griff had moved in. He could do a lot of damage with a baseball bat. Unfortunately, to get to the bat, he’d have to go back into his office and would lose the advantage of being able to see most of the kitchen and all of the living room. He had two choices: stand there and watch whoever was in the house come at him, or arm himself with a weapon he could use. Clint opted for arming himself. The Circles Box Set is available in eBook and through your local library digital calalog.    
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